Lecture
Raymond Levine
Wednesday 11.11.2026
Raymond Levine
Machiavelli: Forerunner of the Enlightenment
Wednesday 11.11.2026
How to watch
This lecture starts on 11 November at 7:00pm (UK).
Summary
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) was a renaissance man to his core. This talk examines his writings and, where discernible, his beliefs, to consider whether his influence on future generations of philosophers and commentators enables us to conclude that he was indeed a precursor of the Enlightenment, which occurred nearly two centuries after his lifetime. The arguments for and against may contain surprises and will doubtless remain controversial, as they have been throughout modern history.
Raymond Levine
Raymond Levine has been a practicing lawyer in London for over 50 years. He is now retired, at least officially. Having read law at Oxford University, he has spent his precious spare time over many years reading more interesting and exciting things, on topics such as history, philosophy, religion, mythology, and even occasionally science. Apart from a little law, he claims no particular expertise in any of them. Nonetheless he is an advocate of the idea that all things are interconnected and hopes to develop this line of thought in an informative and entertaining way.