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Beyond the Doxa : Accounting for Paradox in Niccolo Machiavelli

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dc.date.accessioned 2020-09-15T12:08:09Z
dc.date.available 2020-09-15T12:08:09Z
dc.date.issued 2020-09-15
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/31407
dc.title Beyond the Doxa : Accounting for Paradox in Niccolo Machiavelli en
ethesis.discipline yleinen historia fi
ethesis.discipline General History en
ethesis.discipline allmän historia sv
ethesis.discipline.URI http://data.hulib.helsinki.fi/id/1c0e88d8-9250-44f2-aa41-069683376be0
ethesis.department.URI http://data.hulib.helsinki.fi/id/a1d233ba-0cef-4649-a112-6c6badcc23f9
ethesis.department Filosofian, historian, kulttuurin ja taiteiden tutkimuksen laitos 2010-2017 fi
ethesis.department Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies 2010-2017 en
ethesis.department Institutionen för filosofi, historia, kultur- och konstforskning 2010-2017 sv
ethesis.faculty Humanistinen tiedekunta fi
ethesis.faculty Faculty of Arts en
ethesis.faculty Humanistiska fakulteten sv
ethesis.faculty.URI http://data.hulib.helsinki.fi/id/4c936847-0cd8-46d4-b842-e9ebb8670ab7
ethesis.university.URI http://data.hulib.helsinki.fi/id/50ae46d8-7ba9-4821-877c-c994c78b0d97
ethesis.university Helsingin yliopisto fi
ethesis.university University of Helsinki en
ethesis.university Helsingfors universitet sv
dct.creator Tippett, Jake
dct.issued 2020
dct.language.ISO639-2 eng
dct.abstract Tiedekunta/Osasto – Fakultet/Sektion – Faculty Faculty of Arts and Humanities Tekijä – Författare – Author Jake Tippett Työn nimi – Arbetets titel – Title Beyond the Doxa: Accounting for Paradox in Niccolò Machiavelli Oppiaine – Läroämne – Subject General History Työn laji – Arbetets art – Level MA Aika – Datum – Month and year August 2020 Sivumäärä– Sidoantal – Number of pages 63 Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract This thesis examines paradox in a small, yet diverse, selection of Niccolò Machiavelli’s writings — his letters, poems, and his major political/literary writings — and sets out to address the gap that exists in the critical appreciation of paradox in his work. Contextualising his writings in relation to the Italian Renaissance culture of paradox, I have examined paradox here in connection to questions of human agency. I discuss the way paradox can be seen to function as a literary site of cultural conflict and construction and argue that Machiavelli utilised the paradoxical form as a creative tool to enable his own innovative artistic acts of agency. Lastly, I argue that paradox informed his own theoretical mediations on effective human action. In doing so, I draw on upon Saussure’s language theories to reconceptualize the way paradox works to challenge orthodoxy and cultural convention and to consider how it may be seen to function as a tool of human agency in Machiavelli’s work. I argue that the power of paradox derives from its presentation of something being what it is considered not to be. This expression of “difference” in relation to doxa works to challenge any objective or fixed status held by the particular formulation that it confronts. I also argue that, in marking a difference, paradox points back, at the same time, towards its own possibility of difference and its own paradoxicality, and that this alterity and indeterminate character of paradox can be located in Machiavelli’s own theories surrounding effective human action. I conclude, by suggesting that paradox can be considered a central form and concept in Machiavelli’s writings. And that his work may be read intertextually in relation to the Italian Renaissance culture of paradox. Furthermore, the reconceptualization of paradox offered here has highlighted its potential as powerful tool of human agency. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords Machiavelli, Paradox, Agency Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringställe – Where deposited Muita tietoja – Övriga uppgifter – Additional information en
dct.subject Machiavelli
dct.subject Paradox
dct.subject Agency
dct.language en
ethesis.language.URI http://data.hulib.helsinki.fi/id/languages/eng
ethesis.language englanti fi
ethesis.language English en
ethesis.language engelska sv
ethesis.supervisor Mikkeli, Heikki
ethesis.thesistype pro gradu -tutkielmat fi
ethesis.thesistype master's thesis en
ethesis.thesistype pro gradu-avhandlingar sv
ethesis.thesistype.URI http://data.hulib.helsinki.fi/id/thesistypes/mastersthesis
dct.identifier.ethesis E-thesisID:1b94e910-b44d-4eb4-848b-244ae417d36d
dct.subject.YSOFI General History und
ethesis-internal.timestamp.reviewStep 2020-08-31 17:13:14:751
dct.identifier.urn URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202009154104
dc.type.dcmitype Text
ethesis.facultystudyline.URI none
ethesis.mastersdegreeprogram.URI none

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