Machiavelli, Leonardo and the science of power

In recent years, Niccolo Machiavelli's works have been viewed primarily with historical interest as analysis of the tactics used by immoral political officials.

Roger D. Masters, a specialist in the relationship between modern natural sciences and politics, argues in this book that Machiavelli should be reconsidered as a major philosopher whose thought makes the wisdom of antiquity accessible to the modern (and post-modern) condition, and whose undertsanding of human nature is superior to that of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx or Mill.

Central to Masters's claim is his discovery, based on previously untranslated documents, that Machiavelli knew and worked with Leonardo da Vinci between 1502 and 1507.

An interdisciplinary text, this book should interest readers with its evocative story of the relationship between Machiavelli and da Vinci, their crucial roles in the emergence of modernity, and the vast implications this holds for contemporary life and society.