RazorrX wrote...
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
Niccolo Machiavelli - 'The Prince'
I wondered when someone would bring up Machiavelli.
A number of historians believe that The Prince was actually either a satire intended to show the evils of tyrany, or sabatoge intended to give bad advice to tyrants. For one thing, it goes against the grain of Machiavelli's other works towards the promotion of republicanism. The circumstances of its creation also make it hard to take seriously. Machiavelli was a member of the government of the Republic of Florence when the Medicis took over and destroyed the republic. He was tortured and exiled by them. That same year he wrote The Prince, and dedicated it to one of the Medici family (Lorenzo, IIRC). It also contains somewhat bad advice, like combining arming the populace with cracking down on liberties. The Prince wasn't even published in Machiavelli's lifetime. it was just sent to Lorenzo de Medici and circulated amongst the friends of Machiavelli. The publication occurred five years after his death, so we have no idea what kind of subtext might be missing.
With all of this taken together, I find it hard to believe that Machiavelli was serious when he wrote The Prince. If you wish to learn Machiavelli's true feelings on governance, read his "Discourses on Livy". It contains statements such as these:
"We furthermore see the cities where the people are masters make the
greatest progress in the least possible time, and much greater than such
as have always been governed by princes; as was the case with Rome
after the expulsion of the kings, and with Athens after they rid
themselves of Pisistratus; and this can be attributed to no other cause
than that the governments of the people are better than those of
princes."
"It would be useless to object to my opinion by referring to what our
historian has said in the passages quoted above, and elsewhere; for if
we compare the faults of a people with those of princes, as well as
their respective good qualities, we shall find the people vastly
superior in all that is good and glorious. And if princes show
themselves superior in the making of laws, and in the forming of civil
institutions and new statutes and ordinances, the people are superior in
maintaining those institutions, laws, and ordinances, which certainly
places them on a par with those who established them."
As just a random aside, anyone interested in fiction exploring the concept of balancing what is beneficial for a group of people with their free will (when the poeple are on a self-destructive path) should read Tuf Voyaging, by George R R Martin. It's an absolutely amazing science fiction novel created out of a few short stories he wrote, with a conclusion that sticks with you and really makes you think.
Modifié par Swagger7, 14 septembre 2013 - 11:20 .
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