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Learning path · 7 steps
The Political Realist Path
Machiavelli teaches the effectual truth of power; Hobbes shows why we trade freedom for order. Read them and never see a press conference the same way.
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Concept · 5 minUp next
The Effectual Truth
Niccolo Machiavelli
The move that founded modern political thought.
2
Concept · 5 min
The Virtuous Mask
Niccolo Machiavelli
Why the prince must seem, not be.
3
Concept · 5 min
Fortuna and Virtù
Niccolo Machiavelli
Skill against fortune.
4
Full text · 26 chapters
The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli
Twenty-six short chapters of scandal.
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Concept · 5 min
The State of Nature
Thomas Hobbes
Life without the state: nasty, brutish, short.
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Concept · 5 min
Sovereign Power
Thomas Hobbes
The Leviathan we build to escape each other.
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Full text · 4 chapters
Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes
The masterpiece of political fear.
Further reading
More from Political Realism, beyond the core path.