Rough list of topics I am interested in or would like to know more:

• Works that contain overviews, commentaries, studies, etc.

• History of ideas

  • Influence on Machiavelli's thought from the past: Greeks, Romans, Christianity.

  • Contemporaneous history: Biographical history, Renaissance history, etc.

  • Future influence on various people (especially philosophers).

  • Comparative history, e.g. similar ideas in Chinese history.

• Philosophical aspects (SEP, IEP)

  • Hermeneutic aspects

    • Differing schools of interpretation: Straussian, Cambridge School, etc.

    • His rhetorical use. I did a course in classical rhetoric where we worked on a rhetorical analysis of different sections in The Prince. The density of classical rhetorical appeals and figures per line/paragraph was fascinating (and that it still shined through in translation). Also see aesthetic aspects below.

  • Social/political philosophy.

    • The practices of secrecy and conspiracy.

    • Thoughts on war, mercenaries, etc.

    • "The Problem of Dirty Hands."

    • Prudence.

    • Occult practices as a kind of politically-useful fiction.

    • Civil strife, tumult, stasis.

  • Aesthetic aspects:

    • His fictional works (plays, poems, etc.)

    • The symbolism and iconography in his writing, e.g. Fortuna, animals, medical metaphors.

      • Also taking the metaphors seriously: interpreting them along the lines of Ricoeur, Blumenberg, etc. Hence the number of wolf books that go beyond just the history of the metaphor.

  • Metaphysics

    • The influence of astrology on his ontology (see Parel's The Machiavellian Cosmos)

    • His philosophical anthropology and thoughts on human nature.