Political Essay
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MachiavelliApril22.pptxMachiavelli
Historical context
Stability/Order
Skill/capability, not inherited fortune
Machiavelli’s method: induction
Machiavelli’s modernity/realism
What are the features of the political world?
The goal: stability/glory of the state
Role of violence
Appearance vs. reality
Fortune is a woman…
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Machiavelli
Historical context: Renaissance Europe
1. Stability/Order
Machiavelli’s problematic: stability, order, maintaining the state
How to defeat fortuna
2. Skill/capability, not inherited fortune
Political order made by humans
The importance of virtu
Self-made rulers (Ch. 6, p. 30)
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Machiavelli’s method: induction
Machiavelli: first political “scientist”
Politics is a science: distinct domain with own set of laws
Real knowledge is inductive: look at particular examples and then come up with general rules
The problem of deduction (eg. Plato)
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Machiavelli’s modernity
Human beings fashion their own world
No pre-existing hierarchy or rules
Politics is a human affair that can be learned by anyone
Realism
“The ends justify the means”
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What are the features of the political world?
Human nature (p. 66)
Military basis of order (p. 31, 52, 56-57)
Impermanence/fluidity, fortuna (p. 61, 30, 91)
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The goal: stability and glory of the state
See ch. 8, p. 40: “it cannot be called virtue…”
See ch. 12, p. 51 “the two most essential foundations for any state….are sound laws and sound military forces.”
See pp. 94-95 on the condition of Italy
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