Book Launch: Miguel Vatter "Machiavelli and the Religion of the Ancients" In Conversation with Andrea Rizzi and Paul Muldoon

Miguel Vatter, Andrea Rizzi, Paul Muldoon

Book Launch Event: "Machiavelli and the Religion of the Ancients: Platonism and Radical Republicanism" In Conversation with Andrea Rizzi and Paul Muldoon

Miguel Vatter (Deakin University)

Blurb: Machiavellianism and Platonism are traditionally opposed, as realism is to idealism, and might is to right. This book questions this opposition, arguing that Machiavelli is far more influenced by Platonism than by Epicureanism. The Platonism at the time of the Medici is marked by the reception of Arabic/Islamic and Byzantine interpretations of Plato. These portray Platonism as an expression of an “ancient theology” that offers an alternative to Christianity by undoing a stark opposition between faith and knowledge; emphasising the political and state-founding role of prophets; affirming the continuity between humans and animals; and defending the rationality of divine and human law. Miguel Vatter contends that from these alternative approaches to Platonism, Machiavelli draws a critique of both the Catholic Church and of Humanism, rejecting their oligarchic tendencies in favour of a radical form of republicanism.

Bio: Professor Miguel Vatter has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research, and has held academic positions in political science and philosophy departments in the United States and in Chile, as well as visiting professorships in Germany, China and the UK. Before coming to Deakin he was Professor of Politics at Flinders and UNSW. He works in the areas of political and legal theory, contemporary continental philosophy, and intellectual history. His current areas of research and publication are Machiavelli, Kant, republicanism, neoliberalism, biopolitics, political theology and planetary health.

This event is in person at 3pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) 23 September 2026.