Nevertheless Nevertheless
Verso World History Series

Nevertheless

Machiavelli, Pascal

    • $14.99
    • $14.99

Publisher Description

From the master of "micro-history" a reconstruction of two contrasting early-modern thinkers

Nevertheless comprises essays on Machiavelli and on Pascal. The ambivalent connection between the two parts is embodied by the comma (,) in the subtitle: Machiavelli, Pascal. Is this comma a conjunction or a disjunction?

In fact, both. Ginzburg approaches Machiavelli's work from the perspective of casuistry, or case-based ethical reasoning. For as Machiavelli indicated through his repeated use of the adverb nondimanco ("nevertheless"), there is an exception to every rule. Such a perspective may seem to echo the traditional image of Machiavelli as a cynical, "machiavellian" thinker. But a close analysis of Machiavelli the reader, as well as of the ways in which some of Machiavelli's most perceptive readers read his work, throws a different light on Machiavelli the writer. The same hermeneutic strategy inspires the essays on the Provinciales, Pascal's ferocious attack against Jesuitical casuistry.

Casuistry vs anti-casuistry; Machiavelli's secular attitude towards religion vs Pascal's deep religiosity. We are confronted, apparently, with two completely different worlds. But Pascal read Machiavelli, and reflected deeply upon his work. A belated, contemporary echo of this reading can unveil the complex relationship between Machiavelli and Pascal - their divergences as well as their unexpected convergences.

GENRE
Nonfiction
RELEASED
2022
January 25
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
272
Pages
PUBLISHER
Verso Books
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
2.6
MB

More Books Like This

Machiavelli’s Prince Machiavelli’s Prince
2017
Humanism and Secularization Humanism and Secularization
2003
Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries (Complete) Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries (Complete)
2009
François Rabelais : 1483 (?)-1983 François Rabelais : 1483 (?)-1983
1983
The Last Days of Humanism: A Reappraisal of Quevedo's Thought The Last Days of Humanism: A Reappraisal of Quevedo's Thought
2017
The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli
2010

More Books by Carlo Ginzburg

The Cheese and the Worms The Cheese and the Worms
2013
The Night Battles The Night Battles
2013
Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method
2013
Threads and Traces Threads and Traces
2012
El hilo y las huellas El hilo y las huellas
2018
Old Thiess, a Livonian Werewolf Old Thiess, a Livonian Werewolf
2020

Other Books in This Series

Religion and the Rise of Capitalism Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
2015
Lineages of the Absolutist State Lineages of the Absolutist State
1985
Peasant-Citizen and Slave Peasant-Citizen and Slave
1989
The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilizations The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilizations
1988
The Pristine Culture of Capitalism The Pristine Culture of Capitalism
1991
Latin Latin
2023