The name of Machiavelli is synonymous with deceit, oppression, atrocity, and naked power. But his legacy is much more complicated than that. His thinking shaped the world we live in, and his advice can help anyone get further on their journey to taking over the world. 04:25 - The biography of Niccolo Machiavelli 34:30 - Advice from Machiavelli's works 01:05:30 - How to start a philosophy or movement that takes over the world --- Sponsors: Gains In Bulk - Use code BEN for 20% off VanMan - Use code TAKEOVER for 10% off Vesto Speechify.com/Ben - Use code Ben for 15% off Speechify Premium HTTOTW Premium - For all endnotes, takeaways, and bonus episode, subscribe to How to Take Over the World Premium --- Stay in touch: Twitter/X: @BenWilsonTweets Instagram: @HTTOTW Email me: [email protected] --- Writing, research, and production by Ben Wilson.
Chapter 1: What is the biography of Niccolo Machiavelli?
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Chapter 2: What advice does Machiavelli offer in his works?
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. Today, we are talking about Niccolo Machiavelli, the Italian statesman, philosopher, and writer best known for his book, The Prince. Machiavelli is not known as someone who took over the world himself.
Chapter 3: How can one start a movement to take over the world?
He did hold office in the Republican government of his native city of Florence, but the real reason to study him is not for what he did, but for what he wrote. His book, The Prince, is one of the most famous books of all time. For hundreds of years, it has given rulers a playbook for seizing and maintaining power. So of course, I would want to study him on this podcast.
Chapter 4: What are the key events in Machiavelli's life?
The show is called How to Take Over the World. He basically wrote a handbook on exactly that, on taking over the world. Of course, there is a dark side to Machiavelli's reputation. He is known as someone who was ruthless, dishonest, violent, bent on the pursuit of power at any cost. And that reputation is not completely unearned.
Chapter 5: How does Machiavelli's philosophy apply to modern politics?
So for example, we read in The Prince, to possess them, he's talking about your territories, securely, it is sufficient only to have wiped out the family line of the prince who ruled them. Because so far as other things are concerned, men live peacefully as long as their old way of life is maintained and there is no change in customs.
Chapter 6: What are the main themes in The Prince?
OK, so he speaks very casually about wiping out an entire family line. Presumably that includes children as well. Right. Or another quote from the prince. One must understand this.
Chapter 7: What lessons can we learn from Machiavelli's life and writings?
A prince and especially a new prince cannot observe all those things for which men are considered good, because in order to maintain the state, he must often act against his faith, against charity, against humanity and against religion. And so it is necessary that he should have a mind ready to turn itself according to the way of the winds of fortune and the changing circumstances command him.
Chapter 8: How does Machiavelli's advice relate to leadership today?
And here's the truth about Machiavelli. He doesn't care about right or wrong, at least not in the context of what he's talking about in The Prince and his other writings. It's like asking a biologist to constantly make references to whether a lion is right or wrong when it takes down a gazelle. They're just studying how a lion hunts, what it eats.
They're just not thinking about whether it's right or wrong. And similarly, Machiavelli is considered by many the first modern political scientist. And so he's just studying politics as a science. He's not making references to what you should do, at least not in the prints. He's just telling you what people do do, how things actually operate in the real world.
And it turns out, like the law of the jungle, the world of politics is dirty, it's violent, it's cruel. And in his book, Discourses on Livy, that's his second most famous book probably, he actually does talk quite a bit about what kind of state he would like to see exist in the world. And what he wants to see are more representative republics that take the Roman system as a model.
And so that doesn't sound that bad, right? So it's not like he's an all evil guy. It's just he's studying this science completely objectively. Anyway, Machiavelli himself is a remarkable person. I loved studying him. He's a great writer. He's incredibly insightful. He's funny. He's perceptive. And at times he's breathtakingly honest. It's very refreshing to read his writing.
And there's a reason that his works have stood the test of time and been used as handbooks by great rulers across centuries. So let's see what his playbook was for taking over the world. This is The Life of Niccolo Machiavelli. If you want to take over the world, it helps to look the part. And so you, my dear listener, need to be in the gym. You need to be working out.
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Okay, so to understand Machiavelli, we have to understand a little bit about his life and where he's coming from. So Machiavelli is born in Renaissance Italy in Florence to a family of pretty humble origins. They're not like poor, poor. They're not literally peasantry. But considering their class, which is, you know, the noble classes, the Machiavellis don't come from super wealthy circumstances.
You can see this in his education. He learns Italian and Latin, but he never learns ancient Greek, which is surprising for someone who ends up having such a scholarly influence on the world. Renaissance Florence was a chaotic place.
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