Abstract

MATTEI, Eugenia. An allusive writing: Machiavelli's Castruccio Castracani. discus.filos [online]. 2016, vol.17, n.29, pp.79-95. ISSN 0124-6127.  https://doi.org/10.17151/difil.2016.17.29.6.

The aim of this article is to analyze the references that Niccolò Machiavelli makes on the figure of Castruccio Castracani. Machiavelli develops a particular writing, which must be followed closely: based on his analysis, we may find tools to examine how leaderships operate in his work, and how leaders interact with the people through a passionate circle that is generated between them. I have organized this paper in the following way: firstly, I shall sequentially restore Castruccio's story in Machiavelli's work. Once this is done, I shall focus on the treatment of the relevant concepts in order to address the Machiavellian notion of leadership. Finally, I shall present the conclusions: through the systematic analysis of Castruccio I explore how the notion of "Machiavellian leadership" is built. The specific feature of the concept of leadership in Machiavelli is the acknowledgment of the people as a valid interlocutor; that is, not in a manipulative, perverse or oppressive way, but as a condition of the possibility of leadership.

Keywords : Castruccio Castracani; leadership; Machiavelli; people.

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