The Advisor: Counsel, Concealment, and Machiavelli's Voice. (1st October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goodman, Rob
• Is Part Of: Redescriptions. Volume 20:Number 2(2017)
• Page Start: 200
• Page End: 223
• Publication Date: 2017-10-01
• Subjects: Machiavelli -- Cicero -- rhetoric -- advice -- flattery -- framing -- rhetorical -- redescription -- "mirrors for princes"; Political science -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; 320.05
• DOI: 10.7227/R.20.2.4
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2308-0906

Abstract

Abstract : Machiavelli's political works should be read not only as attempts to shape princely behavior, but as demonstrations of a model of advisory behavior. They are a performance of advice-giving, of the dispassionate, scientistic – but also quietly radical – behavior Machiavelli expects of those tasked with speaking to power. This model's central feature is concealment of argument and rhetorical intent, a feature inherited from classical rhetoric but put to newly expansive use. This article turns from Machiavelli's appropriation of the "mirror" literature's concept of flattery, a kind of counter-ideal of advisory behavior, to his development of the classical rhetoric of self-effacement. It argues that he puts this rhetorical tradition to newly expansive use – not as a proto-scientist of politics but as a dynamic political actor in his own right – inventing ostensibly neutral dilemmas, classifications, and frames to guide the ruler-reader, as if voluntarily, toward some of his most distinctive conclusions.