Undergraduate Course: Machiavelli and His World (HIST10361)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course focuses on knowledge and understanding of the life and works of Nicolò Machiavelli as a means of broadening and deepening knowledge of the Renaissance in Italy. |
| Course description |
The Florentine writer and political theorist Nicolò Machiavelli is one of the most original and controversial figures of the Italian Renaissance. His writings offer a stimulating and highly personal introduction to the troubled history of Italy during c. 1450-c.1530 and provide an introduction to the major themes of Renaissance culture from political duplicity and friendship to gender relations and the art of war. In this course students examine a wide range of Machiavelli's readings and place them in historical context in order to understand Machiavelli and his remarkable world.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting Students should usually have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge about Machiavelli considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of assigned texts by Machiavelli;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Primary Source
The Portable Machiavelli, edited and trans. Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa (Harmondsworth : Penguin Books, 1979)
Secondary Sources
Corrado Vivanti, Niccolo Machiavelli: An Intellectual Biography (Princeton University Press, 2013)
J. R. Hale, Machiavelli and Renaissance Italy (London, 1961)
John Najemy, Between Friends: Discourses of Power and Desire in the Machiavelli-Vettori Letters of 1513-1515 (Princeton University Press 1993)
Paul Oppenheimer, Machiavelli. A Life Beyond Ideology (Continuum, 2011)
Q. Skinner, Machiavelli (Oxford, 1981)
M. Viroli, Niccolò's Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli (New York, 2000)
-- Machiavelli (Oxford, 1998)
The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli, ed. J. M. Najemy (Cambridge, 2010) (electronic resource)
Machiavelli and Republicanism, ed. G. Bock, Q. Skinner, and M. Viroli (Cambridge, 1990),
G. Ruggiero, Machiavelli in Love: Sex, Self and Society in the Italian Renaissance (Baltimore, 2007) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical interpretation of texts; oral and written presentation skills |
| Keywords | Machiavelli |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Lucinda Byatt
Tel: (0131 6)51 1736
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Annabel Stobie
Tel: (0131 6)50 3783
Email: |
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