Some Common Aspects of the Thought of Seneca and Machiavelli

1968 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal Wood
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Moral Community ◽  
Stoic Philosophy

Seneca's stoic philosophy of the universal moral community of man has little in common with Machiavelli's very practical theory of the ways and means of political power. Ignoring the question of moral obligation, the Florentine often gives to virtù a special prudential meaning apparently quite different in spirit from the Roman's ethical ideal of virtus. That their intellectual perspectives are in opposition is the judgment of modern scholars, who find Seneca's influence on Machiavelli of no great significance. Nevertheless a rereading of Seneca's moral essays and epistles with Machiavelli in mind reveals neglected parallels in their thought almost as striking as the more obvious differences and which suggest the need of a reappraisal of the relation between the two thinkers. What follows, therefore, is an effort to ascertain the nature of the elements common to their respective outlooks.

scholarly journals Intolerable Ideologies and the Obligation to Discriminate

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-156
Author(s):  
Tim Loughrist ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Activity ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
Neutral Activity

In this paper, I argue that businesses bear a pro tanto, negative, moral obligation to refuse to engage in economic relationships with representatives of intolerable ideologies. For example, restaurants should refuse to serve those displaying Nazi symbols. The crux of this argument is the claim that normal economic activity is not a morally neutral activity but rather an exercise of political power. When a business refuses to engage with someone because of their membership in some group, e.g., Black Americans, this is a use of political power to signal that Black Americans are other. Conversely, when businesses engage with someone who is clearly representing an intolerable ideology, this is a use of political power that signals the acceptability of that ideology. Businesses should not do this.

Supervisors' abuse of customers: The moderating role of moral obligation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Greenbaum ◽  
Mary Bardes ◽  
David M. Mayer ◽  
Manuela Priesemuth
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Moderating Role

‘Imagined San Francisco’: Unpacking Urban Regime Theory through Interactive Cartography

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-143
Author(s):  
Ocean Howell
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Urban Regime Theory ◽  
Digital Mapping ◽  
Urban Regime ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Interactive Cartography

American urban historians have begun to understand that digital mapping provides a potentially powerful tool to describe political power. There are now important projects that map change in the American city along a number of dimensions, including zoning, suburbanization, commercial development, transportation infrastructure, and especially segregation. Most projects use their visual sources to illustrate the material consequences of the policies of powerful agencies and dominant planning ‘regimes.’ As useful as these projects are, they often inadvertently imbue their visualizations with an aura of inevitability, and thereby present political power as a kind of static substance–possess this and you can remake the city to serve your interests. A new project called ‘Imagined San Francisco’ is motivated by a desire to expand upon this approach, treating visual material not only to illustrate outcomes, but also to interrogate historical processes, and using maps, plans, drawings, and photographs not only to show what did happen, but also what might have happened. By enabling users to layer a series of historical urban plans–with a special emphasis on unrealized plans–‘Imagined San Francisco’ presents the city not only as a series of material changes, but also as a contingent process and a battleground for political power.

Bina Agarwal. A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Cambridge, UKlNew Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 572pp.Hardbound.

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmeen Mohiuddin
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Economic Factor ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
Innovative Solutions

A Field of One's Own is a pioneering study on gender and property in South Asia. It argues that the gender gap in 'effective' ownership of property is the 'single most important' economic factor in explaining gender inequities in South Asia, where land ownership is not only a symbol of economic status but also of social prestige and political power. The author explores the complex, and often unrecognised, reasons for this gender gap and suggests some innovative solutions.

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