Fun fact: This lecture was entirely improvised. The person who was supposed to give the lecture had an episode moments before going on stage and Dr. Sugrue filled in for him at the last second. He brought a blank piece of paper with him on stage to make the audience think he wasn't just making it up. This story was told on the Idea Store podcast Q&A part 3.

Nothing more badass than lecturing for 42 minutes 50 seconds on how to be a villain, calling it "Machiavelli" and dropping it on youtube without further comment.

Dr. Michael Sugrue is Professor of History at Ave Maria University. A graduate of the Great Books Program, he earned his B.A. in History from the University of Chicago and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in History from Columbia University. Prior to taking his position at Ave Maria University, Professor Sugrue taught at Princeton University, the City College of New York, Columbia University, Manhattan College, New York University, Hampton University, and Touro College. He served as the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University from 1992 to 1994. Professor Sugrue was awarded the Chamberlain Fellowship, the President's Fellowship, the John Jay Fellowship, and the Meyer Padva Prize.

Great lecture about 2Pac, thanks❤️

Hands down the best philosophy content on whole KZfaq.

Strangely, it was the news of this mans passing that made me click on one of his lectures just out of curiosity and ive been non stop listening since. So a post-mortem thank you sir

Michael, I started watching your lectures 3yrs ago… I’m 34 and entered college last spring. your lectures hatched something in my soul. Now I’m majoring in political science, and minoring in philosophy.

RIP Dr. Sugrue…. You provided us with hours upon hours of fascinating lectures & made our lives much more interesting…. A great man.

I owe Machiavelli alot. I read the Prince when I was 19 and it woke me up to all the political corruption and manipulation of our modern world. It changed me from a leninist socialist to a free thinking human being

Teaching is an art. What a brilliant teacher. 👏

These lectures are honestly the best philosophy content on youtube.

I am in awe of the detail, richness, context, clarity, urgency and relevance conveyed by this lecturer from his own memory apparently impromptu. An inspiring introductory lecture to Machiavelli. Regardless of his ultimate personal views, this professor really knows his subject matter.

Wooow, the most fascinating talk I’ve ever heard. This guy is absolutely brilliant to give this off the top of his head

I normally enjoy Dr. Sugrue's lectures, but this one was clearly a surface-level examination of Machiavelli. While "The Prince" is everything Sugrue said it is, the author was anything BUT a "prince" as he depicted it. Machiavelli wrote poetry and screenplays. The height of his political career was a foreign emissary-type post that let Machiavelli travel across Italy and Europe. He also didn't retire; he was exiled after being tortured by the faction that ousted the Medici for a time. And most damning to the lecture's assertion is the fact that Machiavelli was a great fan of the republican form of government. Even in "The Prince", Machiavelli says that tyranny is only a stepping stone to a better system. And nowhere in "The Prince" does Machiavelli assert that EVERYONE should act like a tyrant.

Had really wanted a lecture on Machiavelli for so long. Thank you for this!

Just from the title and thumbnail alone I can already tell that this is going to be the lecture of all lectures

I love these lectures, thank you

i've been waiting for this!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!

I've been looking forward to this. Thanks Dr Sugrue.

Thank you, sir. always

have always been curious about Machiavelli's work, this was an incredible dive into these ideas

I love these lectures!

Just brilliant, thank you.

Unbelievably great thanks 🙏

thank you for uploading this

I loved reading The Prince at university. Much better than anything else on the reading list.

I read the Prince as a teenager, really cool as a mature man to hear this again. Human nature is like a bag of snakes , not all are poisonous most are!!

I’ve been waiting for this one! These lectures are always appreciated

Thank you so much for these videos Professor. You enrich our lives.

Excellent thinker, telling it how it is not how it ought to be. Fantastic lecture, cheers.

Thank you for sharing. This was so digestible.

incredible lecture, thank you for upload

I was waiting for him to say "Mr. Anderson" the whole time. Gave me matrix vibes. Absolutely loved this lecture/talk whatever you wanna call it. Pure awesomeness

More gems and knowledge. Thank you sir.

I have learned so much from several of his talks, but this one is the one that just makes me giggle whenever I think of it. Evil genius.

This lecturer is so bright and so thorough. 😮

Ive been waiting for this one

The occasional sound of thunder in the background adds to the atmosphere of such a topic. As a somewhat bored office worker chained to my desk, these lectures are wonderful.

What a great speaker 🙏

I've read much of Machiavellis works. I didn't find the same man as you describe here. I found great wisdom and pragmatism, but not evil.

oh my god I was searching for lectures from Dr Sugrue about Machiavelli, this is great!

This man's handle on the English language is intimidating. He speaks so effortlessly, it's aaaaaaaMAZING

This was so good, that I had to rewinded to watch it again.

Thank you Dr Sugrue

Great teacher..he explains the philosophy with so much interest and in simple terms that it is never boring...really a genius.

The Prince must be one of the oldest books I've read. I read it for no other reason than because I'd heard the author mentioned a great deal and I thought it was worth looking at. It seemed like pretty straightforward and fairly accurate description of power and its consequences. I've come to think that many people think of it as some kind of instruction manual, and I guess it is in a way, whether it is descriptive or prescriptive is one's own choice. Knowledge will only accentuate your existing character. It is only dangerous to a dangerous person, either in their hands or in the hands of those who haven't caught on to them

Thank you for your work and contributions

Dr. Sugrue is spoiling us

When you thought there were no more lectures

Michael, if you’re reading this I just want you to know that your presentation here and this video have impacted me so much and helped me grow out of a lot of bad habits that were instilled in me when I was young . You’ve been a great role model in my adult life and I think about your words, your invaluable insights and your lectures almost every day ❤ Thank you again

Thanks very much for this.

Another new (old) one! Saved in my playlist. On Saturday morning I will take a coffee and sit in the garden to listen to Sugrue, looking forward, thank you!

Ugh. These lectures are changing my life. Can’t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge with the world.

I would have loved school if there was a teacher lke this. Captivating start to finish.

Great speaker - such an easy listen 👍

Thank you , seriously he teaches so well.

I disagree with sugrue’s view on machiavelli here. The prince does not appear to promote iniquity. It simply addresses the fact that it is not always possible to do what is good as doing so can lead to your (and your states) downfall. Machiavelli doesn’t choose fear over love. He choses both. However he acknowledges that in a conflict of interest between the two then fear is a more reliable option. That doesn’t make it right or more preferable. All of these lessons in the prince are to be employed to increase the quality of life of the populous. Machiavelli was writing in a time when weak leadership resulted in Italy’s integrity, faith and culture being up for sale to the highest bidder. Italy had become somewhat of a concubine due to hedonisitic men in power. the prince outlines the way to overthrow these men at their own game. However this is just my opinion so perhaps i am a fool.

RIP DR. Torn by this news . Thank you for your beautiful contributions . May you rest in paradise.

FANTASTIC Lecture!

I've been salivating waiting for this lecture.

If this was anyone else, the quality would be an issue. Sugrue… grabbing my popcorn.

Awed by Dr surgrue's brilliance.

Discovered Dr Michael Sugrue's content way too late. Incredible.

Thank you & Happy MayDay

كمية كبيرة من المعلومات حصلت عليها بعد إنتهائي من مشاهدة هذه المحاضرة شكرا أستاذ 👏👏

Brilliant lecture..thank you

Dope lecture, thanks for uploading!

Half way into this, and wow! What an insightful and elucidating lecture so far. Bravo.

What a video, even more impressive when you learn that this was improvised. It takes a deep understanding to be able to coherently and informatively speak on a topic for near an hour.

Great ! Like it so much Full wisdom and realistic content!

Wow this was simple yet amazing

When those violins hit you better be ready to kneel. Sugrue on Machiavelli! This one is going to be glorious

This man makes Philosophy edible. Any time i sit to listen to his lectures, it's like mealtime. The appetite to eat the intellectual food he serves is so deep. Thanks for being a teacher.

That was an amazing lecture 👏

Absolutely precise and easy to understand! This lecture has given much more wider perspective to my study. Thanks for the wonderful lecture🎉♥️

This lecture has some flaws. Macchiavelli was not thrown out with the Medicis but by the Medicis who had tortured him as a suspect of treason and kept him under "house arrest" in the countryside of Florence.. Machiavelli was in fact a devout republican and not really in favour of autocrats. Yet he was an ambitious man who wanted to get back into civil service of Florence. That's why he wrote "The prince" (the title of the booklet not given by him) as a means to endeare the Medici ruler which did not work. This book is not a manual of how to aquire power but how to keep staying in power. Machiavelli is a realist and as not a high meaning of humans. He explicitely says that he does not write how things should be but what things actually are. One might be less pessimistic as him. But he has history on his side.

This fella doesn't get Italy in the middle ages. Machiavelli cast a cold, detached eye on human nature. Everything he describes informs out reality today. Machiavelli isn't evil, he's unapologetically analytical and honest.

Thank You!

Incredible mind. Pls keep Up the good job.

I'm very proud of you. Hopefully that means something. 😘

Ahh the famous lecture - Sugrue ad-libbed it on the spot when the prof who was supposed to present suffered from stage fright.

Thank you !

Thankyu. Gonna follow yu .. a true educator .. entertains and informs .. yu do both

Amazing lectures!

One of the more important points made in the book that was not commented on in the video lecture is the control of fortune. Fortune, meaning chance, is something known since the ancients as limiting on what the good citizen and the good regime are. By chance, you are either born in a time where you can be both a good citizen and a good person (by way of being born into the good regime), or not. For Machiavelli, he notes that by chance, he was not born into an opportunity where he could ascend to political power, nor would his ideas take root. Think of the messenger from Nietzsche's thought, who came preaching into the town square, only to be laughed at and realize that he had been sent by fortune too early. So Machiavelli instead proposes that fortune, as impactful as it is in politics, should be limited and controlled by man, beaten into submission. This way, every regime would be the "good" regime. This very notion was put into practice by Modernism, where the goal of establishing a utopia, a heaven on earth, and removing chance from the equation by lowering the basis of the regime away from metaphysics and the good, something high, became the project. For this reason, I would disagree ever so slightly with Dr. Sugrue about Machiavelli's view of nature. Regarding human nature, there is no disagreement; but nature writ large, Machiavelli wanted to control it. Thus, we have the Enlightenment, and science becomes the ultimate tool of controlling nature, and politics the satisfaction of the most basic of human desires

We love you Mr. Sugrue.

these retro lectures are better than anything on the internet today

Excellent, thank you Dr. Sugrue for sharing this dissection of the Machiavellian world view :]

8:50 worked for medeci family 1:40 Attainment of political power 4:20 Justice is from coercion. 6:24 Donald Trump - Art of the Deal 7:00 Religious morality 7:50 Joseph Stalin's favourite book 9:30 10:20 Medici prince flattery 11:10 Love is nice but fear is predictable 13:20 Wolf 17:30 The Lion and the fox 18:50 Military head over town 29:00 Freud 33:00 Rulers and people like sheep herders and sheep 33:30 Odysseus 35:30 Plato's cave 36:45 Those who have not sinned cast first stone

Thank you.

Beautifully said

I hope there are more of Dr Sugrue's lectures in depth. Its amazing to listen to him. Wish my lecturers were as good and able to capture attention like him..

I would like to hear more philosophy lectures like this from you, entirely from memory.

Amazing content. Worth watching despite the sound/image quality!

Hands down the best form of articulation i have ever seen. Me who struggles to watch a 10min youtube video just watched this 40min video with full attention. Loved the way you just explained everything ❤

He wins us all over. wish someone could find the lectures on Strauss and Moliere (1998 and 1993, respectively) by this wonderful man! ---and upload the two

Michael Sugrue is a top top lecturer - knows the material without referring to notes. Top class! Chapeau!

thanks for uploading! very interesting subject

Was waiting for this one!! Yeaaaah!!!!!!

This is a somewhat cartoonish description of Machiavelli. Even on a lone reading of the Prince, Machiavelli comes off as a witty proto-utilitarian and moderate nationalist, not as an amoral political climber. I am not quite in the camp that interprets The Prince as entirely sarcastic, but Machiavelli definitely has a dry and occasionally hyperbolic sense of humor. I have read all of Machi’s Art of War, the Prince, and about a third of the Discourses on Livy, and he was more concerned with the common good even in The Prince than most give him credit for. Painting this caricature of him is a mild to moderate disservice to The Prince, and a major disservice Machiavelli himself.