The Art of Power

Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and the Making of Aesthetic Political Theory

By (author) Diego von Vacano

Hardback - £94.00

Publication date:

27 November 2006

Length of book:

230 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739110881

The Art of Power is a challenge to traditional political theory. Diego A. von Vacano examines the work of Machiavelli, arguing that he establishes a new, aesthetic perspective on political life. He then proceeds to carry out the most extensive analysis to date of an important relationship in political theory: that between the thought of Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche. Arguing that these two theorists have similar aims and perspectives, this work uncovers the implications of their common way of looking at the human condition and political practice to elucidate the phenomenon of the persistence of aesthetic, sensory cognition as fundamental to the human experience, particularly to the political life. By exploring this relationship, The Art of Power makes a significant contribution to the growing interest in the intersection of aesthetic theory and political philosophy as well as in interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on political theory.
Diego A. von Vacano's book fills an important hole in political theory literature. If one can say that Machiavelli inaugurates a certain modern conception of politics, one can also say that Nietzsche announces and analyzes its limits and its end. Von Vacano shows that both thinkers share a similar conception of the political and of human agency. The analyses are always sharp and the argument is clear and convincing. If, as Burckhardt argued, the state can be thought of as a work of art, von Vacano shows us what this actually entails. He also shows us why Nietzsche has to be understood as having a conception of and concern for the political.