Machiavelli
Suggested Reading
Niccolò MACHIAVELLI, without no intention, has become ubiquitously famous because of the adjective he donated to posterity: Machiavellian.
This adjective is even used nowadays to define the psychopathic personality (one of the elements of the dark triad).
The fact is that the notorious adjective should not be used to describe him. If he had been a Machiavellian individual, he would have never written his most important book, Il Principe (The Prince, 1532). This book was intended to serve as a practical guide for the monarchical ruler. Machiavelli gives advice to the young prince (the book is dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici) on how to deal with the people and how to lead them.
We will learn from this book the foundations of political power. Surprisingly, we will also discover that there are commonalities between Machiavelli and Plato’s theory of political communication.
Il Principe
(Reading: “Il Principe” – The Prince)
Machiavelli finished Il Principe around 1513. The book was considered too provocative to be published. The reason of the controversy was that it discussed explicitly some topics and political practices that could undermine public morality. The book was finally published in 1532, 5 years after the author’s death.
Selected Quotes
- Chapter 18
- 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. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious (harmful), and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright (honest), 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.
- Chapter 15
- “Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.“
- Chapter 21
- “And a prince ought, above all things, always to endeavour in every action to gain for himself the reputation of being a great and remarkable man.”
- Chapter 19
- “And here it should be noted that hatred is acquired as much by good works as by bad ones, therefore, as I said before, a prince wishing to keep his state is very often forced to do evil; for when that body is corrupt whom you think you have need of to maintain yourself- it may be either the people or the soldiers or the nobles- you have to submit to its humours and to gratify them, and then good works will do you harm.”
Summary
In chapter 18 of Il Principe, Machiavelli introduces his most provocative thesis: Since power always flows from public opinion, it is essential to keep political power to be in good terms with the public. For this reason, the political leader has to constantly ask himself what the people think to be good.
The political leaders should not have solid, immovable values. They should follow not what they really belief to be good, but what other people, what the public opinion thinks to be virtuous.
In private, the prince may do whatever he wants, and sometimes is even better to do things that are thought to be wrong.
Important is not to be virtuous, but to appear to be.
This way Machiavelli discovered the importance of the façade. We would call it today the public image.
This idea was terribly provocative at that time – and it is today. Machiavelli was aware that the moral values change with the time, and that the only way to maintain the power is to be flexible enough to adapt to this constant flow of public opinion.