This contribution aims to show the systematic role that the immage of the "fiumi rovinosi" – and ... more This contribution aims to show the systematic role that the immage of the "fiumi rovinosi" – and its variations as deluge (diluvio) and flood (inon- dazione) – plays in Machiavelli’s writing. These images appear to function as a gravitational and organizing device through which the destabilizing experiences of a world shattered by the violent events of war are distributed into (and operate within) a new theorization of political reality. The essay will thus first frame the use of the raging river-analogy into the context of Machiavelli’s «rhetoric of emergency and war» as an «image of war». It will then focus on the "fiumi rovinosi" of Chapter xxv in "The Prince", so as to highlight its constitutive elements. After that, it will consider different possible sources and make the argument that both Savonarola and Lucretius could have played a major role in Machiavelli’s use of it. In doing so, the study will consider passages from "The Discourses" and "Florentine Histories", trying to show how Machiavelli can be in fact located within the broader tradition of a materialistic "ontology" founded on the principle of chance (caso). Finally, the essay will deepen the analysis of the issue of war by considering the question of arms and institutions (leggi e ordini, armi), assessing what kind of relationship this dimension entertains in Machiavelli’s writing with his use of images of natural catastrophe. Here, the focus will lay on "Ghiribizzi", "Capitolo di Fortuna", "Art of War" and, again, "The Prince".
Relazione presentata al workshop annuale "Cose della Magna. Machiavelli e il mondo tedesco", 19-2... more Relazione presentata al workshop annuale "Cose della Magna. Machiavelli e il mondo tedesco", 19-20 giugno 2023, Istituto Storico Italo-Germanico di Trento.
The paper aims to reconsider Machiavelli's analysis of conspiracies from the standpoint of langua... more The paper aims to reconsider Machiavelli's analysis of conspiracies from the standpoint of language and rapresentation. What does Machiavelli’s take on conspiracies tell us about the relationship between conflict, society and power in the Modern Age?
In his "Spie, Radici di un paradigma indiziario", Carlo Ginzburg resorts to the ancient figure of... more In his "Spie, Radici di un paradigma indiziario", Carlo Ginzburg resorts to the ancient figure of metis in describing a form of knowledge that, according to him, resurfaced in the context of the humanities at the end of the nineteenth century. Interested in the formulation of a "epistemological model" for his microhistory, Ginzburg offers a definition of metis that fails however to sufficiently underscore her essentially practical character. For their part, Detienne/Vernant have shown how pervasive the cunning rationality of the ruse actually was in the religious-mythological, poetical and technical thought of pre-classical Greek. Thus, metis appears there as the prudential knowledge of the unknown, a radically practical rationality devoted to the production of a future conceived as contingent. This paper proposes to locate Machiavelli between these two perspectives. I will argue that, in this way, Machiavelli brings to the light a since-Plato submerged model of rationality in which theory and action hold together, articulating a sort of subterranean philosophy of praxis.
Relazione presentata alla Inagural Conference della International Machiavelli Society, Roma, 13-1... more Relazione presentata alla Inagural Conference della International Machiavelli Society, Roma, 13-16 dicembre 2023.
Relazione presentata al workshop internazionale "History and Power. Political theory and practice... more Relazione presentata al workshop internazionale "History and Power. Political theory and practices of power: influences, contagions, dichotomies (XV-XIX centuries)", Catania 11-13 aprile 2024
This contribution aims to show the systematic role that the immage of the "fiumi rovinosi" – and ... more This contribution aims to show the systematic role that the immage of the "fiumi rovinosi" – and its variations as deluge (diluvio) and flood (inon- dazione) – plays in Machiavelli’s writing. These images appear to function as a gravitational and organizing device through which the destabilizing experiences of a world shattered by the violent events of war are distributed into (and operate within) a new theorization of political reality. The essay will thus first frame the use of the raging river-analogy into the context of Machiavelli’s «rhetoric of emergency and war» as an «image of war». It will then focus on the "fiumi rovinosi" of Chapter xxv in "The Prince", so as to highlight its constitutive elements. After that, it will consider different possible sources and make the argument that both Savonarola and Lucretius could have played a major role in Machiavelli’s use of it. In doing so, the study will consider passages from "The Discourses" and "Florentine Histories", trying to show how Machiavelli can be in fact located within the broader tradition of a materialistic "ontology" founded on the principle of chance (caso). Finally, the essay will deepen the analysis of the issue of war by considering the question of arms and institutions (leggi e ordini, armi), assessing what kind of relationship this dimension entertains in Machiavelli’s writing with his use of images of natural catastrophe. Here, the focus will lay on "Ghiribizzi", "Capitolo di Fortuna", "Art of War" and, again, "The Prince".
Relazione presentata al workshop annuale "Cose della Magna. Machiavelli e il mondo tedesco", 19-2... more Relazione presentata al workshop annuale "Cose della Magna. Machiavelli e il mondo tedesco", 19-20 giugno 2023, Istituto Storico Italo-Germanico di Trento.
The paper aims to reconsider Machiavelli's analysis of conspiracies from the standpoint of langua... more The paper aims to reconsider Machiavelli's analysis of conspiracies from the standpoint of language and rapresentation. What does Machiavelli’s take on conspiracies tell us about the relationship between conflict, society and power in the Modern Age?
In his "Spie, Radici di un paradigma indiziario", Carlo Ginzburg resorts to the ancient figure of... more In his "Spie, Radici di un paradigma indiziario", Carlo Ginzburg resorts to the ancient figure of metis in describing a form of knowledge that, according to him, resurfaced in the context of the humanities at the end of the nineteenth century. Interested in the formulation of a "epistemological model" for his microhistory, Ginzburg offers a definition of metis that fails however to sufficiently underscore her essentially practical character. For their part, Detienne/Vernant have shown how pervasive the cunning rationality of the ruse actually was in the religious-mythological, poetical and technical thought of pre-classical Greek. Thus, metis appears there as the prudential knowledge of the unknown, a radically practical rationality devoted to the production of a future conceived as contingent. This paper proposes to locate Machiavelli between these two perspectives. I will argue that, in this way, Machiavelli brings to the light a since-Plato submerged model of rationality in which theory and action hold together, articulating a sort of subterranean philosophy of praxis.
Relazione presentata alla Inagural Conference della International Machiavelli Society, Roma, 13-1... more Relazione presentata alla Inagural Conference della International Machiavelli Society, Roma, 13-16 dicembre 2023.
Relazione presentata al workshop internazionale "History and Power. Political theory and practice... more Relazione presentata al workshop internazionale "History and Power. Political theory and practices of power: influences, contagions, dichotomies (XV-XIX centuries)", Catania 11-13 aprile 2024
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