Florentine-born
philosopher of the Italian Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli (1467-1527) was a
diplomat and dramatist, but is best
remembered for his hugely influential and notorious work of political theory, The Prince, which was made his name
synonymous with political machinations. Providing a detailed analysis of
successful, if on occasion immoral, political techniques, Machiavelli’s text is
still used today by students of both philosophy and politics. In The Prince, Machiavelli concentrates on
those techniques a successful politician must use if he is to achieve his
political ends, without regard to the moral justification of the means thereby
employed. Often criticised by detractors for its lack of moral sensibility, it
is nevertheless a work of great intellectual integrity and consistency.
In The Prince, Machiavelli considers how best a leader can achieve his
ends once he has determined that the ends he has identified are worthwhile. Never
has the phrase “the ends justify the means” been more appropriately applied
than it is to Machiavellian technique. The book is almost entirely practical,
rarely speculating on the rightness or wrongness of the methods adumbrated
therein.
Nonetheless, The Prince does contain certain theses
about which political ends are good. Machiavelli thinks there are three primary
political “goods”: national security,
national independence, and a strong constitution. Beyond this, he is almost
entirely concerned with practical questions of how to go about securing
political success. It is vain to pursue a good political end with inadequate
means, for it will surely fail. One must pursue one’s convictions with strength
and courage it one is to be successful, employing whatever means necessary.
The heart of Machiavelli’s
teachings consists in the manipulation of others, including the populace, for
power. To this end, although Machiavelli does not teach that virtue is good in
itself, it can often serve one’s political ends to appear to be virtuous. This
is perhaps the doctrine that has caused most outrage against Machiavellian
thought. But Machiavelli himself is unconcerned with such weak and even
hypocritical sensibility. If, as we have said, one’s ends are good in
themselves, all that matters is that one brings them about; in order to do
this, Machiavelli tells us, one must have more power than one’s opponents.
Without doubt, The Prince is a work
meant only for those that have the fibre to take this fact, however unpleasant,
seriously.
Although The Prince is unflinching in its
teachings, it must be read alongside Machiavelli’s longer and more balanced
work, the Discourses, if his own
views are to be fairly understood. In the Discourses,
he provides more detailed background as to what he thinks makes a good and
successful constitution. His political
ideal is the republic run by the Princes, leaders of the principalities, but
held in check by both the noblemen and ordinary citizens, all of whom share a
part in the constitution. As Bertrand Russell rightly says in his
commentary on Machiavelli, the Discourses
might easily be read by an eighteenth century liberal without occasioning mush
surprise or disagreement. Machiavelli has no time for tyrannies, not because
people have an inalienable right to freedom, but because tyrannies are
less-stable, more cruel and more inconstant than governments held in esteem by
a reasonably content population. It is the achievement of such a government
that is Machiavelli’s prime political concern.
[Summarized from Philosophy 100 Essential Thinkers by
Philip Stokes, 2012. Also watch YouTube’s ‘The
School of Life: Niccolo Machiavelli’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOXl0Ll_t9s]
Lord, Give
Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
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