Machiavelli, The Prince
 

 

Sophocles, Antigone
Homer
Plato, The Republic
Apology of Socrates
The Qur'an
Machiavelli, The Prince
Overview
Overview 2003 Part I
Overview 2003 Part II

  1. Premises of Machiavelli's Political Philosophy
    1. Necessity: men and women are needy.
      1. There are not enough of the good things in life to go around, that is, to satisfy everyone.
    2. Fortune
      1. Whether we get these good things depends, to a large extent, on fortune or chance.
        1. The extent to which fortune influences our lives is, however, dependent upon our virtue (See below).
        2. Thus we must be prepared for fortune.
    3. The Immorality of People
      1. We cannot count on others helping us.
        1. "The Gap between how people actually behave and how they ought to behave is so great that anyone who ignores everyday reality in order to live up to an ideal will soon discover he has been taught how to destroy himself (Prince, ch. 15)"
    4. Atheism
      1. We should not count on "invisible princes."
  2. Virtue
    1. Machiavelli’s new sense of virtue
      1. Skillful self-advancement
      2. Being flexible

        a. Knowing how "not to be good, and to make use of it or not according to necessity (Prince ch. 15)."

        b. Knowing when to be bold and when to be cautious.

        c. Fighting both with force (like a lion) and fraud (like a fox).

    2. We must practice Machiavelli’s new sense of virtue in order to secure our own well being (and, if we are good enough, this secures the well being of our fellow citizens).
    3. Machiavelli does not expect everyone to adopt his new understanding of virtue. Princes and those who aspire to be princes must pretend to follow the traditional (Classical and Christian) virtues.
      1. Thus example of Agathocles, who cannot be called virtuous (old sense) due to his crimes, but is called virtuous (new sense) by Machiavelli (Prince, ch. 8.)
      2. Why are people taken in by this hypocrisy? Mostly those who are taken are the people, not the great. (See below for this distinction.)
        1. Most people see but do not touch: they do not have direct contact or experience of the evil people do (Prince, ch. 18).
        2. "People judge by the outcome."
          1. Praise those who are successful (especially if this success benefits themselves.
          2. People believe that those who succeed are good because
            1. They believe that God is responsible for their success
            2. The psychological stress of believing that our rulers are bad is too difficult to bear
    4. Examples of the virtues
      1. Liberality comes from being stingy (Prince, ch. 16).
        1. If a prince is generous, he will run out of funds and thus must eventually take from the people in the form of taxes, to reward the great.
        2. Thus a prince can be generous to the people by being stingy.
        3. Although a prince can and should be generous with goods seized from other principalities and republics.
      2. Compassion achieved through cruelty well-used (Prince, chs. 7, 17).
        1. Cruelty well-used keeps the peace.
        2. And is not repeated if all the bad a prince must do is carried out "at one stroke" at the beginning of his rule.
      3. It is more important to be feared than loved (Prince, ch. 18)
  3. Invisible Hand Government
    1. What justifies the immorality that Machiavelli recommends?
      1. The immorality of princes serves the common good. By be willing not to be good, princes help the people.
        1. See, the examples of the virtues, above.
        2. Foreign conquest.
      2. Princes must look to the people rather than the great for support because
        1. Keep peace, internally and externally.
        2. Keep taxes
    2. The Great and the People
      1. The great seek to oppress others.
        1. Because they recognize that those who do not take from others are likely to be ruined.
        2. By "the great" Machiavelli refers to both a psychological type and the social classes consisting of nobleman and the wealthy. Many, but not all of those, who are in these social classes fit the psychological type. But some potential princes must work their way up from the lower classes, as did Agathocles (Prince, ch. 8.).
      2. The people seek not to be oppressed
        1. They count on the good will of the great, including that of invisible princes or God.
    3. Princes should rely on the people  rather than the great because (Prince, ch. 9):
      1. The great expect recompense from the prince in the form of goods or preferences. But princes cannot satisfy the great.
        1. The great always seek more.
        2. Princes run out of goods and can get more by taking from the people.
      2. The people just would like not to be oppressed.
      3. The great, being smaller in number, are more easily replaced.
    4. Thus Machiavelli rejects the traditional, Platonic and Aristotelian, distinction between rulers who rule in their own interest and those who rule in the interest of their city or country.
      1. The best rulers rule in their own interest.
      2. By being successful, the best rulers serve their subjects.
  4. Fortune (Prince, ch. 25)
    1. Machiavelli initially says that fortune account for half of what occurs.
    2. But then he says that we can prepare for bad fortune.
    3. Virtue, in Machiavelli’s sense, allows us to do so.
      1. It allows us to adjust to the times, to necessity.
      2. Although, if we cannot easily adjust, it is better to be rash than cautious.