The idea of liberty in Machiavelli's Thought

ABSTRACT This thesis examines the notion of liberty in Machiavelli's political thought. To this end I analize the relation between the concept of liberty in Machiavelli's works and the civic humanism in Florance flourishing in 14th century, thus release their connection constructing this concept. To do this, first, I focused on the historical, economical and the social background of Renaissance, Italian city-states and of the city of Florance. My second aim has been to locate the idea of liberty in Machiavelli's thought, to do this first I tried to clarify the connection between this notion and the other notions used within it such as vivere civile, comune bene, republica..ecc. and then I examine the use of the idea of liberty in Machiavelli's work trying to understand its meaning. By doing this I discussed the interpretations of some Machiavelli scholars such as Skinner, Viroli, Pocock, De Grazia and Colish in order to locate the idea of liberty in Machiavelli in his political thought.