Machiavelli: Modern Thinker

      His advices for Rulers: Winning over Fortuna and the classical Roman virtues

       The Good Man and the Political Man

  Good man is most likely according to Machiavelli are not prince and that they are the most deserving one, they maybe not the one ruling because the undeserving is in their stead, and since the addresses are those private individuals they have time to read because unlike the princes who only have time for short treatise, but even though that these are private individuals they are very interested in politics. Good men, men of quality or excellent men are those men who cannot abstain themselves from politics because they are “not allowed to abstain by others”. Politics for them is like nature, and that somehow politics will enter into their lives in one mode or two: it will be either that such men will be “constrained to be princes” or the princes will constrain them “either to distance [themselves] from or to bind [themselves] to them”. A good man must choose the character of their relation to politics, to fail to choose is to fail to be free and to be completely subject to necessity. It is also said that a good man is a political man.

       What makes a good Prince

A good prince must live with integrity and not with craft. He must be a man and a beast, when he contests by the use of law then he is a man and he is a beast if he contests by the use of force. The first option is more frequently used but is not always sufficient and so therefore the use of the second option is necessary, and therefore it is essential or necessary for a prince to understand how to avail of being a man and beast. During the time of the prince it was taught to them figuratively about how the princes of old like Achilles were given to Chiron the centaur (half horse half man) to be trained and nurse, and so the princes that time was taught with Chiron’s discipline so they had a half-beast and half-man for a teacher. It is necessary that the prince should know how to make use of both natures, because one without the other is durable. If a prince chooses to adopt of being a beast he must choose to be a fox and a lion, because if lion alone, the lion cannot defend himself to the snares and if fox alone, the fox cannot defend himself from the wolves, so it is necessary for the prince to be both fox who recognizes the snares and to be a lion to scare the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be turned against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor will there ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this nonobservance. Of these endless modern examples could be given, showing how many treaties and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to employ the fox has succeeded best. But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived. One recent example I cannot pass over in silence. Alexander VI did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doing otherwise, and he always found victims; for there never was a man who had greater power in asserting, or who with greater oaths would affirm a thing, yet would observe it less; nevertheless his deceits always succeeded according to his wishes, because he well understood this side of mankind. Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. That to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.

   Contradicting Literature of Machiavelli

 The Use of Power in Political Power

Machiavelli recommended that a prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honour his word when it places him at a disadvantage … Because men are wretched creatures who would not keep their word to you, you need not keep your word to them’. Machiavelli then recommended that ‘one must know how to colour one’s actions and be a great liar and deceiver’. Further on, Machiavelli explained that a prince who neglected what was actually done by people for what (by rights) should be done was doomed to self-destruction. Someone who always acted virtuously would quickly come to a sticky end among the multitude who were not at all virtuous. Hence the successful political statesman must learn how and when to act in a dishonest and immoral way, and must be much better at acting dishonorably than those around him. Hence the princely statesman must use guile and cunning in order to guarantee the success and prosperity of his kingdom and his people, although this would also mean the preservation of the resplendent riches of political office.

   Cultivating Different Virtues for a Successful Prince

A prince who aims to scale the heights of glory must cultivate the right qualities of princely leadership. He must consider that there is nothing more difficult to carry out , nor more doubtful success, nor more dangerous to handle, that to initiate a new order of things, for in this the reformer then will have enemies that profit in the old order but then he will gain the favor of those who would profit in the new order. It is also necessary to order things so that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe it by force, this is the case when all armed prophets have conquered unarmed ones. Whoever, deems it necessary in his new principality to secure himself against his enemies, to gain friends to conquer by force or fraud, to make himself beloved and feared by the people followed and reverenced by the soldiers, to destroy those who can or may injure him. He must also introduce innovations into the old customs, he must also be severe and kind, magnanimous and liberal. To suppress the old militia and make a new one, to maintain friendship to other kings and princes in such a way that they are glad to benefit from the prince and that they will be afraid to injure him. A prince who has successfully taken a state should be careful to commit all his cruelties all at once, it is to avoid repeating them every day. If the prince does otherwise he will be obliged to sleep with a knife on his hand and he can never depend on his subjects because they owing continually fresh injuries are unable to also depend to him. Benefits should be granted little by little so that they may be better enjoyed. Above all the price must live with his subjects in a way that no accident of good or evil fortune can deflect him from his course: for necessity arising in adverse times, he might not be in time with severity, and the good that he will do does not profit. A question is also raised that whether it be better for the prince to be loved or feared? Machiavelli answers us with it is better to be loved and feared, but as it is impossible then it is safer to say that it is better feared than loved. For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours; when the necessity is remote; but when it approaches, they revolt. A prince should not solely rely upon words, w/out making any other preparations is ruined. Friendship gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is bought but not secure. A prince should make himself be feared, that if he does not gain love he should refrain from being hated, for fear and the absence of hatred may go well together.

    Virtu: The Machiavellian Virtue

Virtu is theorized by Niccolo Machiavelli which is said to be centered on the marital spirit and the ability of a population or leader. It also encompass a broad collection of traits necessary to maintain the state and “achievement of great things”. Machiavelli employs the concept of virtù to refer to the range of personal qualities that the prince will find it necessary to acquire in order to “maintain his state” and to “achieve great things,” the two standard markers of power for him. This makes it brutally clear there can be no equivalence between the conventional virtues and Machiavellian virtù. Machiavelli expects princes of the highest virtù to be capable, as the situation requires, of behaving in a completely evil fashion, for the circumstances of political rule are such that moral viciousness can never be excluded from the realm of possible actions in which the prince may have to engage. Machiavelli's sense of what it is to be a person of virtù can thus be summarized by his recommendation that the prince above all else must acquire a “flexible disposition.” That ruler is best suited for office, on Machiavelli's account, who is capable of varying her/his conduct from good to evil and back again “as fortune and circumstances dictate” (Machiavelli 1965, 66).  The ruler of virtù is bound to be competent in the application of power; to possess virtù is indeed to have mastered all the rules connected with the effective application of power. Virtù is to power politics what conventional virtue is to those thinkers who suppose that moral goodness is sufficient to be a legitimate ruler: it is the touchstone of political success.

       Theory of Political Power and the powerful state

State is the highest form of human association. It is indispensable for the promotion of human welfare. State is to be worshipped even by sacrificing the individual for the interest of the state. A ruler must remember that whatever brings success is due to power. For acquiring political power he can use any type of means. Political statesman plays an important role in organizing state, and providing it with safety and security. Hence the major theme of the prince is the process of acquiring power. Modern power politics cannot be thought of without any reference to Machiavelli and his book, the prince.

Machiavelli explained about statecraft and powerful state in the form of advice to the prince.

According to Machiavelli, state is the “End” and individuals is the “means”

Machiavelli’s powerful state tilts towards totalitarian system

Machiavelli was against individualism