Filippo Del Lucchese

Thinking in Extremes: Machiavellian Studies, published by Brill Academic Publisher

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I am the co-editor of Thinking in Extremes: Machiavellian Studies, published by Brill Academic Publisher.

This series has a double aim. First, it aims to become the international reference for Machiavellian studies, the site where the main critical traditions (Anglo-American, French, and Italian) can not only meet but also interact and reciprocally influence each other. Second, the series aims to establish a new methodological approach to the study of Machiavelli and, more generally, early modern political thought: a methodology grounded on the trans-disciplinary – and probably anti-disciplinary – dimension of his thought. This fundamental characteristic is not sufficiently clear in the field that is still divided between the image of Machiavelli as a ‘pure scholar,’ and reader of ancient manuscripts versus the image of Machiavelli as a ‘pure politician,’ almost ignorant of political philosophy and barely capable of repeating someone else’s opinion. The fact that Machiavelli was an active and practical politician is too often considered as an handicap. In fact, because of his cultural background and his social origin, Machiavelli opens up the possibility of a new original intellectual approach, in which theory and practice, culture and politics cannot be separated. For this reason, the study of his thought can be carried on only by intertwining multiple codes and languages and by recognizing the positive dimensions of his multiplicity of approaches.