The Online Library of Liberty
A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
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Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.
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Liberty and Responsibility and Prudence in The Prince, King Lear, and Measure for Measure
This List Is By:
Dr. David M. Hart
Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Director of the Online Library of Liberty Project at Liberty Fund, Inc.
B.A. (Macquarie), M.A. (Stanford), PhD (King’s College Cambridge).
Topic
The conference will examine the nature of responsible governance and consider whether moral equivocations might be necessary for the good of the whole entity, whether it be a people or a corporation. Are good governors and managers born, or can techniques for responsible government and prudent management be taught?
The selected texts are concerned with different concepts of power, authority, liberty, and prudence. They invite us to explore the relation between legitimate power, the exercise of leadership, and the protection of liberty within a framework of rules. Prudent and responsible political leadership must come to terms with the paradoxes of human nature so that authority is based on responsible action.
Additional Reading
See:
- Author: Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
- Author: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
THE PRINCE. - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, vol. 2 (The Prince, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius, Thoughts of a Statesman) [1513]
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, tr. from the Italian, by Christian E. Detmold (Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1882). Vol. 2. Chapter: THE PRINCE.
Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/775/75825 on 2007-12-03
William Shakespeare, King Lear [1608]
William Shakespeare, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (The Oxford Shakespeare), ed. with a glossary by W.J. Craig M.A. (Oxford University Press, 1916).
Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/1621 on 2007-12-03
Sessions V & VI: Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Session V: A ghastly comedy, this play presents some of the behavior that we would expect from a Machiavellian. The plot includes intrigue, character flaws, deception, power grabs, and a surprise resolution of the tangled conflicts. Questions: What could be said to support or condemn the Duke’s decision to place his realm in Angelo’s keeping? Do Angelo’s acts truly reflect Machiavelli’s ideas, or distort them? Is the Duke a Machiavellian character? Are the Duke and Angelo “free and responsible individuals?” What assumptions about morality are presented in Acts I–II? What examples of good and bad rule are presented here? Readings: Measure for Measure, Acts I–II, pages 1–65.
Session VI: Questions: Considering the play as a whole, what understanding of human nature and the human condition emerges from it? In what respects is this understanding true, in your view? What, if any, important aspects of human nature are omitted? Considering the play as a whole, what understandings of liberty and responsibility does it offer us? How does the play, in its dramatic manner, express truths about good and bad political rule and rulers? Readings: Measure for Measure, Acts III–V
William Shakespeare, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (The Oxford Shakespeare), ed. with a glossary by W.J. Craig M.A. (Oxford University Press, 1916).
Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/1615 on 2007-12-03