Citation

Osborne T. Hist. Human Sci. 2017; 30(5): 68-85.

Affiliation

University of Bristol, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0952695117723223

PMID

29276342

PMCID

PMC5731607

Abstract

This article revisits the long-standing question of the relations between ethics and politics in Machiavelli's work, assessing its relevance to the 'liberalism of fear' in particular in the work of Judith Shklar, Bernard Williams and also John Dunn. The article considers ways in which Machiavelli has been a 'negative' resource for liberalism - for instance, as a presumed proponent of tyranny; but also ways in which even for the liberalism of fear he might be considered a 'positive' resource, above all around the issues of political necessity and prudential judgement.

Language: en

Keywords

Niccolò Machiavelli; ethics; history of ideas; liberalism of fear; political theory