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Machiavelli and the republican conception of providence

journal contribution
posted on 2022-12-01, 03:48 authored by Miguel VatterMiguel Vatter
AbstractMachiavelli often seems to advocate a conception of religion as an instrument of political rule. But in the concluding chapter ofThe PrinceMachiavelli adopts a messianic rhetoric in which politics becomes an instrument of divine providence. Since the political project at stake inThe Prince, especially in this last chapter runs against both the interests and the ideology of the Catholic Church in Italy, some commentators have argued that Machiavelli appeals to providence merely in order to fool the Church and the Medici. This article argues that it is not necessary to appeal to such exoteric readings of the 26thchapter ofThe Princeif one envisages the possibility that Machiavelli may have drawn upon an alternative, non-Christian conception of divine providence coming from medieval Arabic and Jewish sources that is more compatible with his desire to return to Roman republican principles than is the Christian conception of divine providence.

History

Journal

Review of Politics

Volume

75

Article number

4

Pagination

605-623

ISSN

0034-6705

eISSN

1748-6858

Language

en

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Issue

4

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

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