Machiavelli

Rob Edwards

7. Discuss the special contributions made by Machiavelli to politics and political thought. What motivated his writings? How would you evaluate his conclusions?

Thesis: Niccolò Machiavelli, motivated by an intense desire to see Italy united as well as by a feeling of despair for the state of political ineptitude in his home town of Florence, went against the teachings of medieval political and moral philosophers to say that rulers needed to be more secular in their politics, as well as be unafraid to go to extremes to achieve a desirable goal.

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  Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
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  Writes the most lasting work of the Italian Renaissance
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    The Prince (1513)
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    dreams of the day when the citizens of his native Florence, or all of italy, should behave like early Romans, show virility in their politics, fight in citizen armies for patriotic causes, and uphold their dignity before Europe.
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    This book produces a handbook of statecraft which he hoped italy might find useful
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    First purely secular treatise on politics.
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  Machiavelli emancipates politics from theology and moral philosophy.
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  The prince's contribution to political history is the fundamental break between political realism and political idealism
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  The republicanism he focused on, especially the theme of civic virtue, became one of the dominant political themes of the modern world, and was a central part of the foundation of American politics
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  Expressly rejects the principle that kings should adhere to Christian moral teachings. He argues that successful princes needed to be concerned only with preserving and strengthening the power of the state, and if necessary should ignore any questions of good and evil
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  “A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and faithful”
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  “It is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved... a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred”
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  “A prince [is obliged] in order to maintain the state, to act against faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion.”