The problem of creativity and scientific heritage of Machiavelli in the framework of the historiographical assessments of Francesco De Sanctis

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of creativity and scientific heritage of Niccolò Machiavelli in the system of historiographic assessments by Francesco De Sanctis (1817-1883). The author states the importance of addressing this issue in the era of globalization, since the era of the Italian Renaissance reflected cardinal changes in the interpretation of the historical process. In addition, in the era of globalization, the question of the system for forming the stages of historiographic assessments of Machiavelli's scientific heritage has significant methodological potential. Of particular interest in this regard is the Italian historiography of the 19th century, which developed under the influence of the emergence of a single centralized Italian state. What the Italians failed in the 16th century, what Machiavelli dreamed about in the final chapter of The Prince, became a historical fact in 1861. Of course, before the Italian historiography, a natural question arose about the creation of a holistic picture of Italian social and political life, within which the name of Machiavelli was to occupy a significant place. Thus, after Italy gained its statehood in the 19th century, representatives of Italian historiography faced the task of determining the true place of the entire scientific heritage of Machiavelli within the framework of Italian historical development. This task was brilliantly solved in the framework of the «History of Italian Literature» by Francesco De Sanctis (1817-1883).Consideration of the problems of creativity and scientific heritage of Machiavelli in the system of historiographic assessments by Francesco De Sanctis allows us to state the deep theoretical and methodological significance of these assessments. In de Sanctis' assessments of Machiavelli's heritage, not only a dry academic approach prevails, but also the desire to tie these assessments to De Sanctis' contemporary Italian political life of the 19th century. The scientific heritage and work of Machiavelli is considered by Francesco De Sanctis as a kind of lesson for the present. Machiavelli, who relies on realism and yet pays tribute to Fortune, is regarded as precisely a modern author. The assessments of the outstanding Italian scholar expressed in the second volume of the «History of Italian Literature» laid the foundation for a significant part of the modern interpretation of Machiavelli. In the era of globalization, the appeal to the key aspects of the formation of assessments of creativity and scientific heritage of Machiavelli within the framework of Italian historiography of the 19th century is of considerable interest. Thus, the views of Machiavelli were formed in a complex and rich atmosphere of the decline of the political influence of Italy, which became a fact after the military events of 1494. This allows us, in turn, referring to the heritage of the Florentine thinker, to see the content of his concepts in the light of the challenges of the era of globalization and the formation of a new world order.