The Prince is Nicolas Machiavelli's main work and was published in 1532, five years after his death. The philosopher was born in Florence, Italy, on May 3, 1469 and died in the same city, where he was buried on June 21, 1527.
Machiavelli, Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, grew up in Florence during the government of Lorenzo de' Medici and entered politics at age 29. He was Secretary of the Second Chancellery, historian, poet, diplomat and Renaissance musician.
He is recognized as one of the creators of modern thought, because he thinks the State and the government as they really are and not as he would like them to be.
In the work, Machiavelli defined a separation between the traditional morality related to individuals and the logic that governs governments, the reason of the State. He developed a series of advice and recommendations so that the prince could govern as efficiently as possible.
Machiavelli and the Prince
Machiavelli wrote his main work, The Prince, in 1513, but the work was not published until 1532. The book is divided into 26 chapters.
Initially, Machiavelli displays the existing types of principality and points out the distinctions of each of them. He then explains how states break down into hereditary and acquired Republics and Principalities, as well as ecclesiastical landlords.
In the second part, the author explains the foundations of power by analyzing laws and weapons. and how governments should organize power.
Continuing, in the third part of the work, he will debate the norms of conduct that a Prince must embrace in order to rebuild Italy.
The legacy of the Prince of Machiavelli
The question arises from here: whether it is worth more to be loved than feared or feared than loved. The answer is that both things would be to be desired; but because it is difficult to put them together, it is much safer to be feared than loved when one of the two must be lacking. Because of men who can be said, in general, that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators, cowards and greedy for profit, and while you do them good they are entirely yours, they offer you blood, goods, life and children, when, as I said above, the danger he is far away; but when he arrives, they revolt.
The thought exposed in O Príncipe shows that the author separates the duty of the citizen from the reason that regulates the State. For this he develops two concepts that will be the key to understanding The Prince and Machiavellian thought: virtù and fortune.
Virtue it is the quality of the ruler, not to be confused with the virtue of the citizen. Unlike the self-interested citizen, the prince must aim for harmony and peace in his reign.
So, the virtù it is the ruler's ability to control and overcome the difficulties imposed on his government, creating strategies to maintain its stability. Now being pious and kind to his citizens, now severe and strong against his enemies and opponents. Pure kindness can be a government failure and not a quality.
already the fortune it relates to the idea of chance and luck. The ruler must always be aware of the “wheel of fortune”. Sometimes above and in favor of the ruler, sometimes below creating surprises, obstacles and challenges for his government.
It is up to the prince to develop his virtù and create strategies to always be prepared for chance, reversing the fortune always in your favor, creating opportunities even in crisis.
Machiavellian and Machiavellianism
Because of the idea that kindness may not be a virtue, Machiavelli received a lot of criticism. "Machiavellian" has become a pejorative adjective referring to sordidness, manipulation and disloyalty.
Likewise, the term Machiavellianism, also pejorative, is used as a reference to a cunning and hidden way of acting to get what you want.
The ends justify the means
The phrase “the ends justify the means” is also a common reference in O Príncipe. According to the interpretation of common sense, the phrase means that, for Machiavelli, the goal should be achieved anyway, regardless of others and the effects of decisions.
Although the phrase is not in the work, it has its origins in the way Machiavelli separates the private morality of the common citizen from the way in which the ruler should act.
On the other hand, O Príncipe assumes great relevance also because it shows that governments are susceptible to the civic participation of individuals. This perspective elevated the citizen to a new level in political thought at the time.
