Values, Virtues, and Vices, Italian Style

Raymond Angelo Belliotti provides us with a clear and fascinating look into the lives and philosophies of Caesar, Dante, Machiavelli, and Garibaldi. Values, Virtues, and Vices, Italian Style is must reading for those interested in Roman history, ideas and culture, and for those interested in the history of philosophy in general. From Caesar's will to power to Dante's conception of human happiness to the problem of morally dirty hands in Machiavelli to Garibaldi's code of honor, Belliotti guides the reader through an excursion into some of the most important problems of value for these figures which are overlooked by most contemporary philosophers.

-- J. Angelo Corlett, San Diego State University

Philosopher Raymond Angelo Belliotti’s twenty-third book is an outstanding example of the kind of project he has honed to perfection: topically on morals and manners, historically informed, widely ranging over Literature in the old-fashioned sense of anything written; capable of being read with profit by the philosopher and the common reader alike; books attracting large audiences such as Dostoevsky’s Legal and Moral Philosophy; Happiness is Overrated ; The Philosophy of Baseball; Shakespeare and Philosophy: Lust, Love, and Law; Jesus or Nietzsche; Is Human Life Absurd? Perhaps it was inevitable that he would take stock, review his record, and attempt to answer that most elusive of questions which an interviewer presented him: “Who are you?” His answer comes partly in these four studies of Caesar, Dante, Machiavelli, and Garibaldi (he might have rounded out this side of the Italian pantheon with Columbus and Galileo). Belliotti’s “lives” recall Plutarch in their structure, length, illuminating detail, and sense of surprise. With equal subtlety and empathy, he examines the sources of human motivation, failure, and achievement. “Whereas most philosophers can be safely left at the office,” he writes, “Machiavelli always followed me home.” That is his own goal as a philosopher, and his twenty-third book shows that his message is getting through.

-- John Paul Russo, University of Miami

Ray Belliotti’s work is an enticing read that profiles the characters of four leading figures of Italian heritage, from Julius Caesar to Giuseppe Garibaldi. Although these men span centuries, Belliotti masterfully uncovers the common thread of their values, virtues and vices that are formed by the contours of different historic circumstances that elicited their choices. The clarity and accessibility of the historic conditions he lays out, is written informatively in an engaging style that invites the reader’s return. While his philosophical analysis of “will to power” and incisive analysis of “honor codes” invites the philosopher to linger in deeper consideration of the values and virtues all individuals earn in varied yet similar human struggles. This work underscores the value philosophy brings to the study of character and its impact on shaping historical events.

-- G John M. Abbarno, D'Youville Col