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Niccolò Machiavelli

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophers

                      Western Philosophers
   Renaissance philosophy
   Machiavelli in the robes of a Florentine public official.
         Name:       Niccolò Machiavelli
        Birth:       May 3, 1469 (Florence)
        Death:       June 21, 1527 (Florence)
   School/tradition: Renaissance philosophy, Realism
    Main interests:  Politics

   Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527) was
   a political philosopher, musician, poet, and romantic comedic
   playwright. He is a key figure of the Italian Renaissance and a central
   figure of its political component, most widely known for his treatises
   on realist political theory ( The Prince) on the one hand and
   republicanism ( Discourses on Livy) on the other.

Life

   Machiavelli was born in May 3,1469 in the city-state of Florence,
   Italy. He was the second son of Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli and his
   wife. Education left him with a thorough knowledge of the Latin and
   Italian classics.
   Statue at the Uffizi
   Enlarge
   Statue at the Uffizi

   Machiavelli was born into a tumultuous era, in which Popes were leading
   armies and wealthy city-states of Italy were falling one after another
   into the hands of foreign powers -- France, Spain and the Holy Roman
   Empire. It was a time of constantly shifting alliances, condottieri who
   changed sides without warning, and governments rising and falling in
   the space of a few weeks. Perhaps most significantly during this
   erratic upheaval, the rise of Lutheranism culminated in the sack of
   Rome in 1527 at the hands of rampaging German soldiers, the first time
   that had occurred in nearly twelve centuries. Rich cities like Florence
   and Genoa suffered a similar fate in the same years. Machiavelli did
   not live to see the sack of Rome and Florence, but steeped as he was in
   the Byzantine politics of the age, it is no wonder that he turned his
   intelligence to analyzing the military and political events surrounding
   him.

   He entered government service as a clerk in 1494; that same year,
   Florence expelled the Medici family, who had ruled the city for nearly
   sixty years, and restored the republic. Machiavelli was named as a
   member of the Council responsible for diplomatic negotiations and
   military matters. From 1499 to 1512, he was sent on a number of
   diplomatic missions to the court of Louis XII in France, Ferdinand II
   of Aragón, and the Papacy in Rome. From 1502 to 1503, he was a witness
   to the effective statebuilding methods of the soldier/churchman Cesare
   Borgia, an immensely capable general and statesman who was at that time
   engaged in enlarging his territories in central Italy through a mixture
   of audacity, prudence, self-reliance, firmness and, not infrequently,
   cruelty.

   From 1503 to 1506, Machiavelli was responsible for the Florentine
   militia including the defense of the city. He distrusted mercenaries (a
   philosophy expounded at length in the Discorsi) and much preferred a
   citizen militia.

   In August 1512, following a tangled series of battles, treaties, and
   alliances, the Medici with the help of Pope Julius II regained power in
   Florence and the republic was dissolved. Machiavelli, having played a
   significant role in the republic's anti-Medici government, was removed
   from office and in 1513 he was accused of conspiracy and arrested.
   Although tortured on the rack he denied his involvement and was
   eventually released. He retired to his estate at San Casciano near
   Florence and began writing the treatises that would ensure his place in
   the development of political philosophy.

   In a famous letter to his friend Francesco Vettori, Machiavelli
   described how he spent his days in exile:

     When evening comes, I return home [from work and from the local
     tavern] and go to my study. On the threshold I strip naked, taking
     off my muddy, sweaty workaday clothes, and put on the robes of court
     and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the courts of the
     ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that
     alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to
     speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in
     their humanity reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget
     the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no
     more at death; I pass indeed into their world.

   Much has been made of the notion of two Machiavellis: one of The
   Prince, one of the Discorsi. But Machiavelli himself cut through the
   alleged confusion when he identified a unifying theme:

     All cities that ever at any time have been ruled by an absolute
     prince, by aristocrats or by the people, have had for their
     protection force combined with prudence, because the latter is not
     enough alone, and the first either does not produce things, or when
     they are produced, does not maintain them. Force and prudence, then,
     are the might of all the governments that ever have been or will be
     in the world.

   Machiavelli died in Florence in 1527. His resting place is unknown;
   however a cenotaph in his honour was placed at the Church of Santa
   Croce in Florence.
   Bust of Machiavelli in the Palazzo Vecchio
   Enlarge
   Bust of Machiavelli in the Palazzo Vecchio

Works

The Prince

   The Prince is different from other books about creating and controlling
   principalities because it doesn't tell the reader what an ideal prince
   or principality is, but Machiavelli explains through examples, which
   princes are the most successful in obtaining and maintaining power.
   Machiavelli draws his examples from personal observations made while he
   was on diplomatic missions for Florence and from his readings in
   ancient history. His writing has the mark of the Renaissance upon it
   because he sprinkles his text with Latin phrases and many examples are
   drawn from Classical sources.

   Machiavelli's best known work is The Prince, in which he describes the
   arts by which a Prince can retain control of his realm. He focuses
   primarily on what he calls the principe nuovo or "new prince", under
   the assumption that a hereditary prince has an easier task since the
   people are accustomed to him. All a hereditary prince need do is
   carefully maintain the institutions that the people are used to; a new
   prince has a much more difficult task since he must stabilize his
   newfound power and build a structure that will endure. This task
   requires the Prince to be publicly above reproach but privately may
   require him to do things of an evil nature in order to achieve the
   greater good.

   A careless reading of The Prince could easily lead one to believe that
   its central argument is "the ends justify the means" - which is a
   teleological philosophical view ("telos" is greek for ends) - that any
   evil action can be justified if it is done for a good purpose. This is
   a limited interpretation, however, because Machiavelli placed a number
   of restrictions on evil actions. First, he specified that the only
   acceptable end was the stabilization and health of the state;
   individual power for its own sake is not an acceptable end and does not
   justify evil actions. Second, Machiavelli does not dispense entirely
   with morality nor advocate wholesale selfishness or degeneracy. Instead
   he clearly lays out his definition of, for example, the criteria for
   acceptable cruel actions (it must be swift, effective, and
   short-lived). Notwithstanding the mitigating themes in The Prince, the
   Catholic church put the work in its Index Librorum Prohibitorum and it
   was viewed in a negative light by many Humanists such as Erasmus.

   The term "Machiavellian" was adopted by some of Machiavelli's
   contemporaries, often used in the introductions of political tracts of
   the sixteenth century that offered more 'just' reasons of state, most
   notably those of Jean Bodin and Giovanni Botero. The pejorative term
   Machiavellian as it is used today (or anti-Machiavellism as it was used
   from the sixteenth century) is thus a misnomer, as it describes one who
   deceives and manipulates others for gain; whether the gain is personal
   or not is of no relevance, only that any actions taken are only
   important insofar as they affect the results. It fails to include some
   of the more moderating themes found in Machiavelli's works and the name
   is now associated with the extreme viewpoint.

Discorsi

   If The Prince was Machiavelli's textbook on a monarchy, his Discourse
   on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy (which comprise the early history
   of Rome) is a paean to the republic. The Discorsi is a series of
   lessons on how a republic should be started, structured , including the
   concept of checks and balances, the strength of a tripartite structure,
   and the superiority of a republic over a principality, are as valid
   today as they were six centuries ago and clear applications of his
   practical political philosophy can be found in the governments of many
   democracies today, including the United States.

Other works

   Machiavelli also wrote plays (Clizia, Mandragola), poetry (Sonetti,
   Canzoni, Ottave, Canti carnascialeschi) and novels (Belfagor
   arcidiavolo) as well as translating classical works.
     * Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa (1499)
     * Del modo di trattare i popoli della Valdichiana ribellati (1502)
     * Del modo tenuto dal duca Valentino nell' ammazzare Vitellozzo
       Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, etc. (Description of the Methods
       Adopted by the Duke Valentino when Murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli,
       Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina
       Orsini, 1502)
     * Discorso sopra la provisione del danaro (1502)
     * Decennale primo (1506, poem in terza rima)
     * Ritratti delle cose dell'Alemagna (1508-1512)
     * Decennale secondo (1509)
     * Ritratti delle cose di Francia (1510)
     * Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio ( Discourses on Livy - 3
       vols., 1512-1517)
     * Il Principe( The Prince, 1513)
     * Andria (1517, comedy translated from Terence)
     * Mandragola ( The Mandrake - 1518, prose comedy in five acts, with
       prologue in verse)
     * Della lingua (1514, dialogue)
     * Clizia (1525, comedy in prose)
     * Belfagor arcidiavolo (1515, novel)
     * Asino d'oro ( The Golden Ass - 1517, poem in terza rima, a new
       version of the classic work by Apuleius)
     * Dell'arte della guerra ( The Art of War, 1519-1520)
     * Discorso sopra il riformare lo stato di Firenze (1520)
     * Sommario delle cose della citta di Lucca (1520)
     * Vita di Castruccio Castracani da Lucca (The Life of Castruccio
       Castracani of Lucca, 1520)
     * Istorie fiorentine ( Florentine Histories - 8 books, 1520-1525,
       commissioned by Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici who went on to become
       Pope Clement VII).
     * Frammenti storici (1525)

Machiavelli in popular culture

     * Machiavelli was ranked #79 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most
       influential figures in history.
     * In his book Warrior Politics, author and journalist Robert D.
       Kaplan cites Machiavelli as a proponent of a " pagan ethos", which
       Kaplan feels is preferable to Judeo-Christian morality in
       decision-making by politicians and businessmen. It would not,
       however, be correct to assume that he believed in immoral acts such
       as genocide despite the fact that he did not always condemn them.
     * In comedian Jon Stewart's satirical America: The Book, Machiavelli
       is listed as having "No Impact" on American Democracy.
     * In her book In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, journalist Michela Wrong
       writes that Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko read Machiavelli's
       writings and considered him, as well as Winston Churchill and
       Charles de Gaulle, one of the greatest influences on his thinking.
     * The satirical business book, What Would Machiavelli Do? (title a
       take-off of the phrase ' What would Jesus do?') by Stanley Bing.
     * In the popular show Family Guy, talking-baby character Stewie
       Griffin is shown reading The Prince. He then throws the book across
       the room and screams, "Oh, Machiavelli! You've told me nothing I
       don't already know!"
     * Hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur went by the stage name Makaveli in
       response to reading Machiavelli's works during his prison sentence
       beginning in February 1995.
     * In his book The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational
       Hazards of a Year in Iraq, Rory Stewart begins each chapter with a
       quote from Machiavelli.
     * The card game Citadels (game) was published under the name
       "Machiavelli" in Belgium and the Netherlands.
     * In the movie A Bronx Tale, one of the protagonists says that during
       his time in prison he reads Machiavelli.

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