The (Ir)Relevance of Music in the Work "Della Ragion di Stato" of an Italian Thinker Giovanni Botero

Abstract

The work Della Ragion di Stato [The Reason of State, 1589], written by Giovanni Botero (c. 1544–1617), is considered to be one of the most prominent works in the field of political philosophy from the late Renaissance. The first part of this article will present the fragments in which Botero mentions music and which show that apparently he did not have a particularly high opinion about the artform. The second part of this article will present the comparison between Giovanni Botero and Nicolo Vito di Gozze (Nikola Vitov Gučetić, 1549–1610), the philosopher and politician from Dubrovnik, who dealt with music in his work Dello Stato delle Republiche [On the State of the Republics, 1591], presenting it in a different, highly positive light.