This work presented the question: to what extent did each period and its events have on the development of the various schools of thought concerning Niccolo Machiavelli. The age of Reformation in its quest for theological purity gave birth to the myth of the evil Machiavelli. The Enlightenment, a period which sought reason and science, founded the myth of the scientific Machiavelli. The eruption of nationalism in the nineteenth century created Machiavelli, the patriot, and this was quickly followed in the twentieth century, an age of unrest, by the rebirth of all previous interpretations. These schools of thought developed as much from the changing tide of events as from the scholarly research of the writers. One of the reasons for the diversity of the Machiavellian literature was that each writer sought his antecedents on the basis of myth rather than where it might realistically be found. Machiavelli and Machiavellianism were abused and misused because modern man did not know himself. He viewed his origin incorrectly and thus could rest on no one explanation for himself or -Machiavelli. Machiavellianism developed from a collection of myths, each started in an attempt to explain the unexplainable, man. Not Machiavelli's politics, but what man appeared to be in them, was the drawing power of Machiavelli's work. What Machiavelli meant to say or did not mean to say was unimportant when compared to what scholars believed him to have said.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc663699 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Hunt, Melanie |
| Contributors | Painter, William E., Kamp, Henry Wilbur, 1922- |
| Publisher | North Texas State University |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | iii, 109 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Hunt, Melanie, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights |
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