I’ve not read a ton of Machiavelli but I do want to read more, since it seems pertinent to understanding global and local politics, as well as work, community, and social spaces, online and in real life.
I wish I could have read much more when I was young. I only read “The Prince” from Machiavelli which is a very good (albeit small) book about politics. There are other bigger tomes from Machiavelli about politics and war that should definitely be in people’s reading list, if those themes interest them.
All the other authors are also worth reading, even the Nazi ones. I haven’t read them, but for example, Schmitt is a reference in political science. So even authors who are from a different political spectrum can offer perspectives and insights that could be incorporated or criticized. Marx wrote Das Kapital after reading most works from bourgeois political economists like Smith, Ricardo, Petty, Malthus and others.
But what I find amusing is how the court (local or not) is picking specifically Marx study groups. It could be a start of a larger wave of persecutions in Europe, as the Western crisis expands. It’s maybe a sign of increasing despair from authorities that they are using force instead of other means to keep Marxism in the margin. And, of course, it’s a sign of the growth of Fascistic elements within government’s ranks.
While we may find it disturbing and unpalatable, I do wish I’d taken your attitude thirty years ago. Knowing our own opponents’ strengths and weaknesses is tantamount to victory, and I believe Sun Tzu said as much, in The Art of War.
I wish I could have read much more when I was young. I only read “The Prince” from Machiavelli which is a very good (albeit small) book about politics. There are other bigger tomes from Machiavelli about politics and war that should definitely be in people’s reading list, if those themes interest them.
All the other authors are also worth reading, even the Nazi ones. I haven’t read them, but for example, Schmitt is a reference in political science. So even authors who are from a different political spectrum can offer perspectives and insights that could be incorporated or criticized. Marx wrote Das Kapital after reading most works from bourgeois political economists like Smith, Ricardo, Petty, Malthus and others.
But what I find amusing is how the court (local or not) is picking specifically Marx study groups. It could be a start of a larger wave of persecutions in Europe, as the Western crisis expands. It’s maybe a sign of increasing despair from authorities that they are using force instead of other means to keep Marxism in the margin. And, of course, it’s a sign of the growth of Fascistic elements within government’s ranks.
While we may find it disturbing and unpalatable, I do wish I’d taken your attitude thirty years ago. Knowing our own opponents’ strengths and weaknesses is tantamount to victory, and I believe Sun Tzu said as much, in The Art of War.