ISSN 0020-9635

INTERPRETATION
A Journal
of

Political

Philosophy
May, 1978

Volume 7/2

page

Eva Brann

The Offense A

of

Socrates:

Re-reading

of

Plato's

Apology

22

Clyde Lee Miller

The Prometheus

Story

in Plato's Protagoras

33

Mera J. Flaumenhaft

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

75

Richard B. Carter

Volitional Anticipation

and

Popular Wisdom in Descartes

99

John W.

Coffey

Alienation

and the
of

American Science

Politics

120

Morrisey, Gerald J. Galgan,

Martin Nozick

Will

Book Reviews

QUEENS COLLEGE PRESS

INTERPRETATION
A Journal
Volume 7
of

Political

Philosophy
Issue 2

Editor-in-Chief
Hilail Gildin

Editors Seth G. Benardete Howard B. White

-

Hilail

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Robert Horwitz

Ann McArdle

(1912-1974)

Consulting Editors
John Hallowell
-

Wilhelm Hennis
-

Erich Hula

Arnaldo Momigliano
-

Michael Oakeshott

Leo Strauss

(1899-1973)

Kenneth W. Thompson

Managing

Editor

Ann McArdle

Assistant Editor Marianne

Grey
a

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THE OFFENSE OF SOCRATES:

A RE-READING OF PLATO'S APOLOGY

EVA BRANN
St. fohn's

College,

Annapolis

A first reading of defense before the Athenian people as handed down by Plato induces an

Socrates'

court exalted

of

the

feeling

in favor

of

Socrates.1

experience
with a

of most

That is my experience and, I think the students: We hear a philosopher nobly coping
To
cite

persecuting
a perennial

populace.

It is

perception.

only

two of the

very

numerous

one from the last century and other from this: John Stuart Mill, referring to the Apology in his essay On Liberty, says that the tribunal "condemned the man who probably of all then
testimonials,2

born had deserved best

criminal,"

of

mankind,

to

be

put

to

death

as

and

Alfred North Whitehead

contemplation,
and

asserts

that
of

Socrates died
the communi

"for freedom Socrates

called

of

for freedom

experiences."

cation of contemplative

By

and
who

large

the

defenders

of

be found among those both of the thoughtful and liberals,

are

to

the

reasonably be light-headed kind.

might

Now

re-reading

of

the

speech

can

check

this

first
I
to
of

feeling
go
on

and

raise suspicions which subsequent readings confirm.

am taken aback

by

the

intransigence

with

which

Socrates is
Athens."

shown

the

offensive and to convert

his defense before

"men
of

the court

the

Heliaea
sets

into

accusation against

the

small

formality
its

the tone:
"Judges;"

he he

never once accords the court the reserves

customary
acquittal

address of

it for

those

who vote

for his

(40a).
end.

What is more,
In
that

the speech

intensifies in
after

provocation toward
where

section,
of the

delivered
that
at

conviction,

Socrates

avails a

himself penalty
suggests

opportunity

granted

by

Athenian law for proposing

to

counter

demanded
the
public

by
table
the

the

maintenance more

prosecution, he first for himself, so that he

next a

might

have

leisure for exhorting

Athenians,
and

derisory
urged

fine

about equivalent to a prisoner's

ransom,

only

finally,

by

Plato,
as

Crito
great.

and other

friends,

reluctantly

reasonable sum

thirty

times

As

foreseeable

consequence

eighty juror-judges,

In te rp re tat ion
convinced now vote

evidently
executed,

that

this

Socrates,
when

once

convicted,

must

be

for

the

death penalty (Diogenes Laertius II, 42).

Socrates is
allowed

And
once

yet

later,

after

judgment,

to speak
children

more,

he issues dark

threats against the

city

through

its

(39d).
Socrates'

This
also

perspective on the a

event,

resistant

to

cause as

it is,
part,

has

lineage

of

testimony.

Its

sources

vary,

for

the most

from respectably conservative through illiberal, even to from Jacob Burckhardt who calls Socrates "the gravedigger
Attic
city,"

reactionary

of the

through
who of

Nietzsche

and

Sorel,

to the
an

Nazi

writer

Alfred
of

Rosenberg,
degeneration
certain

regards

his

defense
rough

as

intimation
views

the
a

Greece. This
I have

division

of

will

have

bearing
the

on what

to say.

But itself

variety
It
new or

and

bulk

significant.

shows

concerning the Apology is how unlikely it is that I could hope to say

of comment

anything

anything

binding,
startle

the
us

more what

so

since

the

one

discovery
say

which

might

really

Socrates did in fact

is totally beyond our reach, as it contemporary like Xenophon. In his

counters and
accounts of complements
Socrates'

was own

even

beyond

that

of a

Apology,
and

which

both

the

Platonic version, he

calls all current says

speech

deficient (para. 1)
is its "grandeur
and
of

that the

utterance."

only
are

aspect on which all agree

So

we

thrown

back

on

the

consideration

re-consideration
what

of

the

major

version,

Plato's which

is undoubtedly
II

Plato intended.

can

see

two

lesser
of the

and

one

prime reasons

reason

for undertaking
special works.

this

effort.
which

The first
the

weaker

lies in the
only

position

Apology

occupies

in Plato's Socratic

It is

the

only
and

speech

among them;

the auditors participate the the

reluctant
witness

by

shouting,

its

single
a

into

interlocutor, dialogue. It is

only

work

Meletos, is impressed in which the author, who is 59b),

to
reports

Socrates'

explicitly absent even at himself present, a fact Xenophon

stances to
as

death (Phaedo
I
said and

omits.

understand these circum

indicate

that what

Socrates

did here is

be

seen

casting its shadow over the other works, including those preceding the trial in dramatic date. I mean not only the dialogues explicitly

associated with the

Apology, namely its

Socrates'

prologue,

conversa-

The Offense of Socrates

5
The

boldly,
a

if selectively, to his city, in this

political event.

world.

Apology

is

part of

thoroughly

There

is, however,
Sir Thomas

another

trial

which

is

more

permissibly
Socrates,"

comparable. as

More,

"our noble,

new

Christian

his biographer Harpsfield

calls

him,

was

brought before
it
treason to

the

King's
or, in

Bench, indicted on a statute the court's interpretation, to

Head
of the

which

made

deny,
as

refuse

to affirm, the

King

Supreme

Church
and

of

England.
conduct are similar

Socrates'

More's

in

these

points:

Both

have
and

an

opportunity for evading

their trials as well as their

sentences,

Socrates

by

reform"

voluntary his "wilful

silence

or

exile, More

by

offering

to

"revoke
intransi-

opinion."

obstinate speak

Both defend

themselves

before
gently,

the court and

after

both

again,

more

bluntly

and

having been
are

pronounced

guilty,

both revealing

that

they

consider also

the real cause to

be
at

other than the stated

that

they
"the
to

in spirit,

least,
my
the

guilty
to
soul

as

indictment, but charged. Finally, both

damnation,"

explain

their

conduct

More

to

by hazarding

reference
of

other-worldly considerations,
to
perpetual

Socrates

his

welcome

among

heroes in Hades.

But: More
the

makes a

wily,

subtle

defense,

standing

on the

letter

of

law in claiming his right to silence, and revealing only after the verdict his implacable opposition to the king's heterodoxy. He says:
ye must understand more

that, in
to
all

things

subject

is

bound
mine

have
is

respect to

to

any
a

other
sort

thing in

the world

touching conscience, every true and good his said conscience and to his soul than besides, namely, when his conscience is in his prince, as it is with me; for I assure hour disclosed and opened my conscience

such

as

is,

that

to say, when the person giveth no occasion of

against

slander,
you

of tumult and sedition

that

I have

not

hitherto

to this
all ;

id mind

toi any person any

living in

the world.

More, then,
legal
who

as a statesman and a as a subject

and

lawyer defends himself

a

with

all

care,

while

Christian

he,

as

did Jesus,

preserves

inviolate his inmost

thoughts.

But

Socrates,

a private man

has never held office and has, he claims, no experience of courts (17d), handles his defense very cavalierly, while as a citizen and a philosopher he, unlike his Christian counterpart, has no notion of

6
privacies of conscience.

Interpretation

The

comparison

therefore throws

into
no

relief

his freedom in
recesses of
common and

the

Apology.

His

resolve

derives from

hidden
is

conviction, but from

a ground which

by

its very

nature

in

need of communication.

VI

The

most vivid

reason,

finally, for
to

re-studying

the

Apology

is

the

desire

to come to some answer to the question:

Was Socrates rightly

a question of several

convicted and

rightly
the

condemned

death? It is

aspects.

First, why did

accept

Heliastic

court convict

Socrates
a

and

in

addition

the

prosecution's

view

that

this

was

capital

case?

It is

essential

here

to

recall

that

Socrates himself
the

irreverence
agrees
with

and

corruption

of

only young definable offenses

charges could

not

considers and

the authorities that such

the tal

Crito shows, he is in deepest

accord with

the

lie, but that, as Solonic fundamen

law from
Now in

arise.6

which

they
Socrates'

of the case for the prosecution, this first be resolved by examining defense, which only I want to do later. That task is, however, complicated by the fact that Socrates turns his defense into an offense, into an accusation against his accusers and his fellow citizens. For it would be ludicrous to attempt to examine the substance of his attack, which would

the

absence

question can

mean

that

trying to determine they are sluggish in

or

whether

it is

more true of the

Athenians

self-examination

than

of, say,

Thebans,
charges

Spartans,
which are

Americans.

Indeed, it
of all

might

be

argued

that

universally
one

true

humankind

are,

when

levelled
A
this.

at

particular

community,

pernicious;
of

pointedly hence his very

conviction

attack might

become
after

evidence to the

jury

his bad faith.

Socrates'

second aspect of the question

Shortly

Socrates'

concerning execution a backlash

condemned to philosopher

is

seems
and

to

have
to

occurred.
exile.7

Meletos may have been

the
persecuted

death

Anytos

Socrates

was

vindicated

in the

repentant city.

How

then ought a

Heliastic juror have voted, had he

events,

been

able

to

foresee
to

subsequent

particularly
the

the

most

immediate result,
accusers

that a convicted

Socrates is

would cooperate with

his

by

But

the most

moving important

force

the court to
aspect

inflict

death

penalty?

the one

framed in contemporary

The Offense of Socrates

terms:

7 present-day
situations?

How
spite

should of

I be disposed in

analogous can

For in

the

fact
of

that such cases

ancient more

no

longer

arise with the

always

judicial directness
present
when and with are

the
of

city, the Socratic issue is

mobile

persons more

intellect,
people
moral

more

extensive
come of

education collision whom

leisure
on

than

the
and

at

large

into
those

the

religious

beliefs

traditions

they

intent

serving.*

VII
Socrates'

To begin with, then, I

must examine the

sufficiency

of

defense.
Xenophon
present

takes

Socrates'

"grandness
of

utterance,"

of

a as

feature

in

all

previous

accounts

the

speech,
as

his

point

of

departure,
unless

This

tone
shown

must, he
that the

says,

appear

"rather

mindless

it

can

be

Socrates

was

in fact

deliberately inviting
the classic
as
an

death

as an escape

from

decay
of

of old age

(6). Here is

statement

in

the

tradition

propounding
conduct

self-euthanasia

Socrates'

explanation

of

strange a

in

court.

For it is

evident

that

Socrates'

defense is
attempts

deliberate failure.

Now Plato

to

striking fact in
matter

the

dialogue

forestall Xenophon's explanation of this of last day, the Phaedo. There

Socrates'

Socrates himself

argues

that

suicide

is

how desirable death

the
acceptance
of

might seem

(62a). To

simply impermissible, no regard Socrates as

manipulating
welcoming
of

Athenians

into

killing
that

him
is

and

to

confuse

his

death
the

with suicide

to trivialize the events

conviction

that

day

in

court.

Only

fact

Socrates invited

stands.

VIII

Let

Socrates'

me

then present a critical rehearsal of

well-disposed

speech,

stated

in the least

terms.
accusers of

Socrates begins
*An immediate
Kanawha
whose

by

accusing his

lying

when

they

warn

for this essay was the textbook controversy of 1974 in West Virginia. It arose from a clash between the parents County,
occasion and religious children was
sensibilities

moral

were

offended

by

some

of

the

books
whose

assigned

to

their

in the

public

schools, and the educators

childrens'

in

judgment

such

reading

necessary for

the

intellectual development.

8
the court that
as

Interpretation

he is

a skilled and

formidable

speaker.

Unaccustomed
call

he is

to public

speaking he is
the
subsequent

not

formidable,
(17b). This

"unless they
truth

him
of a

formidable
and

truth"

who speaks

he

will

present,

indeed in

the

speech, "alien to the

diction"

crowd though

he may

be, he is

complete master of the situation.

own

He

even contrives

for

a stretch to

introduce his

dialectic
senior

mode who

into

the proceeding, as

he interrogates Meletos,
examination.

co-accuser,

is

by

law obliged to submit to he wisely omits to call.

He
goes
attacks

Anytos, his

oppontent,

this
to

running

inadequate young man, who, as Socrates accuse him "to the city as to his
with an

puts

it,

mother"

(Euthyphro

2c),

ad

hominem

argument:

Meletos himself But

what weight

does

not care about the substance of the accusation.

can

in law

that

have,
to

supposing it
answer

were so?

In any case, Socrates does

not allow

Meletos

his

question

Who,

then

does

make the
can

better?in the young only way Meletos

answer

and those

behind him
most
of all

it, namely by asserting

the
Anytos'

that the

laws,
the

but

the

citizens, improve

young (24-25). For in

answer
who

Meno

(92e) he had
generation
which of

already disallowed
of the

that

it is the

respectable citizens

city, its gentlemen,

transmit excellence

from

to generation.
particular

Now Socrates
such

wants

Meletos

to tell the court

exercises

person, Athens into excellence.

as

horse trainer,
course, this is
their children's

the

youth

But,

of

Meletos'

precisely

what

backers resist the notion that the hands of such experts.

As
a part
of
Socrates'

formation
the
good

should

be in

wider

attack of

on

accusers

he

substitutes

charge

his

own

devising

faith of his for the true

the

formal indictment. In
to an
against

bringing

his charge, he
a
with

claims, Meletos trusted

"old

slander"

(19a, 28b),
are

long-standing

hatred in

city

him,

which

Socrates
in

Aristophanes'

associates

comedy,

The Clouds. But there

refer to the
opinion

high

esteem

difficulties. Not only does he himself later which he is held in the city, where "the
men"

prevails

that

(35a), but
and

the relation

Socrates is something more than most of Aristophanes to Socrates in the Symposium

playwright make
saw that old

Plato's

veneration

that

Socrates'

for the friends ordinarily

century

it hard
as

to maintain
over

comedy

working

nearly

a quarter of a

toward

his

undoing.

The Offense of Socrates IX

the

Socrates, then, makes up a suppositious new indictment based on Clouds (112, 117) which runs: "Socrates does wrong and
searching into making
very
the
the things
worse

meddles,
things

below

the earth and

into

celestial

and

reasoning

the stronger and

teaching

others these

things"

(19b).

he pretends that the real charge of he himself recognizes as such in the Euthyphro (5c)is directed at his supposed researches into the nature of heavenly bodies and similar matters. These he had, indeed, given up long ago, when still in his youth, for reasons set out in the Phaedo (96b). Of such matters, he plausibly argues, he no longer knows anything, nor do they any longer concern him. And yet, in that very dialogue he gives a vivid topology of the things above and below the earth (198e ff.), as he does in the Republic and in other conversations. Can he really in good faith argue that he has no

By

means of this re-formulation

irreverence which

interest in eschatology,
myths about

when

the upper and

he makes up lower
against the

novel stories and private

realms

the

very

enterprise

that

disturbs
His

the

Athenians ?

chief

defense, however,

"old

slander" which

is

at

bottom nothing but the imputation of rests on a tale he tells (20e). Chaerephon, his crony in the Clouds, had perpetrated a coup in Delphi: He had gotton Apollo's oracle to declare that no
sophistry

man

was

wiser

than

Socrates. Whereupon Socrates modestly

to the

under

takes to prove the god mistaken,

this

undertaking
and regards

"giving
its

(21e),
charge

mention

his own regret, fails! He calls but, god's business the highest as a sufficient defense against the old

priority"

(24b).

The
wrong,

correct

indictment^
the

as

Socrates
and not

cites

it,. is: "that Socrates does

the gods whom the

corrupting

young
new

respecting

city respects, but other, Here is how Socrates

half-divinities"

(24b).

meets the actual charge of

irreverence,

when

he
the

finally
verb

reaches

it. The wording of its first point, if the meaning of (nomizein) is translated very carefully, is that Socrates
in
way."

"does

not regard the gods

the

customary

Against

this point

10 Socrates has
For he tells
stories of no

Interpretation
defensehe
that

himself

admits

its

truth to

Euthyphro.

him

he, Socrates,
is,
for
his

cannot

accept

the traditional

the gods, that

the common myths of the

prosecution

Greeks; this, he
6a).
In

adds,

is

the

reason

(Euthyphro,

cross-examining Meletos, however, he

agreeing
with an altered

traps

him into thoughtlessly

not
can

formulation,
produces

existing"

regard the

gods

as and

namely that Socrates "does (nomizein einai, 26c, d). Now he

an argument

defend himself, ludicrous. Using

accused
of

he

as

the

indictment
new

itself, he
be

argues

introducing
in
the
who

half-divinities
the

cannot

logical as it is he who is be charged with

that

not

believing
not

full

gods who must

their parents,
of

any
and

more

than

someone

acknowledges

existence

mules

can

be

supposed

to

(27c). So
There

much

believe in their parents, namely horses for irreverence.

the
charge

asses

remains

concerning
in
the

the

introduction

of

new

divinities. Socrates
the

makes

it

clear

Euthyphro
thing"

(3b)

and again

in
of

Apology (31d) that he his notorious daimonion,

that

understands the accusers to

be thinking

the
a

"half-divine "maker
of

within

him,

and

they

regard

him

gods"

as not

on

account

of

it.

Nonetheless
sign"

Socrates

only

makes more

no

effort

to
on

allay

their

apprehensions, but he

even

dwells

aggressively

his "divine

here in

court than anywhere else.

XI

How
charge?

next

does Socrates defend himself

it in
terms
of

against

the corruption

His

version of
one,"

the

"old

slander"

is

that

Socrates

is

"clever

the

unique

indigenous sophist,
to
a
clique

and

ex-cogitator within a

who

dispenses

dangerous
as

wisdom

from
of

cogitatorium.

Of course,

everyone
no

in

and

out
of

the

dialogues
so

knows,
comic

Socrates actually has

claim
needs on

establishment

his

own,

the

no refutation.
other

Its

serious counterpart

in

the real

accusation,

the

hand,
lie

is

that

he has

esoteric

teachings.
ever

heard from him in private that all were not welcome to hear anything I would simply have refused to (33b). Had I been in that court believe him. Nothing is clearer than that Socrates does not say
calls this charge a
and asserts that no one
-room

Socrates

has

everything

to everybody.
well

Furthermore, Socrates knows perfectly

that

his

accusers are

The Offense of Socrates

not

11

very

precise

in

their

knowledge

of

this

professionals.

In the Meno Anytos

of

wanders

intrusive travelling tribe of into the conversation

confesses that

expressing lack
own of

horror

these people,

but readily

he has
that that

never even met one.

Socrates is in
For in
a

no position to ridicule

him for

experience.
useful

the

Republic he himself
to

argues

it

might

be

for
that

physician

have be

experienced

disease in his
who

body, but
the
soul

it is in

no

way

good

for

someone

is

to

govern

by

means of the soul to

experienced

in

corruption

(409a). A

magistrate

like Anytos

might well claim that

it is

a staunch

keeps him from seeking his sound sense makes him despise. Since, therefore, the description of
caution that

acquaintance with those whom

sophists'

the

competence people
who

is left

to

Socrates, he
who

chooses to present

them as

"might be
are the

wise with a greater than

human
"a

wisdom"

(20e). That

is, they
while

ones

are

expert

in

the things above and

of

below,

Socrates

has

the reputation

wisdom,"

human

wisdom."

only At this
this

certain

which

is "perhaps

point the

Athenians

make a

they know
own

that

Socratic

wisdom,

this
the

disturbance, for "unwilling

Socrates'

wisdom

(Euthyphro, lie), has but

ignorance
in
and

one content:

knowledge
of the

of

the

determined
of

exposition

ignorance

of

everyone else

the

city (2 Id).

Part

of

the
not

charge

sophistry is
of

the

"teaching."

charge

of

Teaching
imports it is

is

in

the terms

the actual

indictment, but Socrates

Meletos into amending the wording to include it (26b). Why? Because he intends, in making the point that his activity
and tricks not

teaching,

to

bring

out these three circumstances: that

he

takes

no

money, that

he

conveys no

subject-matter,

and that

he

accepts no

responsibility (33b). But if he takes no money, that only means lablehe cannot be engaged or dismissed, as a

that

he is

uncontrol

parent might

hire

or of

fire

a professional.

And if he

takes no

responsibility for

the careers

his young associates, why, that is usually called irresponsibility. But if he conveys no positive matter to these young men, that is the very worst of all, in the light of what he shows them instead. For with disingenuous innocence he himself gives a vivid description of what is
conveyed

to them

in his

company:

He

goes

about

engaging really

public

men,

poets and craftsmen

course are

in

conversations which are

examina

tions, in the

of which

it

emerges that

know

what

they

doing,

although

they

think

they do not, in truth, they know it well

12
enough

Interpretation
while the

young

men stand

by

and watch and smile;

for,

as

he says charmingly: "it is not (33c). Afterwards, he reports, they range through the city imitating him, presumably like those skeptical puppies who have inopportunely gotten hold of dialectic, whom he himself describes in the Republic (529b). This is
unpleasant"

what

Socrates

calls

"not

being

teacher,"

anyone's

and this

is how he

makes

himself

palatable to

his fellow-citizens!

He

completes

pointing been corrupted coming forward

in public,
considered

to the

his defense against the corruption charge by fact that no one who either considers himself to have
or

is

a parent of a corrupted child

is

then and there

aside

to complain

(34b). But then,

of

course,

from

the unlikelihood that a parent would proclaim

his

child's corruption
accuser

the

whole

town

knew

that

the

chief

Anytos

himself

to

be just
29).

such a parent.

Xenophon

records this

circumstance

(Apology

XII

This
the

then

is

Socrates'

defense

as

Plato

permits us to construe

it in

mind

of

deliberately
am

Heliastic juror. There is undoubtedly something self-incriminating about it.

a not even scruple to use phrases to the court which
own

Socrates does intimate in his

terms the equivocal nature of

his

own activity.

referring to the phrases which in the Republic give the working definition of right or justice, namely "to do one's own business," and
wrongdoing, namely "to be busy at many the latter meddle, "to do being
of
everything,"

things"

(433a),

to

Socrates'

favorite

description

of

the

sophists'

Athens

apparently interrogations he is both "doing his own business" happens to be going about meddling in theirs (31c), and
theirs

the

two

coincide

activity (596c). Yet for Socrates in he claims that in his private

(33a)
that

which

in

he is also doing the god's (33c). So he intimates something possibly pernicious, while he never takes cognizance of the real fears of his judges. Those fears concern
the
substance
of

doing

the

city,

which

is

compounded

of

traditions,
Socrates'

particularly respect for

scrutiny

the

deep

old myths
of

about

its

gods and the established

the wisdom

its citizens,

of whose

collapse

makes a spectacle

acknowledges

that

for the young. So also, because he never he in fact teaches, he evades rendering a candid

The Offense of Socrates

and
such

13
of

comforting
as even

account a

of

the essential

loyalty
he

very

unconforming

citizen-teacher

his intentions, would feel he

and

obligated to give to apprehensive

parents;

never says that

they in the end care for the same city. It is necessary here to recall that

Socrates'

indictment

was

judicially
even a

correct.

Under these

circumstances

it

seems

to me that

charges
might
would

decent juror, realizing in the course of the speech that both had the same root, which the defense had in no way reached, feel compelled to convict, while, as a man of foresight, he
that

pray

it

would not come to execution.

XIII

Indeed

a case can
who
of

be

made

for

the
a

convicting Athenians. Hegel, for

comprehensive view
of

instance,
in

course

takes

very

the

affair, is their

brisk
in

fact,

made

defender, and some of the points that follow are, the History of Philosophy (Vol. II, "The Fate of
is
of more

Socrates"). But
the

what

interest is

that

they

all come

from

dialogues

themselves.

First,
and

the common view that this was a political

trial, the

attack of

the rabid returned

democracy
hold

against a man with aristocratic views

associates,

will not

up.

Socrates himself recounts

under various

at

his

trial

how he had been in difficulties

under

regimes, certainly
own

the
and

oligarchical

Thirty
a

who

included his

interlocutors Anytos
of
man"

Critias

Charmides (32e). Furthermore,

the chief accuser

was a moderate

democrat,

"seemingly

and well-conducted

respectable reputation

by

Socrates'

own account

in

the

Meno (90b).
not

In fact

very

very description of Socrates as an anti-democrat is Read without prejudice, the vignette of convincing.
the
regime

the

democratic

in

the
of

Republic,
Athens'

democratic
geousness,
a

stronghold
one vital

dialogue itself set in harbor, shows, for all its

a regime

the

outra-

redeeming feature: This

of constitutions,

is, Socrates
there

says,

perfect supermarket
a

and

anyone

who wishes to

erect

city,

"as

we

are

now

doing,"

should

go

(557d,

cf.

Statesman 303a).
speak
of

activity is at home in a democracy, not to the fact that the Athenians regard Socrates as instigating
which

Socrates'

very forwardness in the young democracies (Republic, 563a).

that

he describes

as endemic to

Now

the

Athenians

have,

in

fact,

as

Socrates himself

observes

in

14
the

Interpretation

Crito

(52e), borne
"great

with

hatred"

supposed

into politics, for which,

him for seventy years, in spite of the against him (28a). Even his two incursions as he tells the court, he might
"perhaps"

have died (32d),

Athenians
that

passed

off safely.

So

that

the man who tells the

opposes

they will kill anyone who publicly has himself been allowed to live a long life (31e),
Even
this

them

of semi-public

resistance.

late

conclusion

need

never

have

come.

If

they had

managed

better,
as the

to court

(45e). Nor
that

Crito sadly observes, the case need never have come need Socrates have died, for voluntary exile was
remind
and

possible, Even in
220

Laws

him
in

when

he
of

makes them speak

Socrates'

(52e).

court

spite

intransigence,
either thought
a

half of the nearly

five hundred (or 501) jurors

proved,
or were moved

the accusation
Socrates'

insufficiently

by

strong

sense

of

excellence,

or agreed with

him

that the

city

could profit

by by

his existence, or considered that the city would be better served forbearance. These 220 refused to find him guilty. Their number surprises Socrates, who has evidently not done justice to the
well-disposed condition of some

Athenians (36a).
allowed to speak

Again,
is
the

once the verdict

is

in,

Socrates is

freely,

as

the civilized

city
of

by
the
of

Athenian custom, and to re-affirm his partnership in participating in the formulation of his sentence. Socrates

abuses

this occasion

in

order

to reiterate

his

view of

the

incompe in prison,
and

tence
the

Heliastic

court.

Moreover,

once sentenced and

city

Athens
a

allows

him

daily

conversation with

his friends
in

accords

him
or

bloodless death among

to
speak

them.

Not

so

Jerusalem,

London

Berlin!

Indeed

his freedom
of

before

court-room or to the

intimate
a

circle of

The

formal issue
only

mere

right

the large public of the friends in prison is complete. to free speech, contrary to
or to the

Whitehead, is
care

of no

concern

to

Socrates

Athenians; both
Socrates'

about the substantial question of whether

speech

does damage.
In this light
even

Anytos's harsh

recommendation

that the case

must either not come

before

the court at all or come as a capital case

(29c)

can at

least be

taken to evince a state of mind the opposite of

trivial,

state

of mind

Plato

must respect.
with

For in the

Statesman,

dialogue

dramatically
whom

the stranger to

contemporary Socrates has turned

the trial
over

(Theatetus 210d),

the conversation says

The Offense of Socrates

15

that, in
customs

the absence
must
rule.

of

true statesmanship, the

laws

and the ancestral

anyone

is

seen to and

then, no one is to be wiser than they, if be searching into the crafts which have been legally

Since,

established,
charge
of

waxing

wise

about

them, he
made

can

be indicted
suffer

on a

corrupting
the

the

young

and

to

"the

most

penalties"

extreme

(299b).
seriousness gives
with which

In

sum

very

they

take to
our

Socrates'

non-political
whose

activity

the

Athenians

claim

respect,

modus vivendi

it is it

to regard philosophers
a

light-heartedly. To
their clamor

be sure, it is
and

not good to

interrupt
comes

speaker,
at

but

is brief
Here in
man,
a

controllable

and

correctly,

crucial points. gained said?

effect

the attention of a whole

philosopher.

Of

what other

city has been people can that be

XIV

by

one

Clearly
this way,

this

Socrates,
a

who

confronts

and

affronts

such

city in
:8

is Socrates in

described
Thus
we

by

very Kierkegaard in a

oblique aspect.

This

aspect of just that

passage

from The Concept of Irony

with

see

clearly how

the position of

Socrates

respect

to the state

is

how he wholly fails to fit into it, but we see it even more at the moment when, indicted for his clearly way of life, he surely must have become conscious of his disproportion to the state. Yet undismayed he carried through his position, with his sword above his head. His speech is not the powerful pathos of enthusiasm but instead we have an irony carried through to its last limit. thoroughly
negative,
. . .

By irony
the
term

Kierkegaard
with

means not what

Socrates

means when

he

uses

respect

to

pretense of
which one

knowing less
is
raised

than

himself, namely his dissimulation, his he does, but a kind of self-levitation by

all positive

above

knowledge. Such
characterize

zestful
of

abstention

from

content

does,

in

way,

the

Socrates

Apology. At any rate, Socrates with his man of negation, and these are his features:
the

sword above

his head is

XV

First
which

foremost there is that uncanny nay-sayer he calls his daimonion, and which plays a larger
and

within role

him
this

in

16
than

Interpretation

sort of

He describes it (31d) as a any other certainly genuine dialogue. inner voice which has been with him from childhood; that is is innate but
not

to

say, it

in

"recollection,"

need

of and even

of

being
only

searched

out

by
to

thought.

This

"half-divine"

"divine

something,"

never aids

thought and
a

never urges action.

It

speaks

to warn

him

not

do
of

deed.

To

what

realm

being
role

this

notorious

daimonion belongs is

unfathomable. conception.
within a

But the

it has in

Socrates'

life is

not

beyond

Enthusiasm

means

literally

the state of

having a divinity
enthusiasm,
no

(cf.

entheos):

The daimonion is

Socrates'

negative

permanently implanted restraining

the
exaltations need
of

power.

Socrates is

enthusiast,

because
though

thought are not

negative

he does

a special

due to a special agency, faculty. For it is his chief

teaching
that

that excellence
of excellence

is knowledge (e.g. Protagoras 360e

are

ff),

and

deeds

But then, by ignorance and

the
are

knowledge. inverse proposition, wrong deeds stem from

the
consequence of

direct

always

in

some

deep

does bad

things

in full

consciousness.

inadvertent; no one Consequently, since they are

sense

by

their

very

nature

beyond
their

the context of

reason,

they

require an
Socrates'

uncanny
ability
In

power

for

prevention.

The daimonion is

to avoid wrong,

particular the

in
to

politics
a

sort of self-destruction. Nonetheless, he describes himself in the Gorgias (521d) as being the only man in Athens who does truly engage in politics. That is to say, he has devised for himself a mode of being privately public (or the reverse); by his description it is a way of "conferring in private the greatest benefit on each (36c). This mission which he has devised for himself he will not give up even if he "is to die many times
citizen"

(31d) futile, premature

his negative excellence. daimonion makes Socrates refrain from engaging because that would have been tantamount, he says,

over"

(33c). This is
realm

Socrates'

negative

politics: and

to

deny
assert

that the public

is

the

truly
in

political
service

realm
of

to

his inner logos

respect

intransigently
Socrates
most

the

the

city.

It is in this

that

differs from Thomas More. For More unwillingly but accepts high public office, and yet asserts to his death the dutifully right to open his mind to no one but his God. It is, in capsule, the distinction in matters political between a philosopher, who cares for

Being

in its commonness,

and a

Christian

who worships a

Person in

intimacy.

The Offense of Socrates

XVI

17

Last
within

and most

important,
"the

when

Socrates formulates

what

is

to

be

this speech

greatest

good

for
not

man"

it is in
a

altogether

negative terms:

"The

unexamined

life is

livable for
much

man"

(38a);
truly

what

people

at

present

care
of

for is nothing

(30a);

the

worthwhile

work

is that

examining, testing, refuting,

impartially

both oneself and others. In this one respect finds himself wise: He knows he knows nothing (21d); his fellow and it is citizens, on the other hand, fail totally under Socrates' offense that he publishes these failures. He precisely without fall silent would be claims, however, irony, that to disobedience to the god (37e).
examination

exposing at least he

To

put

it

another

way:

The first

culmination notorious

of

Socrates'

non-didactic

teaching

is

usually

his
or

aporia,

"waylessness,"

literally

a profitable

perplexity

embarrassment, induced in

learner for his own sake (e.g., Meno 84). Insofar as Socrates represents his activity as a public service, however, his interlocutor is embarrassed not for his own sake but as an object-lesson, nor does
the the conversation continue to positive

learning;

in this setting Socrates

as
an

is indeed

a negative teacher. philosophic

an

Here,
negative

then, the
effort,

activity is
or

presented

entirely
the

without

end

substance

significantly

substantive philosophia

is

never

used,

but only
But
and

the verb philosophein,

"to carry

on

the effort
of

for

wisdom."

most

particularly,

at the

literal
asserts

center

the

speech

(29b),
death.
XVII

his

ultimate negative wisdom:

its end, Socrates his knowledge of his ignorance

again

at

concerning Hades,

the realm of

To

offset

clearly
to

the negative

Socrates in

the

he

appears

record, Plato

writes a second of

dock, whose defense defense for Socrates in

the
of

prison.

The

conversations

the

Cn'ro

and

Phaedo
the

are

the

deliberately In the beginning

sleep, just like
to a
conversation

positive complements to the

of

the

oratory Cn'ro Socrates awakes from

Apology.
a

deep

blank

that so

longingly
he
namely

described

at the end of the

Apology,

in

which

accepts
as

his

would

before

the court,

duly

he never proceeding from the laws he

condemnation as

18

Interpretation

his life (53a). In a tone the very he has the laws upbraid him: "do Apology for us, so that you think the right thing is the same for you and think it is right to do the whatever we undertake to do to you, you has very willingly lived
opposite
of

under

all

that

in

the

same

back

us?"

to

(50e). Socrates is
even

This other,
the

positive

more

strongly delineated in

Phaedo,
more

the

hopes,
harsh

dialogue on successful defense (69e). On

rhetorician,

death

which contains

his

second

and,

he

this

his last

day he

is

not a

and offensive

as the narrator makes a point of

relentless
wishes

interrogator but
to

as

charming noting (89a). Here he speaks not as a one who is prepared, if his interlocutor
in

but

and attentive

listener,

it,

"talk it

through
as

he does

not present

himself

(diamythologein, 70b). Here proudly ignorant, but is presented as

tales"

the one and

only knower (76b);

to
remark

nor

does he
who

pretend to

be

without a

teaching, but he
account

rather appears as one

the recipient of

Phaedo's
aston

interrupts
clear

makes

philosophical

matters

ishingly
forms;
human
Socrates

(102a).

Here

all
of

the the

great

Socratic

notions
"looks"

are
or

recapitulated:

his
of

supposition
of

eide, the invisible

the myth
good

recollection; the true good

beyond
this

the

merely
as

refutation
refers
of of

in
to

the

Apology. In
and

conversation

frequently
also

philosophia,
the

presents

it

the

inquiry
which

into

the realm

death,
the

"invisible
eide

Hades"

(Aides aeides)

is

the place

invisible

(80d),

the place of

being

(76d). Here he is not ignorant of death but well-studied in it, and the death the city confers on him is not an absconding into sleep-like
nothingness
a

but

an

"immigration"

to the

realm of

being (40c,
court

117c),

felicitous

alternative to exile.

So, then,

there can

be

no

deliberately

curtails and withholds

doubt that before himself.

xvm

the

Socrates

Then the
offend

question

becomes: Why?

Why does

Socrates

deliberately

court, why does he go on the offensive against the Athenians, why does he use his defense to document his offense
the
against the city?

Since Socrates actually lived

there must
actual

and

actually

came

before

the

Heliaea,

be

some aspects of

circumstances.

Once

derive from the defendant, Socrates became a resister,

Plato's Defense
which

The Offense of Socrates

the

19
He
must

defender

of

philosophy from

the city's attack. to

have

thought that this public occasion

confirm the

was a moment

display
what

spirit, to

lifelong
part

business

of words

in

deed,
a

to

be

Achilles,

to

whom

he

compares

himself,

was

in war,

hero for philosophy

to

(28c).

Again, in
the

his

conduct must

have been
whom

an accommodation

conditions and

of

the occasion,
great
crowd

namely

the short

speaking
Twice he

the

to

he
not

must

time he has for address himself.

mentions the
of

lack

of

time

for

quiet persuasion

(19a, 37b).
matter-

This lack

leisure

and

of

intimacy

is

peripheral

nothing Socrates thinks can be expeditiously conveyed by public deliverance; it must always be slowly engendered in leisurely direct
conversation with

its accompanying inner dialogue (see Theaetetus

wisdom

172d).
appear

Socrates'

positive

stated

concisely in
are

public

would

simply bizarre.
negative and

The
other.

the

positive

Socrates

the obverse

of each

Refutation,
search

the

breaking

up

of an accepted
whether

opinion,

goes over

into

the

for

a truth.

But in public,
will

Socrates has been

who

summoned

to court or

has been

accosted

by

man

is

not

friend,

the

transformation

not

take

place

the conversation

is

curtailed.

The

Apology leaves

aside the widest and

deepest

questions

concerning
the care
upon the
of

the right relation

between

the political

community

and

souls, but it implies

comes as a

this much:

When philosophy

comes

city it

threat.

XIX

Accordingly
Socrates. For

it is

possible to surmise

why Plato

put on record

for

times to come so

detailed

and emphatic a statement of the resistant

in the Apology throws light on this matter. last time Plato himself irrupts into his own work (38a). Socrates hears him raise his voice to suggest a sober and A startling
the
moment

first

and

sensible
and

money penalty,
proposals.
accepts

derisory
Socrates

it were, suggestion is The very

to subvert as
as

Socrates'

own proud much

like

rebuke,

and

it. It is

if in

this work,

in

which

Plato does
spoken
which whole

not so much speak through

Socrates but

represents

himself as

by him, Plato is recording something he had heard in court must cast its shadow over the other dialogues, and so over the
to

20
philosophical

Interpretation
tradition.

He

has heard

Socrates'

that

activity is

publicly indefensible.
XX

Let

me conjecture. of

The dialogues proper,

would of

the

life,
and

that

is,

not the

letter

the
as

Socratic conversations,
the
and

by

large

pass

into

Socrates'

oblivion,

positive

content

wisdom,
would

its
One

deep
into
such

suppositions

encompassing

myths

be

shrivelled

conformity
On the
the

with

his

successors'

more

strenuous

systems.

successor would soon appear

other

in

Athens Aristotle.

hand,

Socrates'

speech,

his defense delivered before

largest

public of

his

life,

would continue to
which

be
to

at work across the

millenia. extremes

Its heroic
against
would

intransigence,
would

had

once

driven

the court to

him,
the

serve

thereafter

re-establish

him.
In

Hence it
a

be

Socrates

of refutations who would prevail.

softened

well-known

coloring description:
the

popular

this

is

the

Socrates

of

Cicero's

Socrates in the

was

first

who called

cities and even

philosophy down from the heavens, settled her introduced her into private houses and compelled her to
and moral matters and things good and

ask questions about

life

bad. (Tusculan

Disputations, V, iv, 10)

But
the
so-called
as

"Socratic

method"

would

also

make

harsher

reappearances,
as the
of

"radical

doubt,"

as

"enlightenment,"

"critique,"

as
or as

"re

values"

-examination

of all

the general encouragement these

questioning disposition. In
the
pretences

each

of

modes,

philosophy

would penetrate
way.

to credit of yet another communal

Without supposing that Plato could have foreseen all these developments, it is yet possible to imagine that he had intimations,
that

he
as

was

apprehensive about

about

the

facile

vindication
of

of

Socrates'

way

he
he

was

the

learned
Socratic

ossification

his

thought.

To
of

prevent the latter or rather to provide a permanent

revival

possibility
he

wrote

numerous

conversations.

To forestall

the

former or

rather to put perennial obstacles

in its

way

wrote one
with

Socratic

speech.

This oration,
written as

proud and

noble

in

accordance

the event, was so

to reveal on re-examination that

committed an

Socrates

had

appeared

to

Plato to have
that

undeniable offense
once at

against

the

city

and

he had

seen

his teacher,

least,

as

The Offense of Socrates

21
a

truly dangerous.
friendsand

The

speech

would

serve

as

warning
Socrates'

to

future
is

as an enticement.

To
not
a

append a modern application:

In

our

polity

offense

capital

crime,
a

nor

are

Furthermore in

court of

his modern successors of his stature. law an American citizen juror would be
Constitution
and

guided and restrained

by

the

its interpretations
excruciating

and

laws. The judicial issue is therefore much less what is more urgent is to form some general opinions about such situations. And here the Apology makes a clear comment, which, stated most
cautiously, is: The
vital to
side

defend

and should
one

resisting enlightenment be addressed.

thought.
us

also

has something
am

There is The

yet

more

Socrates himself would, I

persuaded, live
none.

out

his life among

then

doing

no

harm

and

receiving
such

great

question

to

be

considered

is: Ought

immunity
1

to

be

a source of

high

satisfaction or of

deep

misgiving?

Plato's

Euthyphro, Apology
page.

John Burnet (Oxford: Clarendon

of Socrates and Crito, edited with notes Press, 1924). References to the dialogues
to

by
are

by
not

Stephanus
yet

would

like here

draw
of

attention

to a

very fine treatment,

of

published,

by

Thomas G. West

the

University

Dallas,

entitled

Plato's Defense of Socrates. The Socratic Enigma, A Collection of Testimonies Through Twenty-Four Centuries. Herbert Spielberg, ed. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, The Library of

99, 112, 243, 262, 203, 278. Moltke, Briefe (Berlin: Henssel Verlag, 1971), p. 63. Socratic Enigma, op. cit., pp. 43, 66, 187, 228, 285; Hegel, Philosophy of Religion, Part Three, C II 3. William Roper and Nicholas Harpsfield, Lives of Saint Thomas More (London: Everyman Library, 1963), p. 157. Burnet, op. cit., p. 103. The Meno of Plato, E. Seymer Thompson, ed. (Cambridge, 1961), p. xxiv. 8 Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Irony, With Constant Reference to Socrates (London, 1966), p. 221. Cf. Socratic Enigma, op. cit., p. 291.
Liberal

Arts, 1964),

pp.

Helmut James

von

22
THE PROMETHEUS STORY IN PLATO'S
PROTAGORAS*

Clyde lee miller

State

University
will

of New York

at

Stony

Brook

In this essay I

first
the

analyze the myth

Plato has Protagoras tell

and

in his "great
I
will

speech,"

story

of Prometheus

Epimetheus. Then The

and

employ

what can

be learned from

the myth to comment on the

parts

Protagoras

sophist

Socrates play in introduces the Prometheus

and

the

Protagoras

whole.1

as a encounter

motif

into

the

Socrates

takes

it up

as

their

conversation

closes.

The Prometheus

story illuminates the larger story which is the dialogue itself and provides a Platonic comment on issues central to the whole of the
Protagoras.

the Prometheus myth after the preliminary dialogue are complete and Socrates has begun questioning him on behalf of Hippocrates. The sophist begins his
relates
scenes

Protagoras in

the

long

epideixis

(exposition)
to

with

this

story

(320c8-322d5)
of

as

an

entertaining way
political
possible
arete

introduce his
can

explanation

how
such

moral

and

(excellence)

be

taught.

That

teaching is
challenged

is

what

Socrates had

claimed to

doubt
the

and

had

the sophist to show

(320b8-cl).
world's

In this story
and

of the are

beginning,
task
of

brothers Epimetheus
men and

Prometheus

given

the

fitting

the other

animals with suitable powers and protections once the subterranean

have fashioned them from the elements. Epimetheus prevails on to let him take care of the distribution; Prometheus is then to review his work. Prometheus agrees, only to have Epimetheus run short of available powers just as he reaches mankind. Epimetheus is in a quandary, for humans are left helpless and unprotected. Prometheus intervenes to steal fire and the related arts from Athena
gods

Prometheus

and

Hephaestus
translation

and gives these to men. taken

But
and

once

humans
tr.

are

in

the

*The

is

from Plato: Protagoras

and
encouragement

Meno,

W.K.C. Guthrie.

(Baltimore: Penguin, 1956). I received further advice

Professor David Kolb
at of

Bates College

and

Professor Hugh Silverman

in preparing this essay from of SUNY

Stony

Brook.

The Prometheus Story in Protagoras

23
and war to pities

light

of

day, they

obviously
to

need

the skills
not
steal

of politics

survive.

Those Prometheus

could

from Zeus. Zeus

men and sends

men.

bestow the Prometheus is punished for his

Hermes
this

techne
theft

(craft)
because

of politics on all
Epimetheus'

of

folly.
In

telling
arete

how
the

is

taught.

story Protagoras intends to begin his explanation of But using the Prometheus myth also introduces

traditionally associated with the figure of from the stories told by Hesiod and Aes Prometheus, especially
cluster

of meanings

chylus.2

In

earlier versions
and

of

the

myth, there

was greater
was

hostility

between Zeus
stealth

Prometheus, for
as well as

Prometheus

that creative

intelligence (Titanic

from by him terribly for

Pandora
and so

the this

Olympians

ancestrally human) who wrested fire on behalf of mankind. Zeus punished

Prometheus'

defiance. Moreover, Zeus had Epimetheus marry benefaction.3 mankind also suffered for
and

Both Prometheus
parts

Epimetheus
origin

are

Titans, fraternal
The
roles

counter

bound up

with

the

of

men.

they play in
Prometheus

Hesiod's

poems correspond to their characters as named:

or

is

forethought
or

he
who

who

knows

in

advance;

Epimetheus

is

afterthought

he

learns

afterwards.

In Aeschylus there is the

that of

implicit

suggestion

that the character of

Prometheus includes

Epimetheus
punished

as

well.

For
the
who

Promethean
one who

by

Zeus;
one

foresight is defeated and knows in advance becomes

In

inexorably
insight
are

the

learns

afterwards. and

its

Promethean-

Epimethean ancestry, human

folly

cleverness,

blindness

and

inseparable.

Protagoras is thus employing mythic figures whose reputations are modifies the traditional story in already established. But the sophist
three

important
Zeus

ways. and

Plato's Protagoras first

between

Prometheus;
roles;

then

plays down the enmity he has Prometheus and

Epimetheus

change

third,

he

expands

the

character

of

Epimetheus beyond

earlier characterizations.

As Protagoras

relates the

story, Zeus is

a co-benefactor who adds

to and secures what

share

Prometheus has

provided

for
the

mankind.

The

two

complementary

wisdoms represented

by

differences in the
insure that
sophist

technai
survive

they
and

give

to men.

Both
their

are

concerned

to

men
also
(di'

prosper

in

lives

together.

The

downplays

Prometheus'

punishment,
of

blaming
to

Epimetheus

Epimethea, 322al) instead

referring

Zeus directly. This last

24
modification emphasizes

Interpretation
the interrelated roles
of

both brothers in
under

crime and punishment alike.

The
scored

close

connection

of

Epimetheus

and

Prometheus is

because

Protagoras'

Epimetheus is

to provide

for

brothers exchange roles. story has the two the distribution (a position more apt for
to
check

Forethought); Prometheus is
thought's place).

over

the

results

(After

Switching
in

roles

does

take the two out of

character,
to

but
is

subsequent events

the

story

show that the

brothers live up
all"

their names rather than their new positions.

quite

As

provider

Epimetheus (ou
panu

in character; he is "not

so

very
or

smart

at

ti

sophos,

321b7)

and

so

his

pro-vision

foresight leaves

men quite

literally out in the cold. Prometheus compensates for this oversight by stealing fire and the demiourgikai technai (arts of craftsmen).
Such
performances correspond

to what their names predict.

When
still

Epimetheus
requires
with

replaces

Prometheus,
emergency
required

it turns

out that

Afterthought

Forethought
unforeseen

(appropriately as an
and make

afterthought)

to contend

the

up for

what

is lacking.

Promethean foresight is

at the

juncture

where epimethean
of

hindsight is faced
resourcefulness.

with

its

consequences:

lack

judgment

and

Yet Epimetheus
two

Prometheus'

requires

assistance

only because

the

initially
on

changed

places.
so that

What

Protagoras'

focus

both Titans,

Prometheus is

no

retelling does is to longer substance and

Epimetheus shadow, but each is fleshed as counterpart of the other. The exchange of positions manifests both wisdom and lack
out

thereof

in

the character of each

brother. In

spite of

their names and

dominant
to

capacities, both

are revealed

by

Protagoras (and

Plato)

as

composed of epimethean and promethean aspects.

Epimetheus'

impasse?

Prometheus'

his

request

Forethought
situation

should

Epimetheus'

lack of better.4 have known is parallel: his urging the change

of

After all, what led foresight in acceding to

of roles

manifests an expected

lack

he

can

come

to

know,

and

judgment; he needs to perform before the hindsight thus attained arrives too
mankind,

late.5

But

aside

from overlooking
both
to

Epimetheus is himself
in his The

no

less

than

promethean

able and

provident

powers sophist's

and

protections

the

other

animals.
reveal

distribution of details in the

story
as all

(especially 320d8-321a2)
to
novel

wisdom"

nothing

produce

his

"lesser be disdained. Even if he cannot ultimately position demands, his care for the different

Epimetheus'

The Prometheus
animal

Story
In
the

in Protagoras
version
of

25
the story,
as

species

is

quite

Protagoras'

expert.

Epimetheus is
much a mix of

no mere

foil for

brilliance

of

Prometheus, but

forethought

and afterthought as

Prometheus himself.

//

By
arete moral

means of this

story Protagoras
of traditional

places the question of

and religion and sophist

teaching
joins
the

in the

context

myth

training

typical

in Athens (plus

what

education will

add to

it)
so

to the origins of

humanity. The
the

myth can capitalize on the

feelings
religion and

and

images

associated with

sacral

figures

of

Olympian

as to confer a special appropriateness on common

belief

practice

regarding
to

arete.

The

conventional order

daily

order

is thus

shown

to

conform

the

original

bestowed

Participation in Athenian life

share

enables a return to the

by the gods. beginning and a

teaching
cultivate the

in

the

originating
on
current

gifts of gods and

heroes.

Protagoras'

would

build

Athenian

practice and

further
of

divine

gifts of aidos and

dike (respect for

others and
as

justice).

Protagoras

uses

the

Prometheus story
in

part
can

his

response to

Socrates;
he is

the sophist wants to show that arete

be

taught and that

rather

better

than other teachers

helping

students acquire

it

(cf. 328bl-5, c3^1). He plays down the enmity between Zeus and Prometheus in the traditional myth so that their gifts may be
understood as

joint benefactions part

of what

it is

to

be human

and

live in society. His implicit point is that if to fire are taught and learned, it would be to be taught and learned as well.
neatly
with

the arts and crafts related

natural own

for

political arete

Protagoras'

teaching

thus

fits

the

benefactions
Zeus
rather than

of

Zeus

and

Prometheus,
his

even

if he

identifies

more with

than with the

Titan.
as
main patron

Adopting
a

Zeus

Prometheus

is itself
educa

Protagoras'

remarkably
was

promethean move on some opposition

part. as

Sophist

tion

meeting
get

upsetting

the education and

politics traditional
men

in Hellas. Since in fact in

the

the sophists trained

young
their

to

ahead

changing

socio-political

situation,

training
had

could

be

viewed as

rejecting
the

traditional paideia

(education)
tradition

and traditional structures of social and political power. always

This
of

been

associated with

forms,

at

least,
as

Olympian

religion,

so sophist education could

Protagoras'

be interpreted

revolutionary-

even promethean.

mythos softpedals the antique

hostility

26

Interpretation
and

between Zeus
traditions
and

Prometheus
the

and

joins his

own

work

to

the
was

conventions

broader

sophist

movement

already

replacing.
of

Protagoras himself had

customs
of

always

been

cautious and secures the

respectful

existing
to

and

mores;

here he ably

legitimation
teaches.
the myth

and

sanction

traditional religious myth

for

what

he

Choosing
is itself

begin his
suggests

lengthy

epideixis with this version of

promethean

in its foresight.
that the sophist's

This interpretation

may itself
this

provide

Platonic

comment on what

Protagoras is
and

Prometheus story doing in

Protagoras'

speech.

retelling has Prometheus

was

Epimetheus
as

exchange roles and gives new prominence to noted.

Afterthought,
whose

already

In

the

story it

Epimetheus
position as

initiative led to
and

Prometheus surrendering his

who

provider,
on

Epimetheus
sophist's

manifested no

little may

resourcefulness not

his

own.

The

changes

in

the myth

be just

promethean and work

wholly

to

his advantage; those very changes suggest that he too may exhibit both promethean and epimethean features, even in this brilliant
speech.

That
seen

the mythos

may

also

undercut

the sophist's efforts can

earlier

be

if the story is
words

measured against

Protagoras'

comments, in

his first
opening

speech about

himself in
earlier

in the

dialogue (316c ff). In fact, his speech first announced the motif of
the

forethought, but attributed it to Socrates. The same speech deplored all sophist disguises and cover stories, urging that Protagoras had never hidden the fact he was a sophist. Both of these earlier remarks need serious qualification in light of the sophist's tale of Prometheus
and

Epimetheus.
earlier
speech

That
tact and
private

began

with

compliments

to

Socrates for his

in

forethought
not

in

letting
not
are

Protagoras decide
sentence

whether to speak

or as

(316b5). The Greek

are

translates straightfor

wardly
A

"You

being

really

thoughtful on

my

behalf,

Socrates."

more

antic

(though

wholly arbitrary) reading

of the

same

words might
Socrates."

be "You
this

But if
can

really playing Prometheus on my behalf, remark is taken in tandem with the mythos,
If this

Protagoras

become Epimetheus greeting his brother.

Prometheus motif,
a

line

announces the

by

telling his

own version of the

Prometheus story

Prometheus)
he

on

bit later Protagoras musters forethought (and behalf of his own teaching to outdo the Prometheus
Socrates.6

recognized

in

Indeed,

the sophist takes the

leading role

The Prometheus
through the
tion with

Story

in Protagoras

27

first part of their discussion, dominating the conversa his great speech on moral education. And since his myth suggests that Epimetheus and Prometheus both manifest blindness and afterthought, it suitably anticipates some of the sophist's later frustrations when faced with pushy questions. Protagoras may have earlier disavowed pretense or disguise in admitting he is a sophist, but his own myth helps disguise the actual effect of his teaching, for it models his project after the benefactions of Zeus and Prometheus and thus implies that his teaching remains within sanctioned conventional bounds. And if the explicit promise Protagoras makes to his students is that they will become powerful in word and deed in the polis (city-state), he is in fact urging on them a training that should unhinge the conventional framework of political power in Athens. The sophist may place his work under the aegis of Zeus, but the success his students will achieve is epitomized by
Socrates'

clever, resourceful,

promethean speech.

Employing

this Prometheus

story

should

lead

us to expect

from

the man who tells

it exactly

such

cleverness.

Plato's Protagoras is

a man worth careful attention.

Ill

In the

end

Socrates

also alludes to the

Prometheus

of the sophist's

story

and

playfully

admits that

he

needs such a patron

of

(361c7-d5).

He explicitly
extend

adopts

the to

Prometheus
the
whole

the mythos and pledges to

forethought
shows

of

his life.
those of

And

the

myth

illuminates his

words and actions as

it did

Protagoras. The
in the young join himself to

dialogue

forethought
simply
the

and

afterthought

present
and

Socrates. He
Prometheus thought,
as

cannot

reject

Epimetheus
even
of

as

discussion
arete.

ends

this

is

Socratic

after

is his mocking

recognition

their apparent change of

positions on

teaching

Socrates is
of

no mean
can

Epimetheus in his

own right.

Only
arete

at the end

the

encounter

he identify
to
unitary

the

lack

of

foresight in
considered

their

inquiry.

They

were

taught and
arete

whether

attempting it was

answer

whether

could

be

before

having

what

is. This

oversight

has brought

them to the
was

final impasse
ought

with no

visible

Prometheus

to aid them.

Since it

Socrates

who proposed

both

questions

(cf. 320b8-cl);

329c6-dl), he
for
the

indeed

to

be

more promethean about such matters

future.

28
Socrates just had the
atopoi

Interpretation
call

personified

argument order

both
point

principals
out

(361a5)-marvelously
of

absurd-in

to

the

inconclusiveness

their

discussion
come to an

and

its

epimethean character.

As
the

Protagoras
opposite

and

Socrates

end,

each

seems to

be saying
Socrates

of what

he first
is

proposed

regarding

arete.

now

contends that arete

knowledge,

though

initially

he denied it

could

be taught. Protagoras now attempts to separate at least courage from knowledge and thus counters implicitly his original thesis that arete can be taught. For what is separate from knowledge is dubiously teachable, what is equivalent to knowledge obviously can be taught. This mocking sophistry has both men exchange theses about arete and thus recalls how Epimetheus and Prometheus exchanged roles in
the

has been a have in fact by they exchanged positions arete. Rather, what appears to be regarding inconsistency here manifests the lack of forethought and resource fulness with which they pursued their conversation and the oversight

my thos. Socrates is
reversal

hardly

serious,

for it is
either

not clear that there

or

real

of

opinion

man

that

which

marks

its

outcome

on

the

issue

of arete.

Because they

could

not

secure the cognitive and

foundations for measuring

verbal

whether arere

is

teachable

how it is unitary,

their contest-and-discussion wan

dered little

piecemeal

from description,

sophistries,

and

elenchtic
all to

examination avail.

through

poetry, criticism,

and

lengthy
it
nor

epideixis,

The logos

(argument)
neither which

exaggerates when

mocks them

for
any

inconsistency, for they

common point

began from
could

proceeded

to

from

they

be

so

judged.

that the issues seem jumbled, but harder. Adopting Prometheus, he commits try himself to taking forethought for the future. He invites Protagoras to join him no one else will dobut for the meantime promises to let forethought shape his attitudes. Both principals are at an

Socrates

reacts

by

admitting

takes this as reason to

again

impasse,
rates'

an

aporia,
of

and

seem

without

promethean resources.

Soc

invocation

the

mythical

for

their next encounter.

order the
of arete

least suggests two directions First, they should be more promethean in

hero
at

how they definition

conversation,

assuming

or

establishing
about

a common

before taking up forethought itself may be a crucial

arete and thus a

other questions

it.

Second,
of

element within the

definition
taught
or

key

to

whether such excellence can

be

is

unitary in

nature.

The Prometheus

Story

in Protagoras
or

29 in how they
of

The

absence was

of

any
to

shared

norm

measure

proceeded

tied

their
of

overlooking
exhibited

the

nature

arete.
of or

Bypassing
foresight
measure
such

the

definition
could

arete

precisely

that

lack

which

have

provided

the

normative

framework
will,

for answering
shared

the other questions

no

Socrates
of

raised.7

Without
wisdom

grounding,

combination

good

drawn from experience,

secure the order

or rhetorical and

dialectical

expertise could

in

their

discussion demanded
internal
the

by

the questions about

arete.

Such

logos

possesses

requirements of
of arere

its own; talking

before taking account of epimethean blunder for

talents can compensate.

meaning

turns out to

be

an

which

neither

interlocutor's
in
get

promethean

Both

Socrates

and

Protagoras

were

united could

their
no

praise

of

knowledge

(cf.
(=

352dl-3). But Socrates

and arete than

further in

connecting knowledge

how a technique of knowledge) would be required for the pursuit of measuring pleasure (= excellence). His efforts along those lines (cf. 352d-359a) courage without knowledge would serve at best suggest that learning

describing

the

learner
or

as

ill

as

ignorant

pleasure-seeking does
His final bid
the
to

the

hedonist
to the

project.

Socrates

never

establishes that
arete.

knowledge is integral
take
of

meaning
thought

learning
at

of

promethean and

may

least

point

to
of

necessity is

intelligence

forethought for
reluctantly
whatever else

the presence

human

excellence.
at

Even Protagoras

conceded

that andreia

(courage)

least knowledge,
sets the

it may
of

amount to. and

The story
myth

Epimetheus
to
expect

Prometheus,
the

then,
of

limits in
and
-a-

for

what

from

meeting

Protagoras

Socrates. The
forethought"

sophist

introduces Prometheus
greets

with

"knowledge

when

he

Socrates
myth.

and again when

he

elaborates

his

version of

the
as

Prometheus

Socrates

adopts the
as a

story
and

as an

afterthought

he

reviews a

their

discussion both

whole.

Each
pro

interlocutor has displayed

methean moments as

combination

of epimethean

they

conversed and

end rather

Plato's Prometheus story

are

proposes
of

that afterthought the

dissatisfied. and hindsight

of

inevitable
and

counterparts

forethought;
the

performances

Protagoras

Socrates illustrate

plausibility

of this proposal.

30

Interpretation

IV
Protagoras'

But reading Epimetheus alone does

mythos as

if it
to

were about

Prometheus

and

scant

justice

its

resolution of mankind's

quandary

even

after

Epimetheus

and

Prometheus have done their

best. In the myth it is Zeus who makes up for the oversight of both brothers. His gifts make political life possible for humankind; he decrees that all are to be given aidos and dike; anyone without them is to be slain as a plague to the polis. As already mentioned,
Protagoras
project uses

this part

of

the

with

the

Olympian's

gifts.

story The

to

join his

own

educational

sophist offers to extend and

attributes

perfect

the

political

"virtues"

his

myth
of

to

Zeus'

bene
to

ficence. But, in
Both

addition,

this

part

the mythos

also

serves

comment on the whole of the

Protagoras.6

principals manifest aspects of

Prometheus

and

Epimetheus

as

they

proceed, only to
questions

end their conversation without

resolving
Since

the

substantive

that

have been

raised about arete.

their

situation upon even

after a

parting

parallels the plight of mankind

in

the mythos the myth

Prometheus'

theft of

fire,

the gifts of

Zeus in

suggest ends.

way Two features

to move
of

beyond
of

the aporia with which the

dialogue

Zeus'

gifts are

noteworthy in this
to
survive

regard.

First,

they
again

exhibit a continuation

the promethean resourcefulness and

and
prosper-

progressive

insight into
and

what

men require

Zeus

Prometheus
measures

are allied. political

Second,

aidos and

dike

stand

as

normative

for

existence.

Their

normative

character provides a

connecting link

to the questions about arere

in

the rest of the

Zeus'

dialogue.

others and

they
later

are

directives for for killing standards for

about
returned to

distributing a those lacking

participation

sense of

justice
To

and respect

for

these

qualities

make clear that

Socrates'

in

the polis.

answer

challenge

could

have

minimal and

conditions

are connected Protagoras how the his mythos and spelled out what it said were of political life. Neither he nor Socrates do this
are see

"virtues"

in

two

they differ in how they

Socrates'

this respect

similarly
reactions

epimethean

throughout. But the

of such an account

the need and

and

import

of arete.

ironic

mocking
and

questions to the
what

sophist

reflect

his

recognition

of

the

disparity between
what

Protagoras
understands

professes

to

teach

students

he

evidently

only

vaguely.

The Prometheus

Story

in Protagoras

31
that the
are
conven

Protagoras is usually
tional
"virtues"

content

to say,

in effect,
arete

which

comprise

political

required

for
in

success and

power

in

the polis and that

he is better
shows

than others

imparting
convincing

them
a

to students.

His

great

speech
of

expertly how
objections

picture

he

can

present

ordinary, if enlightened,
questions and

beliefs
when

on

the subject.

Socrates'

captious

ultimately he invokes Prometheus

more useful

presuppose the sort of account

at the end.

he explicitly

calls

for only

For the

gifts of

Zeus to be

than conventional

norms, for it to be possible to make them measures, it is necessary to say what arete comes to and how it
to

relates

knowledge
to the

and

wisdom.

tenaciously
The
tions

knowledge if men
moral
and

belief that even are to be really

political
"virtues"

This is why Socrates holds so andreia must be joined with

courageous.9

are with

more

than minimal condi

for
or

citizens'

ideals

ends

for
not

associating human

one

another;

they

also

stand as

effort

and

attainment,

setting

the

parameters to the project of

becoming

a good

citizen,

a good person.

Defining
nor

arete

is

simply

a theoretical task that neither

Protagoras

that

Socrates adequately perform; Socrates at least the definition include the sort of knowing or
no

seems concerned
practical wisdom

without which
situation.

one

This is

one

demands in a given Promethean foresight can be spelled out as way

can ascertain what arete some
connection

part of the aretaic project.

Socrates did
project

show

between
of

at

least

one

human
of

(that
in

knowing)
versus
weigh

hedonist) and the "art discussing with Protagoras the

of the

measuring"

(a kind

enlightened relative

pleasure-seeking.
of pleasure
calculation

difference between blind Even the pleasure seeker has to

pain

amounts

and/or
or

in

order to choose

alternative manded

actions. expert
some

If

normative

measuring is de

for

pleasure

-seeking

and

if knowledge is integral to

true

courage,

parallel

condition of excellence sets

one measure

may be a necessary for any human being. The definition of arete

"art
measuring"

of

against

which

practical

wisdom

can

judge

the

appropriateness of what
Protagoras'

is

to

be done.
points toward the ends or
resourceful
"virtues"

resourceful

Zeus

that

Socrates'

make

up arete;
to take the to

hedonist

must

calculate

deliberately
that the

way

to greater pleasure.

The

irony here

is

way

by

mythical

deity

answering in the

central

issues in

the

Protagoras is

suggested

sophist's

story

and

by

an antic

Socratic

32
model of and

Interpretation
the

pleasure-seeking
the point
of

which

sophist

finds

rather

in

poor

taste

beside

heroic

courage and wisdom. capitalize

Both Socrates

and

Protagoras

remain unable

to

on these

resources,

for

as

your

up in overlooked us according to the story he of the gifts (361c7-d2). In spite of Zeus,

epimethean as well as promethean to the end.

Socrates remarks, they have Epimetheus might trip

not guarded us

"against
in

the
our

and cheat us

possibility that inquiry, just as

distribution"

the
the

Protagoras

is

1. For

other work on

the

Prometheus motif,

see

H.

Kesters, "Promethee dans

le Protagoras de

Platon,"

Socratic Paradoxes

and

Musee Beige, 34 (1930-32), 23-34; M.J. O'Brien, The the Greek Mind (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina

Press, 1967), pp. 61-63, nn. 16, 17; S. Rosen, Plato's Symposium (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1968), pp. 64-68. 2. Further background is provided in C. Kerenyi, Prometheus, Archetypal
Image of Human Existence, trans. R. Manheim (New York: Pantheon, 1963); L. "Prometheus," Eckhardt and W. Kraus Real-Encyclopaedie der Classischen

Altertumstvissenschaft,
in later European

ed.

A.

Pauly
see

and

G. Wissowa (1894 ff.). For Prometheus

literature,

R. Trousson, Le Theme de Promethee dans h

Litterature Europeenne (Geneve: Libraire Droz, 1964), 2 vols. 3. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound; Hesiod, Works and Days

48, 54; Theogony

510-11,521,535-65,616. 4. Rosen, p. 67, n. 25.

5. L. Strauss, Natural Right and History 1953), p. 117. 6. O'Brien, p. 63. 7. R. E. Allen, Plato's and the Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970), pp. 67-79.
'Euthyphro'

(Chicago: Univ.

of

Chicago Press,

Earlier

Theory

of Forms (London:
suggested

8. Professor Walter Watson

importance
of

of

SUNY

at

Stony

Brook first

to me the

this part of

Protagoras'

mythos.
and even

9. That
Clarendon

this

is

departure from heroic ideals in Hellas

in
A.W.H.
pp.

from ordinary
(Oxford:

language is

shown

Adkins, Merit

and

Responsibility

Press, 1960),

220-58.

33
THE COMIC REMEDY: MACHIAVELLI'S
"MANDRAGOLA"*

MERA J. FLAUMENHAFT
St. John 's College, Annapolis

In

October,

1525,

Niccolo
to

Machiavelli
some

wrote

to

his

friend
in
the

Francesco Guicciardini

explain

difficult

passages
great

Mandragola,
mind."

passages which

had brought Guicciardini

on

"distress

of

In this

letter,

Machiavelli playfully
a mysterious says

clarifies a colloquial

expression

by

commenting

sonnet

by

modern

writer, Burchiello. Machiavelli

considers the sonnet well

he believes

that a person who

times."2

"may

continue to stir

up

our

He

also refers to an ancient authority:

"as Titus Livius

says

in his

second

decade
Roman

"3
. .
.

although

he is

aware that the second

decade

of

Livy's

history
of

is

not

extant.

analysis

the

"light

material"

Perhaps his parody of a scholarly (Prologue) of Mandragola should

caution those who wish to read the one

play seriously
comedy,

must never

forget

that

it is

a staged

lightly: "a thing to break

as well as

one's

jaws

with

laughter"

(Prologue).

But

since

Machiavelli has the distinction

playwright and an

outstanding

thinker apart the

amused readers should ask are

how

being both an eminent from his plays, seriously comedies and the political books
of
which

related.

The

letter

to

Guicciardini,
as

seems

to
the

mock

scholarly commentary, should stand tions of scholarship. Nevertheless, it

ration
of

a check not
of

against

distor
explo

should

discourage
Machiavelli's
even

the

sources,

subject,

and

intent
the

most
our

famous

and most original play.

Indeed,

letter may

direct

attention to some of the

central meanings of

Mandragola.
virtu,

Part I
ancient

of

this

essay
and

will examine

Machiavellian

in

the

light

of

virtue

of

Machiavelli's
Machiavelli's
version
of

attitude

Christian virtue, through a discussion of towards chastity. Central to this discussion is

as well as

use of

Livy here,
of

in

the

Discourses, in

a new

the rape

Lucretia. Part II
to

light
*I

of

Paul's Epistles
like
to

Timothy,

examine, partly in the Machiavelli's view of Christian

will

would

to thank

The National Endowment for the Humanities for

the
work on

a grant

which made possible some of

this essay, and on a

of passages

literal

translation

of are

the

play

be

published elsewhere. otherwise

Translations

from Machiavelli
and

my

own

unless

indicated. References to The Prince

the

Discourses

appear as

P.

and

D.

34
man, in

Interpretation

his depiction
theatre.

of

Frate Timoteo

make some suggestions about the

his flock. Part III relationship between morality

and

will and

the

comic

But,

first,

Machiavelli's

Prologue

invites

Prologue.

PROLOGUE

The first
the

stanza of the

Prologue to Mandragola

expresses

audience will

"come

to understand a new case

hope that born in this city

nato]."

[noi

voglian che s'intendalun nuovo caso

in

questa

terra

The
this

aim of

this

essay is,

in part, to

come

to an

understanding
relation to

of what

means.

In the comedy,

as well as

in

the political writings, the claim

to newness must always

be

understood

in

something
towards

old.

A reading
towards

of

Mandragola

should aim to

clarify Machiavelli's
morality,
conventional

attitudes

old

things towards

conventional

the
of

conventions

of

drama,

and

towards

the

purposes

drama.
Italian theatre
at the time

Machiavelli
Greek

wrote was

dominated
and

by the
cities

influence
who

of

the

Roman

comic

playwrights, Terence

Plautus,
In

modeled

their

plays

on

"New
were

Comedy."

throughout
and

Italy

much

time and

money

devoted

to research on
of the

productions, in Latin or in newly Roman plays. Machiavelli's letters are

prepared

translations,
with

peppered

allusions

to

them, and, like many of his acquaintances, he translated one of these plays (Terence's Andria). In addition to the revivals of Plautus and

Terence,
on

the end

of

the

fifteenth

and start of the sixteenth centuries

saw the growth of a new native

genre, the Commedia

the old Roman plots and characters,

Erudita, based but self-consciously refusing

to

be

servile

to

Italian settings, language.4 The

source
as

some

and emphasizing such new elements as indigenous characters, and a modern vernacular Prologue to Machiavelli's Clizia acknowledges its

antiquity,

Roman

(Plautus'

comedy
writings

Casino)
say:

and

implies

what

Machiavelli's

political of

explicitly

that one can

nature

benefit
not

from

accounts

ancient

times

because human
address

does

change.

Mandragola begins
one which combines

with

a conventional

to the audience,
and

the techniques of to

both Plautus
play in
attention

Terence. It
of

introduces

what

appears

be

new

the

style

the

Commedia Erudita. The

argument

draws

to the

conven-

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

tional
street

"Mandragola"

35
charac

setting,

and

to the

houses
one,

of

familiar Roman he

tersthe
man

young
to
a

lover,

the

chaste modern

maiden

loves,
priest.
of

foolish

old

and

one

mother

bears

familiar name found

the

The heroine's Terence.

Later

frequently in
about

the plays

Early
there

in

the

play, Machiavelli jokes

albeit

his stagey

exposition.
of

are

explicit,

humorous,
The

references to

unity

stage convention which

Italian

critics came to emphasize

of

time, in

an ancient

the

latter
in
the

half

of

the century.

action

the

play is

more unified

as well as
with

Roman manner, than that in most contemporary plays. Thus, here, in Andria and Clizia, Machiavelli indicates his familiarity
the ancient comic models.
the
plot
of

But

unlike the plots of

Andria
at

and

Clizia,

Mandragola is
Boccaccio

original.

While it

might

first
case

resemble

new

versions of ancient
of

comedy
newer

and another popular new

form,
these

the novella

and

Cinthio,
in

Machiavelli's "new
a more serious

born in

city"

this

will prove to

be

way

than

already

conventional novelties.

The fifth

and sixth stanzas of the

Prologue

continue

to

juxtapose

old and new things.

After

the conventional

Plautian

presentation of

the

argument,

the
of

author a

begins,
one

more

in
to

the

defensive
the

and

threatening
material"

tone this

Terence
no

prologue,
appreciates

justify

"light
graver

of

work:

and rewards

his

for worthy actions is proof that "in all things, has fallen off from ancient worth [I'antica Readers of The Prince and Discourses will recognize a familiar theme from the introductory letters and prologues, and from passages
endeavors; this
scorn

virtii]."

the present age

dealing
well

with

the

significance
reborn.5

of the

works

and

the

importance

of

renovating
will teach

and

being
ones.

Machiavelli's

repeated claim

is

that

he
as
of

his

readers new things

by

as

recent

Again

and

presenting them with ancient again he urges the imitation

antiquity,6

though,
these examples

as we shall

see,

he

often presents new versions of

for his

own purposes.

Machiavelli is

fully aware

of

the

danger
older

of

advocating

the rejection of present practices and

beliefs for

and of revising old beliefs in order to set forth new ones. he says at the beginning of the Discourses, that "it has always Thus, been no less dangerous to find new modes and orders than it has

ones,

been

look for unknown seas and Might the danger of presenting

to

lands"

(D. I

intro.).7

"new its

case"

explain

why

the

Prologue
purpose,

to
one

Mandragola
which

is

so

reticent
make

about

claiming
as

didactic
and

might even

author seem

"wise

36
grave"

Interpretation

as

he

says

he

wishes

to appear?

His

contemporaries seem

to

have discussed widely

instruct

the Ciceronian

injunction that comedy

Donatus'

should

as well as entertain the audience.

recovered

commentaries on

Terence, recently
though

in

1433,

it

was

disregarded
plot

and even mocked

plays, Machiavelli himself

seems to

and, in many contemporary have thought about it. In Clizia,

and

repeated

this

precept

less

original

in

than

Mandragola,

perhaps

less

novel

in

thought as well, the

Prologue

speaks of the play's effect on youth:

Comedies

exist and

to

help

and

to

delight

the

spectators.

It is truly very helpful to

any man,

lover's
man's

furor,

especially to young men, to recognize an old man's avarice, a servant's tricks, a parasite's gluttony, a poor man's misery, a rich
a prostitute's

ambition,

flatteries, the little faith

lesson
of

of all men.

However
be,9

un-Ciceronian the

"la poca fede di tutti li

Machiavelli

uomi

may

there

is in Clizia,
about our

some explicit claim to teach.

Similarly

in

his "Discourse
the aim of a

Language,"

says

that,

although

comedy is:
mirror

to

hold up

to private

life,

nevertheless,

its way

of

doing
is

it is

with a

certain

urbanity

and with terms which

incite

laughter,

so that the men who run

to that great

delight,

taste afterwards the

useful example

that

underneath.

Again,
made.

the

"useful"

meaning
wonders

of

One

why it is

so muted

is unclear, but at least the in Mandragola.

claim

is

Perhaps Machiavelli's
awareness that the
city"

reticence

about

this

subject

is due
case

to

his

lessons
more

to

be drawn from

the

"new

born in

this

are

much

version of a new version

of

radically new than are those of a new "New Comedy" that they differ greatly
of older men

from
this

the usual poetic attempts

were

to shape the young.

about

If

so,

Machiavelli's

comic

drama
of

the

"remedy"

mandragola would

be

as

subversive

contemporary beliefs
serious

as the

drastic

"remedies"

understand

the

he discusses in the relationship between how Machiavelli

contemporary

political works.
comic
and

To

these

serious

remedies,

we

must see
and

rejects the older

teachings

both ancient dramatic "new

(Christian)

by

presenting his

case."

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

37

THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA

A. Virtu: Public
In
plot

and

Private
resembles
ancient

form,
is
to

Mandragola

Roman

comedy.

But its

be found in ancient Roman history, the very history Machiavelli claims as his subject in Discourses on the First Ten Books
of Titus
the

Livius,
to

and which

he

jokingly

connects with

Mandragola in

letter
must

Guicciardini
old

quoted above.

To

understand what

is

new

and what
we

in Machiavelli's play, and what he intends to teach, compare Livy's account of the rape of the Roman Lucretia

is

and

the

events

which

followed,
the
the

with

Machiavelli's

account
!

of

the

possession of a

Christian Lucrezia
with

and the probable

results.1

Let

us

begin
are

husbands. Livy depicts Collatine

"vigour
youth,"1

and

his

friends
are

as

warriors, in

of
prank of

and their

bragging
These

and wager

described
are

as a

"boyish
to
rise

the

night."13

the

men

who

soon

and

overthrow

the

tyrannical

Tarquins,
in

and to establish a republican regime

in Rome. The husband

an

Machiavelli's

play,

Messer

Nicia

Calfucci, is

elderly
can

and

impotent bourgeois lawyer

tender tears.

who

is

ruled

by

women

and

weep

his occasional regret that he didn't marry a country girl, remind us that he is less sophisticated that the cosmpolitan city-slickers who trick him. Like most loyal citizens, he grumbles about his position in the city, but he is totally Florence attached to by habit, by his timidity, and by his possessions. He is reluctant to leave, even for a short trip to the baths. He brags about his experience; but his foolishness, his lack of
His earthy Tuscan
speech and

"spirit
render

[animo],"

and

his
with

professional

concentration of

on

books,

him

unfamiliar

the

"things
us

the

world

[cose del

mundo]"

(III, 2).

The Prologue tells

strange

he

read

much,

especially in
suggest

"Buezio."

Machiavelli's

spelling

of

Boethius

might

that

Nicia's

decency
His

is

the sort of

bovine

mildness which

by

the nose.
will

name

ironically

suggests

that

he

will

is easily led be a loser. This

of

essay

suggest
of

that

Machiavelli

attributes

the

defeat
4

Nicia

to

the nature

his

religion, to superstition and to

revised
version of

piety.1

Machiavelli's

the

man

who

would

displace

Lucretia's husband is
tyrant
of

more

complex.

In Mandragola the

hereditary
for
the
with

Rome is

replaced

by

Callimaco

Guadagni,

whose ancient struggle

Greek
gain(s).

and

modern

Italian
s

names seems

indicate his
to
associate

noble

The

first

Song1

Callimaco

38
unpolitical

Interpretation

life. Like
peaceful

the

nymphs

and

shepherds,
since
while

pleasure

and

comforts.

An

expatriate

he has lived for his childhood, he has

the

enjoyed a

private

life in Paris
Even

French

king

was

ravishing his
to

native

country.

in France,

as

he

reminds

his

servant, Callimaco

was unattached to

any party
The

or special

interests,
return which

any class, home, he easily

the
would-be

or even to

any

one pastime. all

When he decided to
arguments

parted with

his

goods.

in

lovers first hear of the women they desire are also different. In Livy, strong warrior compatriots sit drinking strikingly around a campfire and argue about the virtue and honor of women.
In

fled from war and heard of Machiavelli, the "noble the relative of an acquaintance, at a leisurely international Lucrezia,
warrior"

gathering.

Sextus Tarquin

returns

to

Rome

alone and steals

into Lucretia's

home. He
then rapes

threatens to

kill

and

defame her if
in
order to

her. Lucretia

submits

doesn't yield, and live and denounce her

she

assailant,

and then

fraud is

preferable to asserts

kills herself. In The Prince Machiavelli argues that force in achieving the Prince's aims. (P. XVIII).
of

Later, he
to the
not

that the man

ability

controls

Fortune

as

if

she

were a woman

(P. XXV):
man's will.

she must

be beaten
new

until she

is

submissive
won

strong

In Mandragola
the

even a woman
version

is best

by force,

but

by

fraud. In

of

the

siege

of

Lucretia, nothing is
swords

accomplished

by

coercion.

faith in his deceiver is

stronger than that of the

As Nicia says, his Hungarians in their

prop1

6 little sword is only a comic and he is swiftly conquered by a bold and risky plot in which the lover wins the cooperation of the husband and his mother-in-law, and finally, of the woman he desires. In place of the death of the dishonored Lucretia and the subsequent banishment and death of her violator, Machiavelli shows the continued life and honor of Lucrezia and her lover, and promises another life as the fruit of their liaison. Instead

(II, 2). His

own

of

the overthrow

of a

tyranny

and

its

replacement

by

republic,

we

see a

thoroughly

private man secure the pleasures

that even

a success

ful
and

tyrant must
unshaken

usually forego. Machiavelli's Florence is

the
acquisition of a

unaware of

by

Callimaco Guadagni. Both lust

as

and

domain by the usurper, tyranny desire without limit, but,

new

Machiavelli
risk

suggests

elsewhere, the
sexual

private man can

better

afford

to

satisfying
of

unlimited

"regime"

the potent

desires. In this respect, the lover is less limited than that of the greatest

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

potentate.

"Mandragola"

39

The
man.

man

in

whom

tyrannical

We

must

love plays the tyrant is the most further explore Callimaco's relation to

Machiavelli's

great princes.

energetic and intelligent, he is unable to himself what he wants for himself. As a result of his by desperate passion, he is moody, frenzied, and even foolish. At one point he contemplates suicide as an alternative to risky plots. His

Although Callimaco is

achieve

reason
reduces

is dedicated

to

serving
rulers.

an

irresistible desire
confusion

which sometimes of

him

to

confusion.

This

is

uncharacteristic

Machiavelli's
second-level use
of

greatest

Callimaco is

perhaps
can

more

like

those

intelligences in The Prince

others understand.

who

discern

and make

what

(P. XXV). Thus, he

"gloater"

acquires

an

advisor who exercises virtu analogous to that exhibited

by

the most
who and

outstanding
pulls

men.

It is Ligurio (the
of

or

the

"tyer-up")
"capitano"

the

strings

the

intrigue. He
to

calls

himself
this

arranges

his

"army"

(IV, 9)

carry
the

out

conspiracy.

When
of

Callimaco's
"remedy."

"animo"

fails,
plays

it is

Ligurio

who

always
of

thinks

Machiavelli
on

down

gluttony

the

Roman
7

and and

Italian

parasites

whom

emphasizes

his

sheer

Ligurio is superficially delight in imposing his will on

modeled,1

others:

"Your

I desire for you to satisfy this desire do (I, 3). Machiavelli never him a soliloquy. This enhances his independence and allows authority, while depriving his companions and the audience of any of his clear knowledge motives. He feels a vague kinship with has nothing to do with sex. As a but his Callimaco, clearly former marriage broker, he knows the natures of men and women. Playing on the beliefs and desires of greedy, gullible, and fearful

blood is in

accord with mine and

yourself"

of yours almost as much as you

"desire"

people, he

plots with

prudence, courage,
of

and secrecy.

He

acts

swiftly,

spending
nature

the

money

others, and, in Lucrezia's case,

changes the

of the

conquered

in

order to secure

his

aims.

By

the end of

the

play, he has
with
"ruler"

dining
new

closely
Like

akin

won, previously denied privilege of only Nicia, but also the keys to his house. If Callimaco is the in that house, Ligurio has ruled the ruler. Thus, he is to another advisor of princes, to Machiavelli himself.
not

the

the

projects

of

Machiavelli's

able

princes

and

unlike

Tarquin's, Callimaco's
that their
"good"

plot succeeds
"advantage"

because

the conspirators provide

others.

or

(bene) benefits
discomfort

Thus,
with

the the

remedy for Callimaco's

unbearable

coincides

40
remedy for Nicia's
a and

Interpretation

Lucrezia's

childlessness.

Nicia is
same

not so

simply

remedy Timoteo and Ligurio. The remedy, pecuniary difficulties of Frate of course, is not the medicinal mandragola, but, as the Song after Act
as
name might at

loser

his

first

suggest.

The

relieves

the

Three

says:

"The

trick

[inganno].

...

Oh remedy high

rare."

and

At
the

first, Callimaco, like

of

many tyrants,
selfish

satisfaction

present unlike

cares only for pleasure and desires. But, like Machiavelli's

tyrants

prudent

princes,

and

ordinary

a word never used

in

The

Prince Callimaco exercises restraint and thinks ahead.

Although

he
the
one

doesn't hesitate

to

take

another

man's

wife,

conventional

Don Juan. He is
proves

an adulterer

but

not a

he is not a libertine. Unlike

Don,

Callimaco
not

his superiority
a

conquest,

by flaunting

series

fall. Thus, before the promised to be the godfather of his natural child's mother when her husband dies. The
courting his
own
own addition

secretly succeeding in violations and, thus, play is over, Callimaco has

by

of

child,

and to

marry

that

marriage proposal

is his

to

Ligurio's
at

plan.

The conquest,
will

which
and

must

be

enjoyed

secretly
will

first, finally

be legitimate
master
of

Callimaco

publicly

acknowledge

himself

the

Messer Nicia's

household.
Although Callimaco
present action
of

plans

desires,

his

success

for the continuing satisfaction of his is limited by the limits of the field of
the

he has
success:

chosen.

He himself recognizes

temporary

character

his

and

if this happiness
more

couldn't

fail

either

through

death

or through

time, I

would

be

blessed

than the

blessed,

more

saintly

than the saints

(V, 4).

Though he
cannot

can

manipulate

men

and

women

and

even

Fortune, he

distinguishes Callimaco from the new princes whom Machiavelli discusses else where. The language of love in Machiavelli's plays is derived from the 8 language of war, and love itself is a battle to But, because
conquer
or

death

time.

This,

above

all,

prevail.1

the conspirators
struggle

invest

all

their talents and spirit

in

an undercover

for acquisition,

there

is

no

immortal glory for the

victors.

In

eventually organizes everything anew in order to insure that the regime he founds will outlive him. The Discourses indicate that this is most possible in a glorious and long-lived republic. This end of virtii glory is princely

Machiavelli's

political works the greatest prince

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

never tasted

"Mandragola"

41

in the "light

material"

a second-best

activity for
Where
of

men

forsworn
men.

politics.

the

of the comedy. Love can be only like Callimaco (and Ligurio) who have end is a woman there can be only an captains
of

approximation

the struggles and successes of noble

Marital

affairs are

only

a pale

parody

of martial ones.

be simply equated with the political men of virtii whom Machiavelli describes in other works, his "new does clarify some of the most difficult questions raised by those books. First, the play vividly presents individuals who embody the view of human nature on which Machiavelli's political teaching is based. Even though this presentation of human nature seems less harsh than the general statements in The Prince, the desires of
Although Callimaco
cannot
case"

"low"

Timoteo, Nicia, Sostrata,

those
of

and the anonymous

Donna

are the same as

the subjects the prince might rule.

According

to a notorious

remark

fathers

quickly the death of their inherit from their fathers (P. they XVII). The play clearly indicates that Nicia's tender anticipation of
of

Machiavelli,
the

men

forget

more

than

loss

of what

fatherhood
Nicia
and

grows out of
all
of

his

concern

for his
The

estate:

he

wants an

heir.
an

Machiavelli's

people

are

characterized

by

overriding
spying

concern

for
the

themselves.

play demonstrates

this

structurally.
on or

Many

scenes

begin
to

or end with one of one of

of the conspirators

doubting

loyalty

his fellows.
The
most

Concern for

oneself seems

increase

with virtu.

striking

thing
child,

about

Callimaco is his detachment.

no attachment

and

having

to

Having lost his father as a his fatherland, he is willing to

him
and will never

father

a child whose true connection to

be

revealed.

In
a

addition

to

lacking

country, parents,
this

brothers,
the

Callimaco is

man without

friends. In
Ligurio is

he differs from
never

young lovers in
in
connection which

the

Roman

plays.

a recent acquaintance and an

are

inferior. The
with

former Paris
Callimaco

companions

mentioned goal

after

the

first
an

scene.

The

for

Callimaco
view of

temporarily
human
winning
of

unites

with

others

aptly indicates Machiavelli's

struggle

existence

as

isolated

to.

prevail:
often

success

in the

woman

is

unshareable.

Love is

thought to

be

ennobling because it makes fulfillment for Callimaco is

with

the

lover less
called a

self-regarding.

But

sexual

not characterized

by

affectionate union

the partner.
after

Although he is
speaks

"lover,"

and although the

Song
than

Act Two

oneself,"

conventionally "loving another more Callimaco's love for Lucrezia, like hers for him, is
of

42

Interpretation

severely limited.
attracted

They share their victory over a third party. She is by ingenuity and virility, which so contrast with the frustrating incapacity of her husband. He is attracted by the
his
always

challenge of

is

her resistance. In his plotting and success, his attention fixed upon himself. Mandragola presents the people among

whom one

lives primarily
and

as the means and objects of one's

affection are

desires.
into

Love, friendship,
self-interest.

family

all

contracted

The

dominating

principle of self-interest

is

seen even more

starkly

in the comedy
the
common

than
good

in

the works with public subjects.

patriotism sometimes seems

In the
to

latter,

of

mitigate

Machiavelli's harsh

his advocacy of the extreme self-assertion of the prince. If Machiavelli plays down the force of fatherly feelings and filial affections, he certainly advocates the exaltation of the fatherland. The higher
view of selfish

human

nature and

"common"

good of patriotism thus seems to

justify

the

harsh

and questionable

be necessary for political ends. In the political writings Machiavelli does not deny the distinction between good and evil acts. Rather, he emphasizes the need to weigh alternatives and make choices. Mandragola also articulates this utilitarian principle, but the play's effect is to collapse the distinction. Conventionally evil 9 behavior is presented as The principles of The Prince are equally successful in high public and in low private affairs. Machiavelli goes out of his way to emphasize that the protagonist of his play is an unpatriotic man. The common good of the play is
means said to
good.1

nothing more than the sum of the private goods and desires of the conspiring individuals. Finally, in the political realm the true and

lasting

success

of

the

leader(s)

requires

that

they improve
and

the

subjects whose

desires they

must satisfy.

Callimaco

Ligurio

show

no such concern.

B.

Virtue: Public

and

Private
more

Let

us

now examine

the traditional virtue whose value

play.

closely Machiavelli's attitude towards is obscured in the course of the

transgression and

Machiavelli's

treatment

of sexual

its

corres

ponding opposite, chastity,

towards vice
passages and
virtue

can

be

taken as a measure of

his

attitude

in

general.20

An

examination

of relevant

in

the political works

will

show

how

the

play

also rejects

traditional ancient
of moral

(Aristotelian

and

Roman)

and

Christian

notions

virtue.

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

In The Prince
and
of

"Mandragola"

43
against

in

the

Discourses Machiavelli

warns

violating
He

the

honor
of

the wives and

daughters

subjects.2

of one's

'

approves

daughter

to

her

Scipio's behavior in Spain, where he returned a father, and a young wife to her husband (D. Ill, 20).
that
of

Machiavelli

says

Scipio

imitated

the

"chastity,

affability,
one can see

humanity,
from
of women

liberality"

Xenophon's Cyrus (P. XIV). But

that a

the references to

Scipio

leader's

concern with the virtue

prevail.
of a

is merely political, a means by which the virtu of men can "chastity" Scipio's is an example of the calculated exhibition
virtue so
which

moral

the people wish

to see

in

great men.
return
of

The
the

people

are

attached

to such virtues that

guarded of men's

Scipio's

women, the most

effective

jealously

possessions,
as

was more

than

force
of

would

have

been.

Thus,
For

Castiglione's
"continence"

conversants
was

in The Book of the Courtier agree, Scipio's

only
it is

kind
is

"military

strategem."22

Machiavelli,
for
a

as

for

Cyrus, chastity
that

not valued

for its

own sake.

The Prince
support

makes clear

the appearance

of virtue which

insures

leader.
(D. Ill,
when

Furthermore,
"virtues"

Machiavelli

even argues

openly

elsewhere that
"rapine"

Scipio's

were not always as effective as

Hannibal's

21).
These
remarks
about

Scipio

should

be

kept in

mind

evaluating Machiavelli's
authority for
tyrants
either

strange unique reference to Aristotle as the

the view that

"among

the

first

causes of the ruins of

[is]

their

having
them

injured
or

others with respect to their

women,

by
.

raping
the

by
At

violating
this point

them

or

by breaking
falls
of

marriages.

(D. Ill,

26).23

he

attributes the

Tarquin
this

and

Decemvir Appius Claudius to their

-other

misconduct
and

in

respect.

However,

passages

about or

Tarquin

Appius,
of these

whose

experiences

are closer than

Scipio's

Hannibal's
on the

to the one

dramatized in Mandragola,
unchaste men.

comment

differently

falls

Machiavelli discusses
the
outrage
of

the

fall

of

Appius Claudius, but he Virginia.

minimizes

his

attempts

to
and

violate

Livy

parallels the
with

expulsions

of

the

Tarquins

the

Decemvirs

and

deals

the
of

Virginia
"lust"

episode at great

length. He
like
that

reports the moral

indignation
"crime"

Virginia's friends
and

and

betrothed,
beauty.24

and

describes

Appius'

and

his

attraction,
and

of

Tarquin for

Lucretia,

to the

"modesty"

girl's
with

The Roman historian

seems to agree

Virginia's father that

people

chaste

death is

preferable to sullied

life.

The Roman

believe

that

Appius'

ruin

is

due,

in part,

to the

44
anger of the gods.

Interpretation

In contrast, Machiavelli

mentions

Virginia only in

passing,

as another cause of

disturbances

when

the

insatiable Appius

attempted to

exercise

his

tyranny.

Appius'

greater, though perhaps

defect was one of military strategem: "being cruel and rough in commanding, he was badly obeyed (D. Ill, 19). his There is no suggestion of divine punishment for tyrannical lust.
related,

by

troops"

Machiavelli tacitly in his play and in his

comments on

Livy's

version of Lucretia

both

account of the episode

in the Discourses. In the

latter, he
present

omits all of the passionate outrage

found in Livy,
Roman

and also

in Ovid's
no

account and

in Boccaccio's De Claris Mulieribus.

matron's

There is

anger about

the violation of a grave

honor.
was

Contrary
even

to

Machiavelli's later statement,

of

the rape of

Lucretia

not

simply

provided the

continued

fall first occasion for Romans deprivation of their liberties :

the major cause of the

the Roman tyrant. It

to react

decisively to

Tarquin

was not

but

because

he had broken
(D. Ill,

driven from Rome because his son Sextus had raped Lucretia, the laws of the kingdom and governed it

tyranically.

5)
says

In shifting the emphasis, Machiavelli

treatise
moral what

seriously in
prudence,

the political the

other

the

play depicts
a
matter
of

comically:

chastity like
to

virtues,

is

political

be judged
of

according to the Machiavelli's

situation.

teachings
on

thus

differ greatly from

of women.

those

the

authority he
conclusions rhetoric

cites

the

subject

Whatever Aristotle's
of moral

may be
refers
of

about

the ultimate status

such

virtue,
to

his
the

is

conservative

of

virtue.

The
of

passage

which

Machiavelli

is found in Book Five

the
to
various

the

Politics, in

discussion
Aristotle's
to

how

regimes

can

preserve

themselves.

"advice"

tyrants much

of which

Machiavelli transmits

his

own

prince

is

stated

in

such a

way

as to make

tyranny less
regime.

bad,
be

to

move

it toward

the

more

virtuous

monarchical

Perhaps his
read

warnings against

violating
as a

the women of subjects should

in

conjunction with an earlier passage of

earliest

definition bad in

virtue

opinion that some actions and

from the Ethics. In his he emphatically states the mean, passions do not admit of means, that

they
nor

are

themselves:

is

[acting]

well or not well about such

things a matter of

[for example]

with

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

whom,
and

"Mandragola"

45
of

when,

and

how

one commits

adultery,

but simply

doing any

these

whatever

is to

go astray.

Although he repeatedly
political
are

cautions against absolute rules

in

moral and

matters, he does

seem to approve of the opinion that there

some

deeds

which

are

base,

even

if justifiable

in

extreme

circumstances.

He discusses
writings no

such circumstances with great

delicacy.
in

Machiavelli's
clever

openly

teach the use

of virtue

and vice

alternation;

deed is

ruled out.

and

the

Discourses
of

approve of worse made possible

His play celebrates adultery, crimes in some circumstances.

The

founding
Rhea

Rome,
one

by fratricide,
justify
talk

also required the not mention

rapes of

and the

Sabine

women.

Machiavelli does
them

these rapes

but

can

assume

he

could of

if

necessary. sounds

Interestingly, Callimaco's description

his

with

Lucrezia

something like Livy's Romulus wooing the Sabines after they have been taken by force.26 Callimaco's tricky seduction is, of course, a
more efficient

way

to get and that

keep

one woman.

interesting adultery of King David,

political
or
books.2 7

It is

Machiavelli does
whom

not

mention

the

famous

For

David,
the

as

he holds up for imitation in the for Callimaco, there is no common

national

good

which

could

justify his
his lack

treatment of
not

Uriah

and

Bathsheba. Nathan faults

Biblical

David,

for impurity, but

But Machiavelli
the

for injustice,
ignores
the

and

the

king
and

admits

of pity.

personal

political

troubles

which

Biblical

narrative seems to
edited account
of

connect with this

incident. Perhaps Machiavelli's

suggest

David

means

to

that

the

very

greatest

princes might

ignore Aristotle's

and

his

own

warning

about women.

Leaving
of

Machiavelli's

views of

chastity,

as seen through

his

version

the

the

Lucretia story, incident. In The

of

value

chastity,

famous Christian commentary on City of God, Saint Augustine, upholding the exonerates Lucretia from any blame for having
we

turn to a

been

overcome

by
on

Tarquin. Like the

authors of the

many

medieval

exempla

based

her

story, Augustine
sexual

asserts that a woman's most

precious possession
was chaste

is her

purity.

He

recognizes that

Lucretia

in intention

and was violated against

her

will.

But he does

fault her for her

Christian
would
neither

characteristic pagan attachment to

worldly honor.

women,

similarly violated,
nor
pursue

would

suffer

patiently
their

and

postpone

death

to

preserve

rep

utations:

46

Interpretation
conscience.

They have the glory of chastity within them, the testimony of their They have this in the sight of God, and they ask for nothing more.
Machiavelli's Lucrezia begins
as a

Christian

version of of

Livy's idealized

Roman

matron.

She

her

pagan

concern
with an

infidelities

forbear, but shares chastity for honor. She lives to enjoy continued sexual untroubled conscience, but is careful to preserve
abandons the

her

her reputation,

that

is,

the appearance of the

honor,

as well.

While both

imitating
Paul

and

revising

Roman example, Machiavelli

the moral virtue of

thoroughly

rejects the

Christian

view. preach

and

Augustine

powerful

sexual

attractions,

and even

marriage,

distract
must

chastity because the Chris

and the eternal

tian's attention
afterlife.

from his primary

avoid
worse

concern with

God

If,
and

to

distractions,
as

one

marry, the

marriage must

be

chaste.
are

deviation
The
great

failure

theology aptly described

as
an

In

whose central notion

is Love,

fornication
the

and adultery.

Christian

poets whom

Machiavelli's
image
of

contemporaries revered

depict love for

a woman

divine love
on the

to

which

man's soul aspires.

Dante's Beatrice is
there she

unattainable except

in

the

life

hereafter,
Love

and even no

is

temporary stop

way

to a

longer desires. This Christian view, reinforced with Renaissance Platonism, emerges as the ideal courtly love in The Book of the Courtier. The formulation is given after strict injunctions to
which

faithfulness
partners

of wives

to

husbands,

no matter

are,29

and after rejections of

how badly deceit in

matched two

courtship:30

Therefore let

us

direct
us
of

all

the thoughts and powers of our souls to this most

path

holy
and

light,

that

shows

the

leading

to

heaven;

and,

following
true

after

it

divesting
by
the
ascend
which cannot

ourselves

those passions wherewith we were clothed when the

we

fell,
us

ladder
to the

that

bears
the

image
where

of sensual

beauty
of

at

its lowest rung, let

so that profane

lofty

mansion

heavenly, lovely,
a most

and

beauty dwells,
eyes rest

lies hidden in

inmost

secret recesses

God,
end

behold it. Here

we shall

find

happy

to our

desires,

true

from

labors, the sure remedy for our miseries, most wholesome medicine for our illnesses, safest refuge from the dark storms of life's tempestuous
our

sea.31

Machiavelli's remedy is a direct attack on the views which together in The Courtier. Boldly, he introduces Callimaco

come

as

an

outstanding

example

of

"courtesy [gentilezza]

But the

object of

Callimaco's love is only a beautiful and virtuous woman. There is no indication that she represents anything more than that; he never

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

speaks of

"Mandragola"

47

her

as the embodiment of a perfect

ideal.

Concentrating on
quest

the

"things
of

of

the

world,"

Machiavelli

abandons the

for

the

City

God

to speak about cities

of men as

they are,
in

not as

they
He
as a

ought

to
and

be. He follows Boccaccio's

exalts

example

another
of

"new"

genre,

the

natural men

and

present

pleasures
sexual

sex.32

recognizes means

that
avoid

most

must

abide
of

by

regulations strife.

to

the
wise

related

evils

striving

and

Thus,

the

Romans

were

to

forbid
and

mere

mortals

to

indulge

in the

philanderings of

Jupiter,

prohibition against adultery.

can

Decalogue prudently included a But Machiavelli's play shows that, if one

Moses'

one's sexual desires secretly and with impunity, and even desires of others in doing so, there is nothing inherently satisfy wrong with lust: purity is not a prime value for men or women. Part

indulge
the

II

of

this

essay

will

continue

to explore the
and

relationship between

Machiavelli's
and sex.

rejection of

Christianity

his

teachings about politics

II. A PREACHER FOR FLORENCE One

and

of

the most

interesting

members of the

conspiracy

to

invade
makes

conquer

Messer Nicia's domain is Frate

Timoteo,

who

Callimaco's first evening with Lucrezia. Since Machiavelli's discussions of ancient Rome often include or imply radical critiques
possible
of modern

Rome,
of

of the principles and effects of

important
On

to understand

how he

modern
of

Christian

Christianity, it is priest figures in

this new version

the ancient
when

story

Lucretia.

May 17, 1521,

Capri, Machiavelli
had has
contemplated

Friars Minor in Guicciardini how sitting on a privy he the preacher he would like for Florence. Just as he
was ambassador to the
wrote to

never
a

lacked
and

republic,

imagine

preacher

but,

as

"obstinate,"

his

view will

least in thought, so he can now in his other opinions, he will be differ from that of the other citizens:
at

They

would

should

like
I

to

like a find

preacher who would show them

the road to

Paradise,

and

one who would teach them the

way

to go to the

Devil; they
true;
and

would should

like, besides,

that

he

should

be

a man

prudent,

house of the blameless and

way

like to find one crazier than Ponzo, more crafty than Fra because I believe the true more of a hypocrite than Frate Alberto Girolamo, 3 of going to Paradise would be to learn the road to Hell in order to avoid
. . .

it.3

48
The
and stage

Interpretation

friar Machiavelli

creates

for

Florence is indeed crafty

hypocritical. Under
audience

the guise of

road to

hell. But in Machiavelli's play

like many of seriously dwell on the
In

Christian piety he teaches the neither the Frate 's flock nor

the Florentine
it.34

to whom this road

is

shown other

is

counselled

to

avoid

fact,

Machiavelli's
existence

works, the
of

play
sin,
au

does

not

of

hell or

conscience,

or

immortal
as

souls.

Timoteo's
and

traditional

Christian

thority is depicted
traditional

serving Christian beliefs. He is

private

profane aims

contrary

to

the

friar [frate mal vissuto] "; an hypocritical friars so often

as

initially described as an "ill-living audience would expect him to resemble

condemned
"ends"

in Renaissanceliterature.

But

the

play
are

progresses, the

of

his

participation

in is

the
now

conspiracy

repeatedly
the

referred

to as

"beni."

The "an A

good

synonymous

with

advantageous.

By
forth

redefining "the
evil.35

good,"

Machiavelli's play
of

rejects the

Christian

notion that

evil man out

his

treasure"

evil

will always will show why.

bring

closer

look

at

his Christians

Frate Timoteo's

greatest

influence

seems to

be

with women.

We

first
As

see

him in

a crowd of women

we

soon

realize, this
or

widow's religious

speaking with one widow (III, 3). belief is really belief in the
she asks

priest's

authority,

belief in his beliefs. Thus

in

the same

believes ("credete voi?") her husband is in purgatory and, shortly after, whether he believes ("credete voi?") the Turks will pass through Italy this year. The latter question, which also reveals her frightened belief in rumors about Turkish torture, is
tone whether the priest
one
which

amused
with

Machiavelli
"all

when

the

womanish no

Friars Minor
weak

discussed it
Friar.
manipulates
even

him.3 6

But Ffate Timoteo is

women

ordinary

Believing
Lucrezia,

that

have few

brains"

(III, 9), he

Sostrata,
who

who believes everything he says, and finally doubts him. The only man who trusts Timoteo is

Messer Nicia. Although

and credulous

he,

too,

thinks
gains

women are
"faith"

stupid, he is

soft

like

them.

As he

in the false doctor

Callimaco,

Nicia

says

he

trusts
a

Although Nicia is

not

him as much as his confessor (II, 6). devout practicing Christian, he has been
and maintains an

brought up in
Machiavelli

the to

Church
suggest

attachment

to

it.

seems

that

Italian
made

Christianity, along

with

Nicia's indolent bourgeois

one

life, has

him impotent in

more than

way and, therefore, subject to the deceits of more vigorous men. Here, as elsewhere, Machiavelli indicates that the virtues, as taught

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

49

by Christianity,
nature.37

feminine in human To Machiavelli, those like the friars, who might be said to have "made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of
appeal

to

and

cultivate

the

heaven,"38

are no

different from

women.

Christian

virtue

thrives on

indoors activities, and teaches brotherhood and submissive obedience to authority. The strife that arises in modern times, like that mentioned in the play between Christians and Turks, or between
peace and

Florence
religious

and

France

over

parties.

It may be especially fierce

Papal alliances, is between conflicting and bloody, but it is

of

carried out

in

the name at

least

future

peace and

love. Machiavelli
pre-Christian

sees these aims as unattainable and regards attempts to achieve them

as

likely
of

to

produce

even

worse

disorders
evils

than
even

the

world notion would

endured.

In

place of this
virtue

effeminate,

impotent, humane
he
to, Machiavelli admires in the

human

and

the

it

gives rise

substitute

the vigorous

"antica

virtu"

that

Romans. He

would

like

to see this

virtuwith

all the

implications

of

virility in its Latin

would

root

born
an

anew

in his

city.39

This

renaissance

be
and

accompanied

by
to

ardent

love

of

liberty
by
..

and

indepen
this

dence,
people,

by

the

ability

defend
would

oneself and one's

domain. In
employed

renewal, the virtues taught

by

religion and treasured or

would

the common

especially women,

not

be
is

by

strong men, according

Timoteo's first
ruse
with

to their aims and circumstances

with

association

the conspirators

the

abortion

After this first test, he virtually contracts himself to cooperate Callimaco and Ligurio. It is soon clear that Timoteo uses
religious

fears to further his own ends. He pretends to the women that he learns how to act by studying books, but unlike Nicia and ordinary friars, he is familiar with the "things of
popular

beliefs

and

the

world."

This is

underlined

by

his

allusions

to

time,

which

are

surprisingly frequent for expected to be on

man

whose

traditional

focus

might

be

eternity.40

Like

Savonarola, Timoteo is
Machiavellihave

crafty.

Although he ceaselessly inveighed against Florentine preacher may according to

the worldly-wise, the great

availed
was

himself
a

of

their methods.
and

Unlike the Roman augurs, Savonarola

Christian
the

preached
of

in

an

enlightened people

city.

But like them, he

to super

gained

confidence

the

through references

natural powers.

Numa
.
.

claims
.

he

spoke with a

nymph,

whereas

"The

people
arola

of

Florence

were

persuaded

by

Frate Girolamo Savon

not

that

he

God"

spoke

with

(D. I, 11). Machiavelli does

50
comment

Interpretation

further

on the

truth

of

the

belief Savonarola inspired.

Christianity. We know
are contrived

Timoteo, too,
that

combines

worldly

virtu with

his
as

miracles are man-made.

Like mandragola, they

and thus

by
in

astute men

to manipulate

beliefs,
works

Just

Callimaco's

"remedy"

him, the Frate's miracles work belief, faith, and trust. The connection between
"miracles"

they desire. "faith" because Nicia has only because of his ability to inspire
events,
as

the

success

of

and

the

ability

of the people

involved is nicely

presented

in Clizia. At
characters
of

one

point, Sofronia's
and to
a child.

credulous

husband

refers to the

Mandragola
might

Timoteo's

that
on

Lucrezia
own

have

Sofronia,
the

her

behalf

and then

manipulates

he prayed for a miracle her husband's beliefs to

success when
who prays

insure

that

it occurs, knows how

Like the

Frate

works miracles.

Like
relies

other prudent and competent people

in Machiavelli's works, he

only

on

himself.41

religion which

is "used

well"

Romans, Timoteo knows the value of (D. I, 13, 14, 15). Thus, he recognizes

miracle-working Madonna depends on the have been lax. Repeating the words he uses friars, they brains" about women, he remarks that his friars have "few (V, 1). For Machiavelli, the only miracle in Mandragola might be one like that referred to in his chapter on conspiracies in the Discourses: "When one [a conspiracy] has been kept secret among many men for a time it is held to be a miraculous (D. Ill, 6). long
that the reputation
and
of a

that

thing"

The

debunking
which

of

miracles

is

accompanied

distorted use of religious language throughout hymn-like Song to trickery, "inganno" is not
and
rare"

by

the

parody
In

or

the

play.

the

only

the

"remedy

high

Nicia

supposes

is mandragola; it is

also the means of

true salvation:

you

show the

straight path to

making
counsels

someone

blessed

you

make

wandering souls; you with your great valor, in Love rich. You conquer, with your holy

alone, stones, venoms,

and enchantments.

Similarly,
only play is

the

Song

after

Act Four

asserts

that

"holy"

Night is
in

the
the the the

cause

that makes souls

one which

blessed."

the

makes

The only Lucrezia sweat

over

"passione"

adulterous

"mystery"

(III, 11),

and and

is

watched

Angel Raphael. Perhaps Machiavelli is playing which means "God has healed" (italics

by

Saint Cuckoo
The

upon the angel's

name,

added).42

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

51
marriage

between Lucrezia and Callimaco, which is broker Ligurio, is solemnized in church

solemn are

arranged

by

the

by
be

Frate Timoteo. This

the

blessing

and

Callimaco's

consent to

baby's

godfather

further blasphemies Machiavelli

must accomplish several

suggests

in

connection with

his

new preacher.

Timoteo
the
alms

"seductions"

attempt

he desires. Like Machiavelli's men of to raise his parishioners to unattainable

"be perfect,
as your of

his own to earn virtu, he makes no

of

standards.

He

never

exhorts them to

heavenly
her

Father is

perfect."43

Rather he descends to the level

purpose.

Sostrata

and uses

her

to

attain

his
not
"

Lucrezia's

mother speaks often of

"conscience,"

which

is

eased as soon as the priest assures

her

that the proposed act

is

sinful. of

Like Callimaco

and the

"good

companions

the

Prologue,
expresses

she

is

"buona
of

compagna

[buon compagni] (I, i) at heart. She

herself
courses

the

principle

choosing "the best among bad

[de
is

cattivi

partiti

il

migliore]"

daughter
nature
a

to relax and
alien to

enjoy her
cose

evening.

(III, 1), and advises her Lucrezia, however, whose

and

love ("le

d'amore")

amusements,

requires

discussion

about sin and conscience.

Timoteo's is

arguments are
or

based
the

on

the Machiavellian premise

of no absolute good

evil,

or as

Frate says, "It is the

4).44

truth that there

no

honey

without

flies."

(Ill,

Early
the

because

in the play he accepts Ligurio's argument for abortion "good [bene] is what does good for the most "I
believe"

people"

(III, 4).
definition
taught

Ligurio begins
of good
which

and

articulates
virtues

utilitarian

replaces

the

moral

traditionally
Timoteo
and

by

religion.

This is

"credo"

new with

is blessed
Lucrezia.

by

developed in

subsequent rhetoric
with

discussions

The Frate's

calculated to

9). He begins
normal and

the argument that

when

lead her "to my strange and fearful

wishes"

(III,

things

seem

acceptable

we are used to them

(III,

11). "As to

the

conscience,"

he

generalizes that a
evil"

"certain

good

[bene]

is

always

preferable
condone

to an uncertain
abortion
soul

(III,
now

11). Despite his

emphasizes

willingness to

an

earlier,

he

the good

deed

of

creating

another

for

the

Lord.

Later, in

private,

he

too seems

uneasy about his actions, but again he rationalizes [bene]" "great good (IV, 6) that will come from the and his own desire for money. adultery,
With

them
evils of

by

the

deceit, belief,

Lucrezia, however, he denies

a

that the act

is

a sin.

This

he declares, is

"fable

[favola]."

We

might think

here

of

the stories

52

Interpretation

teaching
medieval

that

chastity is
original

inviolable, like
this

those

in

Livy, Ovid,

or

the

exemplary fables. At

point, Timoteo
and

repeats some of

the pleas of the

not

Lucretia 's husband

argument that

friends, who beg her

is
what

to

despair. Timoteo's
is
almost

"the

will

sins,

not
of

the

body"

parody

of

the

extended

discussion

Lucretia's chastity in The

"A
paradox!

City
said.

of God:
involved
and

There
and

were

two

persons

adultery."

Finely

truly

The

speaker

observed

only one committed in the union of two

bodies the disgusting lechery of the one, the chaste intention of the other, and he saw in that act not the conjunction of their bodies but the diversity of their minds. There were two persons involved, but only one committed adultery. The Frate
approve,
advises the

Christian Lucrezia that,

since

her

will

does

not

she should not

Timoteo does

willingly sleep differ from the

seems to

with the stranger.

other conspirators with respect none:

to the conscience.
cuckolded as mentions

Siro
as

long

the

his

conscience.

he'd enjoy seeing Nicia dupers are not caught (II, 4). Nicia never He regrets having to harm the young man have

but is mainly

concerned with

discovery by The Eight,

no regrets

the

Florentine

criminal tribunal.

Ligurio has

before

or after

Callimaco,
the

though

he

briefly
l).46

wonders whether

his trick. And be punished in he'll

that there are
more serious

hereafter, decides, like good people in hell (IV,

Castruccio

Castracani,

many
an

As in Machiavelli's

works,

nothing need burden the conscience if one is not discovered in immoral act. Only the imprudent have need of repentence.
Timoteo
prefers another

favola

to

demonstrate

that

"the
a

end

is

to

be

regarded

in

things"

all

(III,

1).

This,

of

course, is

precept

puts forth in The Prince while denying that there is any higher judgment for consciences to look to (P. XVIII). The Frate's is, as usual, quite different from the end to which Christians look. Timoteo cites the story of Lot's daughters in Genesis and

Machiavelli
"end"

argues that they were not disobedient to God and should not be blamed. Rather, they acted prudently, sacrificing their personal virtue for another end: the good, the advantage, of the greatest number.

Lucrezia has already

told

her
if

mother were

that

nothing
Her

could

justify
assures

the

adultery
of

to

her,

even

she race

responsible

for

the

continuation

the

whole

human

(III, 10).

confessor

her that, "because their [Lot's daughters'] intention was good, they did not (III, 11). He glibly approves of an act which
sin"

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

Biblical
commentaries
are reticent to

"Mandragola"

53

discuss. Even if Genesis does

is
careful not to exonerate

not condemn the

daughters,
of

the narration

them.

In his depiction

Timoteo,
"new

Machiavelli takes liberties

with

the
not
and

Christian Bible

as well as with the

of

Hebrew. His

new preacher

is

like

the

orders"

members

like

the

Franciscans

Dominicans (D.
their religion.

Ill, 1)
are restore

who

try

to return to the original principles of

Nor

his

ends those of

Savonarola
through

who

attempted,
modes
and

but

failed,

to

Christian faith

"new

orders"

(P. VI). On

the contrary,

Machiavelli's

new preacher seems to

his own religion stood for in its beginnings. This may be indicated in his name, which appears to be more than an ironic joke about his failure to honor God. In the New Testament, Timothy is the recipient of two letters from Saint Paul, who describes him
reject what
elsewhere :
your

"I have

no one all

like him
after

who will

be genuinely

anxious

for

welfare.

They

look
in
the

their
you 7

own

Jesus Christ. But Timothy's

worth

interests, know, how as

Paul

not those of a son with a

father he has
a

served me

Gospel."4

recognizes

in

Timothy
Paul is

young

man who will take

up

the

Apostle's

mission now that

approaching his own end. What does Paul expect from the Timothies who will follow him? Most of the first Epistle is devoted to the problems of church administration and the behavior of clerics. It also speaks at length of the modesty of women, especially of widows like the one Timoteo counsels in his first appearance. Although woman transgressed, she "will be saved through bearing children if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with Finally, the letter contains the famous warning that "love of money is the
modesty."48
evils."49

root of all
originate

Machiavelli is

well
of

aware

of

the

"evils"

which

in avarice, but his depiction

writings make
clear

Timoteo

in

the

political

the

his discussions differences between his

and

attitudes and

Paul's.
the

From his first appearance, to

last

scene of the

play, Timoteo is
private

depicted in
wealth

the act

of

receiving

money.

The Frate's desire for

is

not

emphasized,

for

reasons

abuse of the

responsibility
who

to collect

discussed below, but the likely money for others is evident to

in
of

Machiavelli,
human
which

repeatedly
to

refers to the prominent place of greed

critical

nature.

He is

deeply
mitigate
men

teachings
of

and

institutions
while

do

little

the

evils

human
in

nature

ineffectively exhorting

to

purify

themselves

anticipation of

54
an

Interpretation

afterlife.

The Frate's

position

shows

what

Machiavelli

sees

as a

tension
one

between

prescriptions of otherworldliness and

poverty

on the

hand,
also

and the

injunction to

minister to one's need

flock

on the other.

He

thinks that

"love

money"

of

not

be

the

"root
use

of all

evils."

The Frate's

aim

is clearly money, but in

personal so
and

this

play its
a

is

not

specified.
"good"

Timoteo's continuing

"good"

depends
will

on

the

of

his parishioners, belief

he

aims

at

Machiavellian

arrangement of mutual self-interest :

some of the

money

be

used

to maintain

by

acts of charity.

Thus Machiavelli

suggests

that

Timoteo's "love
not

money"

of

may
as well as
political

result

in

some

"goods," though

evils. The same would be even more leaders in uncorrupt states. While avoiding the amassing of private fortunes and the concomitant growth of faction, luxury, and indolence, a prudent leader can guide his state to glory and power by the judicious management of money and men's love for it. Mandragola should also be read in conjunction with Paul's second

in Paul's
of

sense

true

unfettered

Epistle
But
men

to

Timothy :
this, that in
of

understand will

the

last days
of

there

will come

times of stress. For

abusive

be lovers

self,

lovers

money, proud, arrogant,

slanderers,

to their

parents, ungrateful, unholy,

inhuman, implacable,
conceit,

haters

of

good,

treacherous, reckless,
of

swollen with

lovers

of pleasure rather

than

lovers
such and

God,

holding
to

the

form

of religion

but

denying

the

power of

it. Avoid

people.

For among

them are those who make their

way into households

truth.5

capture weak
will

women,

burdened

with sins and swayed

by various impulses, who

of

listen

anybody

and can never arrive at a

knowledge

the

Machiavelli's

Timothy
ignores
in

is

an

instrument
1

and

ally

of

"such

people"

and
of

he

knowingly
Machiavelli

the

Epistle's

advice

to the soldiers

God "not

to get entangled

pursuits."5

civilian

gives us revised versions of characters

from
of

old an

books.
unholy
"took

Perhaps his boldest innovation is his

presentation
of a

family
our

in the

act of conception. our

Instead

divine lover
a

who

infirmities, bore
"doctor"

diseases"

by fathering
bed

baby,52

we see a

cunning
the next morning.

visit a chaste wife's

at night under cover of the

grotesque mandragola

story,

leaving the

participants

feeling
hopes

"reborn"

In Machiavelli's

renaissance and

renewal,

men who of

know
saved.5

this world
3

rely

on

themselves alone, not on

being

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

55
will

Those

who

believe

that

Machiavelli
of

was a with

believing
by

Christian Such

question the

identification

Timoteo

his

creator.

readers

might protest that the not

distortions

of religion

a stage character are

Machiavelli's
us

and

that the author

of

corruption remind assume

and not

the principles

is attacking only institutional the religion itself. They might

of

dramatic dialogue always that no character is speaking for the author; relaxing this assumption would be like attributing to Moliere the casuistic blasphemies of Tartuffe, something Moliere goes to great lengths to deny in his defensive and moralistic preface to that play. But, as we have seen, Machiavelli is curiously unassertive about the conventional
that
thoughtful
readers
moral

lessons

to

be drawn from

this play.

He does

not

claim

because
might

he

cannot

as

Moliere
evil.5

does,
4

that

he has
as a

removed

all

that

confuse good with

Like

Ligurio, Timoteo is introduced

familiar

stock character.

But just

as the conventional parasite metamorphoses

into

a version of

Machiavelli's capitano, Timoteo turns out to be like Machiavelli's projected preacher for Florence. The "frate mal of the
vissuto"

Prologue

is

nor

presented

as

an

evil

and

disgusting

example

to
of

alienate the audience.

Compared

to

his brother friars in

the works

Machiavelli's contemporaries, Timoteo is remarkably reserved. For example, there is no indication that the Frate enjoys luxurious food
and

clothing,

or

women,

and

he is

scrupulous about

performing his

formal duties. Productions

who paws

which present

him

as a repulsive sensualist

Lucrezia, misunderstand Machiavelli's intent. He is not like Boccaccio's Frate Alberto, as Meredith thought, nor is he an Italian model for Tartuffe: "The Frate Timoteo of this piece is only a very
oily
seen,

Friar

compliantly
use

assisting
and

an

intrigue

with

ecclesiastical 5

sophisms

(to

the

mildest

word) for
a

payment."5

As

we

have
usual

he is

shrewder

more

self-controlled

than

the

Tartuffes,
professes;

and as a

result,

he is

far

greater threat to the religion wants

he

for,

like Ligurio,

what

he really

is

not

bodily

pleasure, but money

men.

and the satisfaction of

manipulating his fellow

and

Although
recognizes credo

Machiavelli

is

amused

at

that the

Frate is

used

by

his friar's hypocrisy, better men, he does share

the

articulated

by

Ligurio
about

and

affirmed

by

the

Frate. This is

evident

from

the

Song

trickery

which

Timoteo's

long

discussion

with

Lucrezia in Act Three. The

immediately follows Song is

56
Machiavelli's: it
comes

In te rp re ta tio n

between
essay
will

the acts as

a comment on

the action.
role as a

The

remainder of

this

be devoted
and

to

Machiavelli's
to

teacher of youth and to

audience

his

use of

in

the ways

of

Timoteo

comedy Ligurio.

as a vehicle

instruct the

III. COMEDY AND THE YOUNG

Like the Platonic Socrates
political

and

writings,

self-conscious and explicit about

like Saint Paul, Machiavelli is, in his his relationship to his

teachings of
writers.

the young.

His

aim

is

to substitute
of

"new

modes and

orders"

for

the

teachings
written

earlier

The Prince

and

the

Discourses

are

treatises.

Although

they differ in they

are

form,
with

magnitude and public

emphasis,

they

are alike

in

that

books
study

subjects which are addressed to readers who will

them

privately.

The

busy

young
and
axe

ruler to whom

Machiavelli dedicates The

Prince
mode

will read of

this short terse

handbook
a

and

learn

the

Machiavellian
and

acquiring

maintaining

state.

The longer
of

more

rambling Discourses young

at
gentlemen

dedicated
to

to

two

friends

the

author,

their

leisure.

be princes, who will peruse the volumes Machiavelli's stated intention is to inspire these

worthy

readers to

carry his

project to

its "destined

place"

(D. I,

prefi).

In the
of

Introduction

to the second

book, he hopes

to excite the minds

the

young

who will outlive

him :
to teach
others

For it is the

duty

of a good man

that good which, through the

malignity
many
able

of

the times and of

fortune, he has
it,
some of

not

been

able to

perform; so that,
might

capable ones

hearing

of

them,

more

loved

by heaven,

be

to perform

it. (D. II,

intro.)
are

These

political

books

also, in

way,

about

the young, since

are

youth and

vigor,

although

they do

not guarantee
says that

virtii,

likely

to

be

accompanied

by

it. Machiavelli
"those

Fortune,
of

which

always

figures in

the outcome of

events, is "the young

who

man's

friend"

(P.

XXV),

and

he

admires

had

the

honors

triumph when

men"

very young
work
with

(D. I, 60).

Mandragola differs from the treatises in

a private says

being a publicly
Prologue,
as

presented

subject.
about

The hostile

Guicciardini
audience,5

suggested,

more

the author than about

his

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

and

"Mandragola"

57
of

cannot

be
of

considered

dedication. But

the

identity

this

audience

is

the utmost
as

intent. Insofar

importance in understanding Machiavelli's Mandragola has the same aim as the political
who are not yet

writings, it too is addressed to the young, to those

fully formed. Machiavelli's audience is composed of young gentle men, like Buondelmonte and Rucellai of the Discourses, who frequented the social and cultural gatherings in the courts and great
houses
sort
of

Italian

cities.

In Urbino

they

participated

in

soirees of the

depicted in Castiglione's Courtier; in Florence they gathered for discussions with Marsilio Ficino in the court of Lorenzo de' Medici
or,
more

recently

with

Machiavelli himself in the Rucellai

Roman
and

gardens.

And they

attended productions of

contemporary

plays

like

those patronized

by the

Duke
of

of

Ferrara,

or presented at various

celebrations,

like

the
not

Mandragola is

wedding intended

Lucrezia Borgia.
to reach the public at
addressed

directly
have

large.
wider

But

the particular coterie to whom the

play is

is

one whose

attitudes and

future

actions will

the greatest effect

on

the

future princes, young or in the right circumstances, the future republican leaders of Italy. The circumstances under which Machiavelli wrote make all his writings events. What he says must always be considered in the context of what he could say. It is thus necessary to pay the utmost attention to the sources to whom he attributes his teachings, in his political books. The genre that is, to the dramatic of Mandragola makes it the most public of his attempts to teach the It also permits Machiavelli to say everything, for in a
community.

For these

elite

gentlemen are the

"political"

"characters"

young.57

drama,
Art of

the

author

himself says
with

nothing.

Machiavelli's

concern

the

War,
a

which should

be

considered with

young is especially evident in The Mandragola. Like the

author never speaks.

play, it is
"dramatic"

dialogue in

which

the

These

two
sets

works are vehicles

for
but

the same principles

their

Machiavelli
these

forth in
more

the political
and

palatable,

books, hence, more

forms

make

teachings
and

publishable.

In the lightest

in

the gravest pursuits the core of

Machiavelli's

teachings about
and war.
we

justice

is commonly

acknowledged: all's

fair in love
lover

In

the political

books,

not published

during
is

the author's
as a

lifetime,

learn

that the

true prince
capitano.

is

as

self-serving
a

and as ruthless as a

military
on

The

Art

of War

technical

handbook;

its

comments

58

Interpretation

Christianity, justice,
over

and

leadership

are absorbed as the reader pores

The dialogue is clearly concerned with the military young. Old Fabrizio Colonna converses in the Rucellai gardens with
strategems.
elite

young

men who will

learn from him

Fabrizio
won't

to revive ancient

military

practices.

Like

Machiavelli,

live

to see the enterprise

through.
action.

The

youngest questioner wishes to see the exchanges

with

imagined army in
Socrates'

Fabrizio's
with

him

seem

to

parody
city:

discussions

other

young

men about an

imagined

Fabrizio's

projections are realizable.

The Art of War, like Mandragola, makes clear that love is an activity inferior to war. Cosimo Rucellai wrote love poems until Fortune
would

lead him
to

to

"higher
that
of

activities."

The form

of

the
a

dialogue

seems

parallel

Boccaccio's Decameron: in
power."

ravaged and

suffering

Italy

worthy young
at

people retire to a garden

for

conversation,
replaces

taking

turns

"absolute
with

Machiavelli's There
of

version
women

the theme of

love

that

of war.

are no
are

in

the the

Rucellai gardens,

and

the

consolations

love

replaced

by

remedy
poets,
to teach

of

military

virtii.

Philosophers,
is
more suited

and political men

morality

than

have remarked that poetry is history. This is implied in

history: in
would

Aristode's

statement that
events

poetry is
not

more philosophic than

poetry human
moral

occur

by

chance,

but

as

they

in

and

rationally

ordered

universe.
on

Learning

Francis

Bacon

elaborates

The Advancement of this view: "because true In

of action not so agreeable

history

propoundeth the success and

of virtue

issues

to the merits

and

vice, therefore

poesy feigns

them more
.

just in retribution, and more according to revealed Providence. In the terms of his famous formula about Machiavelli, poetry depicts,
not what men

do, but
as an

what

they

ought to of

do.5 9

For

Bacon,

"poesy"

is

useful

yearnings.

only He

expression

human customs, passions,

and

thus advises

reading
to

history
too

as

practical

guide

for

human

action:

"it is

not

good

Perhaps he
universally

might

consider

stay Machiavelli's

long

in the

theatre."60

theatre an exception. For

poetically

Mandragola is

not

as

and precisely because it depicts the material Bacon assigns to history: the world as it is, it should be according to philosophers, poets, and preachers.

effective

Thus,
as a

we are shown what traditional

"true-to-life"

morality

would

probably

view

deplorable but fruits of their immoral

situation:

clever men

actions.

But Bacon's

formulae,

enjoying the both about

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

59

history
are

and about

Machiavelli,
them.

are misleading.

The

greatest

histories
or

"poetic"; they
about

order events so as to

draw universal,
Machiavelli's

philosophic

conclusions

This is

true

of

histories,
"poetic"

his history. Furthermore, like these Machiavelli's does not really abandon the tories, poetry attempt to set standards for human behavior. Rather, it substitutes new standards for the "merits of virtue and Thus, we must
commentaries
upon
"historical"
vice."

explore

further

the

poetic

vehicle

Machiavelli

uses

to

make

his

"historical"

views of

human

action the accepted ones.

It has been
Machiavelli.6

said that there

is

no place

for tragedy in
and
of

the

works of

His
pity,

views

of

human
the

virtu

Fortune

preclude

world

where

fear,

and

recognition

divine
at

justice

constitute

the proper

human

attitude.

But Machiavelli is
writings,

the

comic

realm,

both

within

his

political

home in and in his

effective

avowedly
way

comic

works,

dramatic,

narrative,

and poetic.

One

to undermine the sacred

doctrines

of older

teachings

is

to refuse true that

to recognize their seriousness.

complete

As Leo Strauss says, "If it is

recognizes
we

every society necessarily it is absolutely forbidden to laugh,

tion
essence of

something

about which

may say

that the

determina
is
of the view

to transgress that prohibition sanza alcuno rispetto,

Machiavelli's

intention."6

2But Machiavelli's
now return

"comic"

does
well

not

fully
to

explain the

way in
We

which

the genre of Mandragola

is

so

suited

his

project.

must

to the question of
as

how Machiavelli
seduce

uses

comedy

to teach the

young
older

they

watch

"un

giovane"

"una

giovane"63

from her

husband

and

from

her
A.

old-fashioned morals.

Comedy
The

and

Morality
comedies and

greatest

in

the

western

tradition

tend to conserve
of particu of

established

"modes

orders."

They

may be

critical

larsof timely fashions,

professions, the rigidity

government

policies, the

pretenses

the
end

of age and

authority

but they usually

by
of

affirming
intrigue

the traditional

teaching
on

about virtues and vices which

the older generation seeks to pass

plot the
an

to the young.

Thus, in

one type

young lover

and

his

supporters conspire to

defeat

or

circumvent

lover's
the

place and
of

the (often older) who would interfere with his desires. New information, chance,
opponent

"usurp"

ability

the

intriguers,
the

and

the

stupidity
as

of

the opponents,
and

accomplish

what

audience

recognizes

the

appropriate

60 better
arrangement:

Interpretation
the
enemies
or

of

youth

are

defeated,
But

either

reformed

and

reconciled,

punished

and expelled.

youthful

exuberance and passion must also accept

limits,

and so moral virtue and with

is

not

really

questioned.

Individual

elders

may err, comically

intact. A
clever rogues
who

consequences,

but

the old
a

morality

emerges
of

more satirical

intrigue

plot

presents

conspiracy

prey

on

equally

vicious or on

foolish dupes. Here, too,

the

the action

may

imply
in the
the

serious criticism of the established values and

authorities,
of

but,

end, the

play demonstrates
In the
and

nonviability
of

deviations from
intrigue
In
plots

life

virtue.64

of

plays

Aristophanes, Plautus, Terence,

these two
with
repeatedly.65

Shakespeare, Jonson,
modifications

Moliere,
occur

and

variations

may be loved eventually they

order

and

enjoyed,

and

even

deviants ambivalently admired, but

them

are exposed and perhaps

punished,

and the rightful

is

restored.
conservative effect a

But this
comings
or

is easily lost through

result,
moral

artistic

short
always

by
but

design. As
of

authorities of

have

been
with

suspicious

the

youthful

intrigues

comic

drama. Not
charged
will examine

necessarily,

not

infrequently, comedy has been

The
remainder of

justly
plots

subverting
changes

morality.

this

how
to

in the

traditional

elements

of

essay intrigue
of

enable

Machiavelli

to exploit some subversive tendencies

subversive

convey his truly

those

teachings.

comedy in order His intrigue plot is as

comedies as

different from
is from
resembles.

of conventional

intrigue

The Prince

the conventional

"mirror

princes"

of

books
and

whose

form it
are still

didactic,

Machiavelli's writings, both but what they teach is new.

comic

serious,

B. Comic Conspiracies Readers

about
of

the

Discourses know that Machiavelli thought carefully

now

what

might

be

called the

"psychology"

of conspiracies.

Readers

of

Mandragola have recognized, in the

remarks of

Callimaco,
about of

Ligurio,

and

Timoteo,
new

key
acts

maxims of
of

Machiavelli's
the

teachings

conspiracy.

The early
as

the
are

play depict
added.

formation

the

conspiracy
employs
an often works within

members

In

comedy

Machiavelli

appropriate

vehicle a

for his

teachings

because comedy
play,
as as well as a

effecting it. Bergson's suggestion

assumes

by

"conspiracy"

outside the

that

laughter functions
audience

"social

gesture,"

that members

of an

in

theatre

feel

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

common

"Mandragola"

61
and

bond

as

they

identify

with

some

characters a

on stage

laugh
the

at

others:
or even

"laughter

always
with

implies

kind

of

secret

free
the

masonry,

complicity
which

other

laughers."66

The

nature of

conspiracies

playwright

establishes

(1)

among
the

characters,

(2)

among

the spectators, and

(3)
on

between
the

the spectators

and the characters on

stage, is

responsible

for

whether

play

will

have

conservative

or

subversive

effect

morality
an

of those

spectators.

The
which

comic

theatre

can

be,

as

Bergson suggests,

institution
the
plots

restricts
above.

immoral
On the

or

unsocial

deviations,

as

do

described drama to
Rousseau
morality:

other

make the audience

hand, identify

comedy
with

shares the power of all

the characters

imitated

on

stage even

if they

would

condemn

them

in

real

life. Thus,

as

feared,

stage

imitations have

a special

ability

to undermine

dare say it without being roundabout. Which of us is sure enough of to bear the performance of such a comedy without halfway taking part in the deeds which are played in it? Who would not be a bit distressed if the thief were to be taken by surprise or fail in his attempt? Who does not himself become a thief for a minute in being concerned about him? For is being concerned about someone anything other than putting oneself in his place? A fine instruction for the youth, one in which grown men have difficulty protecting themselves from the seductions of vice ! Is that to say that it is never permissible to show blamable actions in the theatre? No; but in truth, to know how to put a rascal on the stage, a very good man must be the author.
Let
us

himself

The

tendency
comedies

to

be "drawn

into"

the

play is especially strong in

so often

intrigue

because
group,

the spectator

is

invited

to

identify

with a successful

rather than with an

outstanding but isolated

suggests that

and

capable of

doomed individual, as in tragedy. This both greater social and moral

participates
and

comedy is
spectator

"affirmation"

(the

vicariously
accepted
with a

in

the

group

reconciliation and celebration of

"subversion"

values),

greater
celebrates,

(the
its

spectator

identifies
of

aroup

that

successfully
the

rejection

those

values).

Returning
views
about

now

to

play itself,
and

we

can

see

that

Machiavelli's

human

nature

politics

are

responsible

for his

are, in conspiracy turn, responsible for differences in audience response, and, thus, for the Machiavellian subversion. This is evident in his depiction of the
revisions of the
conventional

plot.

These

revisions

62
intriguers
In his
and

Interpretation

their

success,

and

his depiction

of

the

duped the

intrigue as well. objects of the

comic

intriguers,

Machiavelli

makes attractive what would

ordinarily be
vigorous,
and and

condemned as

immoral. Callimaco is young,

objections

handsome,
the

intelligent. Macaulay's
Congreve is
apt

to the comedies of

Wycherly
comic versive

here,

since the writers

abused

for
to

English
same sub

Restoration

stage

sometimes

used-or

some

of

the their

elements
attitudes

as

Machiavelli.

Referring

especially
what

towards

"conjugal

fidelity,"

Macaulay

argues

that
shall

".

.morality

is

deeply

interested in this,
of

that

is immoral

not

be

presented

to the imagination
with what

the

young

and susceptible

in

constant comedies

connection

is

attractive."68

"Conservative"

often

present

an

attractive

young hero

who

embraces

immoral

schemes

to

satisfy

immoral desires.
potential

But,

as

shall suggest

below,
and
either

in

these

comedies

our

sympathy for

such

actions

passions

gradually

undergoes

metamorphosis.

For example,

hero's (and our sympathetic) initial fancy or lust is discredited by laughter or punishment, or it is controlled and transformed into a more spiritual and a legally sanctioned love.
the

Neither

of these things

Machiavelli's
comedies

conspirators

happens in Mandragola. defy a distinction

ill-intentioned"

often

made

in

between

"well-

rogues.69

or
of a

They

most

like that of Cassinal Clizia. However, in Mandragola, the young dupers are not the rightful opponents of a would-be usurper, but, as I have suggested, the usurpers themselves. Thus, like Volpone and Mosca in Jonson's play,
resemble

the sympathetic schemers

plot

they
plots

are

underminers

of morality.

described

above and

The merging of the two intrigue exemplified here by Cassina and Volpone,

leads
to
as

the audience to approve of

no conventional

Machiavelli's
justice"

attractive conspirators.

There is it

"poetic

in Mandragola. Machiavelli's

According
insofar
are rogues

Machiavelli, justice is
too
might

not a

primary consideration,
to
success.

except

contribute

eminently
success,
as although

successful and

thus are

never exposed and punished. on their

of

Their

I have suggested, depends vicious, that

us

benefiting others. Thus,

morality,

the conspirators are subverters

they

are

not

conventionally

is,

ill-intentioned.70

If comedy

supports

morality
right

by

making

angry

at

(or

at

least
We

contemptuous

of) the

edy

by sharpening our sense deliberately undermines morality.

things

of justice Machiavelli's com

experience

nothing like

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

63

our desire to see the tripping up of such arch-deceivers as Moliere's Tartuffe, Jonson's Volpone and Mosca, or even more sympathetic

deviants like Malvolio

the

or

Falstaff. Nor do
as
we

we

feel

our

initial

relish

for

intrigue

turn

to

contempt,

do for Boccaccio's
conspiracy
those
will

comic
com

(though unstaged)

Frate Alberto. The

succeeds

pletely
Some

and

there

is

no

suggestion,

like

Jonson's didactic comedies, that

readers

the partners

found repeatedly in defeat themselves.

plays exhibit

have

thought

that

Machiavelli's
in
order

the

successful maneuverings of clever people

to

help

those who

witness
edition

them
of

learn

to protect themselves.
suggested

The

printer

of

the

first
who

The Prince
the use

something
"do
medicine,

similar

when

he

sought

Church

protection against those who

of

not

know

that those

instruct in
order

herbs

and

also

to

know how
of

to guard against

them."

instruct in poisons, in This would seem to be

or

the

intent

traditional moral

fables like Aesop's

La

Fontaine's,
like
those
run the

which often

present a simplified narrated version of tricks comedies.

in

the

intrigue

But

the

fables,

like

some

comedies,

risk

of

mis-teaching

goes unpunished.

precisely because the schemer is attractive and In Emile, Rousseau discusses the didactic effect of
the

these

stories
with

on

"very

young."

According
of

to

Rousseau,
they have
to

the the

problem

La Fontaine's engaging fables is

the

that

identify encouraging young fox, ant, or lion. Furthermore, since fraud is more admirable than force, when a clever gnat defeats a lion, the child's sympathies will be with the gnat. This, I believe, is the intended effect of Mandragola, and it is well described by Rousseau: "You are teaching them how to make another drop his cheese, rather 1 than how to keep their Unlike Jonson, whose moral lesson
not

effect, if
the

intention,

the

with

successful

own."7

requires

the

humiliation
of

and

punishment

of

Volpone,
that

the

Fox,

Machiavelli openly
the
"virtues"

advertises elsewhere

the

fox (and
to

the

he is teaching XVIII) lion). Machiavelli's fox is, of course,

(P.
characteristics

much more prudent than

Jonson's.
subhuman

The injunction
panied

develop
of

is

accom

by

the

celebration

Chiron

Machiavelli
of

as the teacher of

Achilles

Centaur, identified by (P. XVIII), and, we might add,

the
who

Asclepius

the physician.

Machiavelli,
Chiron. The

in the Dedication
seems to

to

The

Prince,
his

presents

himself
those

as the teacher

of

princes,

identify

teachings

with

of

centaur makes no appearance

in Mandragola, but he

watches

from

the wings,

directing

the action

64

Interpretation

from backstage. Whether or not Machiavelli was responsible for the frontispiece of the first edition of the play (1518), the picture it bears could not be more appropriate. A centaur stands before us. In addition to the conventional strung bow on his back, this centaur bears another bow with which he plays a violin. The second bow distinguishes him from the many centaurs of classical and neo classical art, those imprudent half-beasts who rape women and fight wars over the stolen brides of others. He is Chiron, the pupil of
Artemis
elusive and

Apollo,
as

who

told

Peleus

cunning way

to

win

the

Thetis

his lawful does

wife,

and who

later became
play

the tutor to
was

the son of this union.

Although the
not

author of the

known,
what

this

first
be

title page

bear his

name.

Instead, it bears

might

considered a personal emblem.

The

prudent use of arms

is

central

theme

in Machiavelli's
rest,

political writings.

Here, however,

the

instruments instruments
a modern

of war are at

and the centaur concentrates on the

of love and of poetry, the violin (lira da bracchio) being Italian improvement on the lyre of Apollo. As I have

suggested

above,

princes can
plays
and

be

taught remedies
as
well

for

the

ills

of their political

times

through

poetry,

as

through

writings.72

Machiavelli's

view of

human

nature

is

responsible

for differences in
as well
comedies

our attitudes towards the

as

towards

their

conventionally deceived deceivers. In most

characters,

"conservative"

the

former
and

are either virtuous and

unjustly

abused

innocents,
with

or vicious
whom we

justly

abused are

rogues.

In Volpone the

victims

sympathize

superhuman characters
moral

personifications
appear

named plays

Bonario

and

Celia.
Alithea

Similar

often

in

whose

authors

emphasize and
of

their

purpose.

Even

The

Country

Wife has its

Harcourt,
pallid

hardly
and

superhuman,

the end

the play.

Mandragola strikingly lacks

weak

but clearly exemplary by characters like these

next to

who,

however

they

appear

Jonson's
stand

and an

Wycherly's
uncorrupt
sometimes

able

rogues, invite

allegiance

because they

for

morality.73

called

Mandragola, as Robert Heilman remarks, "is satire, but it is hard to see it as such, for it
assertion
of an

includes
would

no

dramatic

alternative

standard

which

invite

criticism of

the mode of

life

depicted."74

Once again,

the absence of such characters

is

not

surprising in
imitate
also

play

by
in

a writer

who rejects the traditional exhortations to a standard

the superhuman as
and

for human beings. Machiavelli

omits

this

he

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

resembles Jonson
gent and
witty.75

"Mandragola"

65
also

any

characters who

are

virtuous

but

intelli
means
on

Once

more

this suggests that

and

intelligence

knowing
Let

how

to

be both

moral

immoral,

depending

the

circumstances.
us now turn to the other victims of the standard

intrigue plot,
attitudes.

the rogues who are punished

view
of

by

superior rogues.

Again, Machiavelli's
in
our

human

nature

is

responsible

for

changes

Though

other examples

would

do,

Volpone

provides an

especially
the

revealing
vicious wicked

contrast.

Jonson demeans the

vicious

duped,

as well as the

dupers, by caricaturing
Volpone
and and

them as subhuman
on

beasts. Thus,
named

Voltore,
his
its

Mosca prey Corbaccio. Again, it is

than
are

characters

not

surprising
virtue,
either

that

Corvino, Machiavelli,
that
or moral

the teacher

of virtii rather

of moral

never suggests

characters

less

than

human,
as

in

their

intellectual

shortcomings.
occurs

As far
six

can

tell,

the word

"bestia"

(or
to

derivatives)
(I.

times
to

in

the

play:

in

reference

Callimaco's desperate
men

plot

(I, 3),

women mismatched with

inferior

3),
on

to

Lucrezia's fanatic piety

(II, 6),
to

to

Sostrata

who can

be

counted
widows

to convince
children

her daughter

cooperate

(III, 9),

and to

without

(III, 11),
cases the
cases

and to men without women

"bestial"

(V,

6). In
use.

the

first

and

fourth

is

embraced and put to

In

the third and

who

last

the term refers

derogatorily to
convenience

human
in
this

beings
world.

refuse to
order

"accommodate"

themselves another

frequent
he

phrase

in

to

secure

their

comfort

and

Machiavelli thus inverts

the traditional sense of this term as

does

others.
and

Messer Nicia

Jonson's Corvino both

cuckolding.

arrange

for

wives

their

adultery
zation radical

and

their

own

But
of

the naturalistic characteri

and

almost

affectionate

tone

difference between
and

the two

Machiavelli's play reveal a comedies. Corvino is depicted as

vicious

evil,

while

Nicia is
the

shown

only
while

to

be

simple

and not

lax;
only

Corvino is

punished

by
of

escapes notice of the neutral

presentation another

Scrutineo, Eight, but is peculiarly

the anonymous
of

Messer Nicia
rewarded.

Machiavelli's

Donna in Act Three, Scene

to
condemn either

One is
superior

example

his

refusal

forceful
Human

people

or

their

weak

inferiors

as

"immoral."76

beings
stage

are neither all good nor all evil

or

expectations

standards makes

us

(D. I, 27). Lowering our moral judge only in terms of virtu. In

to

comedy,

as

in

life,

it is difficult

feel righteously hostile

or

66
vindictive

Interpretation
towards people
of who

lack
and

ability.

Justice does
mutes

not require moral and

the

punishment

stupidity
we all

Machiavelli
at

Nicia's

shortcomings.

Thus,

only laugh

Nicia's

simplicity.

If ability

aptness to succeed are

of the able.

that matter,

we will support

the

conspiracy

C. Comic Misrule: Roman One way in

sanctioned
orders"

Comedy
comedies without

which

many

depict

the overthrow these

of

the
and

rules

of

society

subverting
the

"modes
to

by

audience

complicity in
character

overthrow, is
upset.

indicate

clearly
Feasts

the

temporary
of

of

the

The

conventional

"comedies
of

misrule"

Fools

and

related, however distantly, to medieval Saturnalian carnivals, whose function was to

are
preserve

serve as an outlet
of

and, ultimately, to
life.77

the

order and

hierarchy
explain

everyday

moral

This

conservative

function helps
and,

why they
more

were

sanctioned

by

Roman

officials

later,

though

uneasily,

by

the Church. Machiavelli

seems to

have

given some and

thought

to the political uses and

consequences

of carnival

its

absence.78

But

his play differs greatly from Roman

which

and

Shake
to

spearean

comedies

allowed

nonparticipating
which

spectators

experience

provided.

vicariously The nymphs

the

release

the

older

festivals had
of

and shepherds

in the first song

Mandragola

emphasize the permanence of their withdrawal

from

serious pursuits. a
similar

As

have argued,
"release"

the

play
the

which

follows
plays

emphasizes

from permanent the Church. A brief look at

the restrictions

of ancient

morality

and

Roman

from

which

Mandragola
grandchild

is superficially descended will demonstrate Machiavelli's play really is.

In Plautus
the
plays
and

what a

distant

Terence there is
with will

much

that

are

populated

those

engaged

is racy and vulgar, and in irregular sexual

which

pursuits.

But

the

reader

find few

plays

inherently

Roman morality of the audience that watched it. Once again, chastity and grave Roman women serve as a gauge. habitual sexual license is limited to Virgins do not appear on
undermine

the strict

stage;79

courtesans

and

their

pimps;

rapes

are

committed

but

there

are

mitigating circumstances; maidens remain miraculously intact or are overcome only by force and are often married when their true is discovered. Young people who defy their even identity
elders

when

they

are

justified

by

the

folly

of

these

elders

are reconciled

The Comic
with

Remedy :

Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

67

them and recognize their authority.

They

often ask

for

pardon

or

forgiveness,
of

out

their

husbands,

thus Young men grow admitting their impulsive yielding to nature, and become responsible fathers, and senators. Slaves may trick their masters, but

misbehavior.80

they don't demand their freedom; there are reminders that they may be punished after the plays end. The dramas are only brief releases from the stringent moral codes of Roman life, and rarely fail to
affirm and

accepted notions

of

piety,

filial duty,
or all

chaste

conjugal

love,
(leno,
1

friendship. As
good
are

Duckworth says, "the

and
villainous
...

plots are

basically

moral;

the

rewarded

lustful
this

characters

miles,

senex

amato)
neither

are

punished

is

not

very edifying,
spectators."8

perhaps,

but

is it harmful
avoid

to the the

morals of

the

Furthermore,
than
a

the plays

danger

of corruption

or

more not

temporary desire for

"misrule"

in the spectators,

by

presenting
identify.
The

a too-naturalistic world with which these spectators might are set

They

characters

are,

far from Rome in a place infamous for license. for the most part, stock stage types rather than
and

naturalistic removed

individuals,
of

the

language,
as

(music

and verse).

In contrast,

too, is conventional and Carlo Goldoni recognized, It

was

the power

Mandragola

lies in its

naturalism.

precisely
resisted

this

powerful naturalism

in

the service of

dubious
To

actions which made the as

admiring young Goldoni

uncomfortable

even

he

his
the

father's ire for reading

that
the
action

such

literature.8 2

those

who would

protest

Machiavelli's
of

play
we

presents
might

is

limited

to

make-believe

world

the

stage,
the

remember

Macaulay's

reply to Lamb's apology for Machiavelli's setting is the

recognizable, the
make the

English Restoration

playwrights:

audience's

Florence,

the

people

are

language is natural, and "one hundred little 3 fictitious world look like the actual
world."8

touches

Perhaps Terence's

these

generalizations

about

Roman

comedy

are

more
of

consistently

applicable

to

Plautus, but they

one

also

describe

most

plays as well.

The

Latin comedy
which a

which most resembles

Mandragola is Terence's Eunuch, in

carefully
The play

plotted rape

is

described in
is
saved

all

its

ugliness and even rationalized

marriage.84

before

the situation
with

by

the

conventional

ends and a

an

"adulterous"

menage-a-trois of a

prostitute,

her lover,

braggart
presents

soldier who will

unsuspectingly
to

support

them. Like

Mandragola, The
it

Eunuch

seems

defy

the

conventional

morality:

approvingly,

situations which make us

vaguely

uncomfortable even as

68
we

Interpretation
with

comply
the

the request

for

applause

at

the end.

Perhaps

our

discomfort is
of

provoked

by

the inclusion
to

of all the unpleasant

action.

It is hard

know

what

details Terence intended in The

failure.85 But Machiavelli's Eunuch; play may be an interesting intends to divide us from our conventional assumptions. To do play

the

this

it

must

avoid

recognizing

the

unpleasant

implications

of

its

action.

Its

artistic

though not

moral

superiority is indicated
as
comic

by our
are

feeling little discomfort at the end. Interestingly, points out, Terence's failures to remain within the related to his "tendency to humanize the
naturalize.

Elder Olson

limits
that

characters,"86

is,

to

D. Commedia Erudita

Many
closely Others
of

of

the plays

of

Machiavelli's

contemporaries adhered more

than

Mandragola does to the Roman

plots

discussed

above.

added to the more and

familiar

settings and

characters,

new plots

cuckoldry

adultery,
one

like

those

found in
the

the popular novellas.

which

From these

plays

sees

clearly

way in

the

comic

intreccio

(intrigue)

plots

arouse

audience

support

ordinarily be judged as base actions. One can also action is so much more vivid on stage than it is in the
not

for what would see how the same

novella.

This is

for a comparison of The Decameron and the plays derived from it, but one might begin by noting the effects of (1) the author's moral frame for the stories, (2) the individual narrator's comments, and (3) the difference between a privately read narrative
the
place account and a

publicly
of

viewed physical representation.

Although

some

the

Commedia Erudita
there are
of are

plots

have

elements

in

common with

Mandragola,

important differences. As in
often

the
to

Roman plays, the success chance. Although the plays

Commedia intrigues is

due

cheerfully lax

about

language87

and

approving

of

adultery, there

are

few

articulate

rationales
exclude

for

the

behavior
point most

presented.

They

do

not

consistently

the

moral

of view.

Furthermore,

the

rambling
and

structures

and,

for
to

the

part,

stereotyped

characters,

undercut the audience's

identifi

cation.

There is something
about

artificial

mechanical,

not

say
its

boring,

many

of

these plays, and this

keeps

an audience at

distance. Because they are artistically inferior to Mandragola, they are less successful at undermining traditional values.

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's E. The Comic Project: Conclusion There

are still
of

"Mandragola"

69

other

ways

in

which

Machiavelli

encourages

the to

acquiescence

the

audience

in his "new
plot
and

case."

In

addition

amplifying that its values

accept

our

complicity in
are

the

removing
notions

all suggestions

temporary fictions,
by.

Machiavelli

prepares

us

to

his

premises

offering

more

shocking
then

in

order to get

us to accept
proposed

less shocking
plan

ones.
which

We, like Timoteo,

is
medicine

are tested

by

the

abortion

withdrawn.

Mandragola is
the

substituted

for

the

abortion

and,

like

Frate,
the

we

abandon abortion and accept adultery.

However,

one might wonder

whether,
virtues

once

chastity,

conjugal

fidelity, honesty,
matters one

and

other

which

Machiavelli turns to
reduced to mere
makes

of prudential

judgment
accept the

"fables,"

elsewhere,

are

shouldn't

practical arguments

Ligurio

in favor

of abortion as well.

Given
one

the principles

"conscience"

of action and

articulated

in the play,

also wonders whether

against

any but

a prudential argument would stand

up

really
and

killing

a vagrant

lute

player

if

this would

further

the

purpose of the conspirators.

If

the power of mandragola were not a

others
would

fiction,

Callimaco

and

many

benefit from

one

unfortunate

sacrifice, Machiavelli's play

effective

might seem to

sanction such

a murder.

But Mandragola is
most

precisely because it only implies

readers are

the

unseemly
are

consequences of the action.

When the Machiavellian

shocked
and

principles repelled. serious

put

forth in The Prince,

But comedy,
matters

by

convention, is

permitted to treat the most

at

lightly.
too.
well

Comedy laughs
same

everything,

and

the

audience

laughs

The

immoral teachings,
are

now exhibited shocking.

in
as

the

private, as Machiavelli says in "Discourse

serious

as the public, realm about

less

But,

Our

Language,"

the concealed

lessons of comedy are tasted only after the laughter in the theatre has stopped. In Mandragola these new lessons are "under the ancient comic form and come into focus when viewed alongside the ancient historic subject. Machiavelli does well not to
neath"

call attention, in comedy, because

this
what

play, to the

conventional

truly "a
author

new

case

he has to born in this

seems to

teach

didactic purpose of is far from conventional; it is

the

city."

In

Prologue,

the alienated
"

says
was.

that

he hopes "you
apply
taken

will

be

tricked

[ingannate]
the audience. the

as

Lucrezia

This
all

to the

ladies in

But

by

the end

we

have been

in,

and

by taking us into

plot,

70
the
author

Interpretation

insures
the

that

we

have been
capitano

taken

in

by

his

teachings.
the

Machiavelli,
old

formidable

in

a new campaign against

of

teachings, is
the
most

an articulate

"preacher"

the

"veritd

effettuale."

As

"seducer"

eloquent

administers a

remedy for

the

illness

of

in his comedy the "present

Mandragola, he

age."

a cura

Piccolo Machiavelli, Letter to Guicciardini di Franco Gaeta, Milano, 1961, p. 438.

Ibid., Ibid.,
For
p.
pp.

(October

16-20, 1525), Lettere,

2 3

439. 439^*0.
surveys of

introductory

contemporary Italian comedy

see

Marvin T.

Herrick, Italian Comedy in the Renaissance (Urbana, Illinois, 1960) and Douglas Radcliff-Ulmstead, The Birth of Modem Comedy in Renaissance Italy (Chicago,
1969).

5P. ded., XV,

D. I intro.

XXVI

and

D.

refers

to sculpture,

ded., I intro., II intro., Ill 1. law, medicine, and government.

One

wonders

why he

omits

born

to raise
of

drama. Elsewhere one of his speakers says, "This land up dead things, as she has in poetry, painting and in
War,"

seems to

be

sculpture."

See

"The Art Gilbert

See
Florence,"

(Durham,
also

Machiavelli, The Chief Works and Others, trans. Allan Carolina, 1965), II, 706. See also "History of Works, III, 1233. Chief
North

in

P. VI. These

and other passages suggest of some sort.

that

Machiavelli

considers

himself a

political

founder
71.

"Clizia,"

Niccolo
p.

Machiavelli, Opere Letterarie,

cura

di Luigi Blasucci
foumal

(Milano, 1964),
See Martin

of the

Fleisher, "Trust and Deceit History of Ideas (July, 1966), 370.

o

in Machiavelli's
Lingua,"

Comedies,"

and

Opere Letterarie, p. 225. The story of Lucretia is told also by Ovid in The Fasti for February 24, by Boccaccio in his De Claris Mulieribus, with which Machiavelli might have
of

"Discorso

Dialogo Intorno Alia Nostra

been familiar. Variants

Boccaccio's Decameron
of

the

incident
English
as

are

(II, 9).
it

readers will

found in contemporary works like know Shakespeare's version

which

Lucretia

and will recognize

the source of the subplot oiCymbeline

refers to
woman

it

explicitly.

is

not

But in Boccaccio's story and in Shakespeare's play, the taken. The name of Machiavelli's heroine points to Livy's actually

Lucretia
12

Boccaccio's, despite similar elements. Livy, trans. B. O. Foster (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), I, 199. 13 Livy, I, 201.
rather than

Leo
general,

Strauss

suggests
whose

that

Machiavelli
campaign

named

him
in

after

the

Athenian
of

Nicias,
In

Sicilian

failed,

part,
not

because

his

superstition. this quality.

discussing

this general,

Machiavelli does
and

explicitly

mention

See Thoughts on Machiavelli The Peloponnesian War, VII, 50 ff. and 86;

(Seattle, 1969),
D. I 53
and

p.

284; Thucydides,

III 16.

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

The
songs were

"Mandragola"

71
Faenza
or

composed
some

for

production

of

the

play

at

Modena in 1526. Unlike

them relevant to the

readers, I

assume

that

Machiavelli

considered

play, despite their later composition. Theodore Sumberg, "La Mandragola: An Politics (XXIII, 1961), 322. This article came to my attention
present context

Interpretation,"

The Journal of
the
the

after most of

essay of Machiavelli's
the

was written.

Sumberg

takes the

play seriously

and reads

it in

other works.

However, by

drawing

too close

analogies

between

play

function
issues.

of the

and the political works, he fails to explain adequately drama for Machiavelli. Nevertheless, he touches on many

the

key

See, for
1 8

Plautus'

example,
to

Phormio. In
reason

some of the

Roman

plays

the clever

slave or parasite seems

personify

in
to

the service of

his

master's passion.

See Mandragola (I, The

evil

1; Song

after

the

first

act;

IV, 9)
once

and

Clizia (1,2).

granted grace

quality of the plot is referred in evil things as well as good

that

only

by

Ligurio: "As if God

the end of the play,

ones!"

(II, 2). By

it

would seem

"God's

grace"

is irrelevant.
a

See
21

Strauss,
and

p.

343

(Notes) for

list

of relevant passages without reference

to the play.

P. XIX

D. 111,6.
trans. Charles

Baldesar Singleton Lest the

Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, (III, 44), (Garden City, New York, 1959), p. 248.
reader

S.

be

misled

by

the the

following discussion,
sentence
with

the context should

be

noted.

Machiavelli

completes

reference

to

an

earlier

(III, 6) in which he discusses, not the breaking up of concluded marriages like Nicia's, but the breaking off of planned ones. See also Aristotle, 1314b. Politics, 1311a, 24 Livy, II, 145. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1107a. See also the references to adultery in
chapter

the discussion of justice 26

in Book Five.
and

Livy, 1,37-39.
XIII
and

27P.
28

D. I, 19

26. David's adultery is

Penitence,"

one of the two principal

examples

in Machiavelli's "Exhortation to
the

Chief Works, I,

173-74.

Augustine, Concerning Henry Bettenson (England,

Augustine's
comments on

City of God Against the Pagans (I, 1972), pp. 28-29. See also II, 17, pp.
Sabines.

19), trans. 66-67, for

the rape of the

p.
p. p.

29Castiglione,
32

(III, 55), 30 Castiglione, (III, 70), 3 1 Castiglione, (IV, 69),

over

261. 275. 355.

also exalts a new
as

As Erich Auerbach says, Boccaccio

the
medieval ethic of noble

doctrine
of

of

'love

and

nature"

love

"the

mother of the

all

virtue

and

everything inadequate because

Alberto,"

in

man."

But Boccaccio's

rejection

medieval

view

is

the new order

he

substitutes

for it is incomplete. See "Frate

Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, trans. Willard Trask (Garden City, New York, 1953), pp. 177-203. Read by itself,

Mandragola

elaborates

the Boccaccian view of

love

and

nature,

as opposed

to the

Christian courtly

ethic.

Read in

conjunction with

the political

books,

the

play is

72
part of a complete

Interpretation
replacement,
applicable

to all realms of

human

experience.

33 34

Lettere,

pp.

402-05.

See Part III. Matthew 12:35.

35

36Letter to Guicciardini (May 18, 1521), Lettere, p. 409. 3 7See P. VI and D. II, 2 and III, 27. 3 'Matthew 19:12. 39SeeD. I intro. and II, 2. 4 "Charles S. Singleton, "Machiavelli and the Spirit of
Language Notes (November, 1942), 585.
41

Comedy,"

Modem

Clizia (II, 3). In

Raphael

the extant
nor

version of

Mandragola the Frate does

not

pray

for

a miracle

for Lucrezia,
Sarah
as

is

there

any

suggestion of sexual misbehavior.

Tobias (in the Apocryphal book of Tobit) when he his wife. Raphael tells Tobias to burn the heart and liver of a fish to save himself from her demon lover Asmodeus, who has killed each of her seven other husbands on their wedding nights. This remedy drives away the
accompanies goes

42

to claim

demon
43 44 *s

Tobias'

and makes possible

emphasizes

his sincerity

and

denies

In a prayer of thanksgiving, Tobias lustful desires. See Tobit: 2-9. any

marriage.

Matthew 5:48.

See in contrast, Nicia's instinctive City of God (I, 19), p. 29.

rejection of

"sugar

vinegar"

and

in II, 6.

Machiavelli, "The Life

558.

of

Castruccio Castracani

Lucca,"

of

Chief Works, II,

47Philippians2:22. 48 1 Timothy 2:15. 49 1 Timothy 6:10. 502 Timothy 3:1. 51 2 Timothy 2:4.
s2Matthew 7:17; John
See the language
of

3:16. Exhortation
. .from

the

which ends

The Prince (XXVI).

Preface
one

to Tartuffe:

".

one end which

to the other,
not

word,

performs not one

action,

does
not

he [Tartuffe] says not depict to the spectators the

that of the true
man of

character of a wicked man and which good whom

does
73.

oppose

to

him."

bring out

See

note

York, 1955),

George Meredith, "An p. 244.

to

Essay

on

Comedy,"

Comedy
p.

(Garden City, New

s6Letter
For
seems

Guicciardini (December 26,

1525), Lettere,
of

447.
of

a vivid

depiction
on
a

of

the seductive effect

and

Machiavelli (and
youth,

those

he

to

approve)

promising

impressionable

see

Maurice

Samuel's engrossing novel, Web of Lucifer (N. Y., 1947). Somerset Maugham's Then and Now (N. Y., 1947) also conveys this quality. Maugham's novel makes Machiavelli
the
protagonist
read about on

in

plot

adapted

from Mandragola's. The best

with respect

discourse I have

Machiavelli's intentions

to the

young is

Leo Strauss's Thoughts

Machiavelli.
Learning,"

Francis Bacon,

Francis Bacon, "The Advancement of ed. Hugh G. Dick (New York, 1955),

p.

Selected Writings of 244.

The Comic Remedy: Machiavelli's

"Mandragola"

73

Bacon, p. 330. Bacon, p. 247. 61 Strauss, p. 292. 62 Strauss, p. 40.

60

59

The Italian

word order

in

the

Prologue draws

attention

to the

youth of

the

protagonists more than most

English translations do.

pp.

See Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (New York, 1969), 163-86, for a discussion of archetypal comic plots. Shakespeare, although he wrote one Plautian comedy, departed from the
models and

Latin
use

developed his
examples

own

comic

forms. In
of

this essay, I the

have

tried to

for

comparisons and

from

comedies

Latin

type

Plautus,
their

Terence,
66

the

ambiguities, plays

Commedia Erudita, which Machiavelli of Jonson and Moliere.

"Laughter,"

knew,

and,

despite

Bergson, Comedy (Garden City, New York, 1956), p. 64. See also Frye, p. 164, on the Roman plaudite. Jean Jacques Rousseau, Politics and the Arts: Letter to M. D'Alembert, trans. Allan Bloom (Ithaca, New York, 1968), p. 46. Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Hunt's Comic Critical and Historical Essays (New York, 1923), pp. 414-15. Elder Olson, The Theory of Comedy (Bloomington, Indiana, 1968), p. 52.
Dramatists,"

Henri

There is
at

the

beginning
to

corresponding collapse of the traditional classification of The Prince. Machiavelli does not distinguish

of rulers regimes

according according
71

whether

they

exist

for

their own or

for

their

subjects'

benefit, but
p.

to modes of acquisition.

Jean Jacques

Rousseau, Emile,
of

trans. Barbara

Foxley

(New York, 1957),

Machiavelli

79.
72

For

discussion

this
see

frontispiece,
Roberto

and

whether

had

authorized

the

first

edition,
pp.

Ridolfi, Studi Suite Commedie del

the

Machiavelli

(Pisa, 1968),

25 ff. Ridolfi

speculates about

date

and place of

publication, the
picture.

decorative
is
not

border,

and

the

title, but does

not mention

the

"Although
Tartuffe
and and

this

the place

for

such a

discussion,
of of the

one could argue that religion.

Volpone

are

in fact

deeply
even

critical

Christian

But if

Moliere
present are

Jonson have inherited These

plays

part

Machiavellian view, Christian values, but

which undermines

it

more warily.
not

may be

critical of

they they

careful

to

hold up for

emulation

the

behavior

those

values.
74

Robert B. Heilman, The Ghost Shakespeare's comedies,

abound
which

on

the Ramparts

and

Other Essays in the

"conservative"

Humanities (Athens, Georgia, 1973),

75

p.

160.
greatest of
"moral."

I take to be the

comedies,
characters

in attractive, intelligent
these
masterpieces

characters who are also

Such
of

distinguish

from

the

heavy-handed didacticism
and

sentimental comedy. eighteenth-century English 76 See the discussion of this Donna in Singleton, "Machiavelli
Comedy."

the

Spirit

of 77

The

best

discussions

know

on

this

subject

are

in

C.

L.

Barber,

74

Interpretation

Shakespeare's Festive Comedy: A Social Custom

Study

of Dramatic Form

and

Its Relation to

(Cleveland, 1968) and Erich W. Segal, Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus (Cambridge, Mass., 1968). 78See for shows and carnivals: Letter to Vettori, 15 January, 1513; and History of Florence, V 15, VI 1, VII 12 and 21, VIII 36. Also History of Florence
112,17,36,1119.
79

Many

of

the early Commedie

Erudite

continued the

Roman

practice of not
which

showing
no

the

virgin on stage.

Machiavelli translated Woman ofAndros,

to the

had
to

virgo, and, in
girl.

contested

transform

Clizia, Appropriately, Mandragola boldly exhibits her original from chaste matron to adulterous
calls attention

fact

that the audience won't see the the

girl,

only

wife a

category

which

does
some

not exist

in Roman

drama, but

which

is

standard

fare in Boccaccio

and

contemporary

comedies.

80Jonson's Alchemist, despite its controversial ending, pays lip service at least, to the need to pardon and forgive the wrongdoer. Whether the contrite
admission of guilt

is to be

taken

seriously is

too

long a question to

George Duckworth, The Nature

pp.

of Roman

discuss here. (Princeton, New Comedy

Jersey, 1952),

303-04.
trans. John Black
care

82See
audience

Carlo

Goldoni, Memoirs,
p.

(Boston, 1877),
world

pp.

71-72.
to

Macaulay,
is

414. Machiavelli's

to make this

familiar

his

often undone

by

translators

who attempt

to substitute
whole

equivalents to make

it familiar to

their own.

Unless the

contemporary play is rewritten,

this practice would seem to obscure Machiavelli's

intentions.
young rapist justifies of God (II, 7), p. 55, and
pp.

Augustine

criticizes the

play

on the grounds that the

himself

by

citing

the example of

Jupiter. See

City

Confessions (I), trans. Edward B. Pusey (New York, 1949), See Olson, pp. 82-85, for a discussion of this play.

19-20.

Olson,
than
most

p.

84. See
or

also

Mandragola

contains

Roman

Goldoni on Mandragola. strikingly less obscenity, both in language and gesture, contemporary Italian plays. Bawdy language and overt
of a

sexuality

are not

necessarily indications

corrupting influence.

75 VOLITIONAL ANTICIPATION AND POPULAR WISDOM

IN DESCARTES

RICHARD B. CARTER

Introduction In his 1759 Discours Preliminaire de

reminds
L'

Encyclopedic, D'Alembert
of

us
of

that
the

Descartes is
and most

teacher
social

revolutionaries

and

founder
seen.

best
it

just

order

the world

has

ever

He identifies this
and says

Descartes'

as
all

major contribution to philoso

phy,

outweighs

the

contributions

of

his illustrious
Descartes

successors.

He then

immediately
as the

continues

his

notice on

by
s"

identifying
in

him
that

as the

discoverer

of the method of
of

"indeterminate
to

science

is,

discoverer

the

way

apply

analytic

mathematics to the solution of physical problems.

attempts to show
contribution

This

present paper

how

these two contributions are related.

of a new social order which

The

one

is

the

foundation
is

is

more

just
the

than

any before it. The

the

other, mathematical,

contribution

is

thus the

offering
and

of the man who

also the profound

will

investigator

of

relation
power

between
the

freedom of the where volition is a mental determination of volition by knowledge (Meditatio

contributor

IV);

the

mathematical grounds

is

also

the

investigator
"sa

of the

epistemological

for
at

philosophic
will

optimism

concerning
and

the

possibility
own conduct of

that each man,

can arrive

if he
truth

reason

only both in

exercise

raison"

his

the

sciences

in the

In

the

life. (Meditatio III, IV) first section of this paper,

"indeterminates"

Descartes'

we

will

examine

method of
on

in science,
the
we

so

far

as that method
of

his doctrine

of

free
of

will and

determinateness
of an

bears knowledge. In
and

the second section,

Descartes'

(pp. 84
"the
that

ff.)

continue with a close analysis of

idea,"

concept consider

objective concept

reality
relates

then

(p.

91) how
of of

to

his
us

central

doctrine
the to

that the excess

principal

the extent of

free

will over

understanding is
(p.

source

human
an

error.

This

leads

93)

his
and

*This
Descartes

article

represents

abstract

of the author's

manuscript, Natural

Human Law: An Introduction to

citations

Descartes'

are

from Adam

et

Science, in progress. All Tannery, Oeuvres de Descartes, XII Vol. &

Political

supp., Leopold

Cerf,

Paris. The

translations are the author's.

76
arguments

Interpretation

concerning his

grounds

for

holding

that,

since

it is

not

possible

that man could

have

within

him
will

means

be created so as necessarily and thus, he for correcting his

to err,
errors

he
of

must must

necessarily
excess
of

possess

the

means

to

nullify
We

the consequences
end

that

over

understanding.

this

argument
a

by

attempting
which

to show

(p.

95) how
well

this

development implies

doctrine

D'Alembert does

to characterize as

being

revolutionary.

I. The Method of An oddity

which

"Indeterminates"

is

Descartes'

characteristic of

thought

begins doubts

by doubting, first,
whether

the existence of

his

own

is that he body. Then he

false,
made

even

anything he sees is true, whether his memory is not whether he has senses, and whether he has not perhaps
of

up his ideas

body, figure,
doubtful

extension, movement,

and place.

He

proceeds

only subsequently

to what
and

is generally

considered

by
his

others to

be

rather more

obscure

the existence of

God.

Analysis which

he

tells us

(VII, 156, 21-26) is

the method of

Meditationes proceeds causes.

by

examining how

effects are related to their

Hence,

until

those

initially
very
as

unknown causes are

determined
and

by
is

analysis, their effects are no

less doubtful
causes.

as effects of obscure or

unknown causes than their experience are regarded

The

orders of

knowledge

inverses

of one another and what

is

immediately

given

by

Descartes

undetermined

effect
of all

first
and

principles

is questionable, that is, as the of something sought for. Descartes seeks the phenomena which, in his hands, are reduced
what

entirely

to causes.

For

Descartes,

a principle

is

a cause.

His thinking,
that of the

that of the age

following him,
of

is characteristically

medical clinician.

In Part I

of

Les Passions,
other and

the reader sees that

for Descartes
of

the soul

has

the power of

attending to,

noticing,

one

its

perceptions

rather than

any

that this power, the soul's

primary

active

power, is

at the root of the soul's

ability

to represent things to

itself

in

one

way
as

rather than another and

therefore to connect this or that

perception with

this or that passion.

read

The perception,
well,
a
gland

itself,
that

e.g.,

of

light, is,

we
of a

in Dioptriques in

as

"naturally
primarily

instituted"

perception

motion

the pineal

motion

inaugurated

by

rays of spirits

coming from

pores whose anterior ends

Volitional Anticipation
are the ends of the optic nerves

and

Popular Wisdom

77

in

the

back

dreams
are

the

sleep are visible to the sleeper; nothing more and nothing less than the result of a commotion in spirits of the brain caused by a more or less serious dysfunction
part
of

of

Now, the for Descartes, they hence,

of

the eye-ball.

in

some

the

viscera,

e.g.

caused of

by

acute

indigestion

and

alcohol.
which

But,

what of the
dream"

"visions

men"

young
make

and the

"dreams
the

old men

which, alone,
possible

any

amelioration of

human

condition

even medical progress?

For that immense Roman Catholic

own

ly
of

sober

man,
of

Descartes,

who

thinks

he

explains the
of

mystery

transubstantiation

by

means

his
the

theory
or a

of

alimentation, any perception,

the old,
and

be it

a vision of

young

dream
if that
of a

is

the result

of a perturbation of

the pineal gland;

vision

that

dream is in any way

noticed, this

is because

perturbation of gland can

the pineal gland and that perturbation of the pineal

only by those streams or rays of spirit which, at time, initially issued forth from the pores in the interior of the brain. For Descartes, there is no other way. The structure of the body is the precondition for visions as well as vision (just as the
caused

be

some

conformation

of the

parts

of a

heaven

are the precondition

for its

light).
Descartes has
there
similar said
of

the soul,

(Regulae XII, X, 415): "but still,

corporeal

is nothing
to
it"

else

to

be found in
in
rebus

things

altogether

(neque

enim

corporeis

aliquid

omnino

huic

simile

uniqueness

invenitur). In considering vision, we can see an instance of this of the soul. For the soul has the power both of
as well as of representing to itself things which it has it knows it has never seen. It can, as it were,

perception
never seen
"see"

and which

the unseen
of

in

so

far

as and

it

can represent to

itself

by,

e.g., the

ciphers
not

algebra, exactly

precisely

know. That ability, it

of

must never

what it knows that it does be forgotten, presupposes the

conformation

the

body

which allows

it

to see the ciphers which

puts

the

hand has drawn down

on paper.

As Descartes

it

so

clearly in

Regula XVI:
to retain all not immediately relevant considerations so that they forth readily wherever they are needed; and for this end memory seems to the art of have been instituted by nature. But, since memory is often weak
useful come
. .

it is

writing is
present

most

aptly
to

devised,

relying

on

the
the

help
s

of which

we

need
and

commit

nothing further

memory,

but
is

leaving
to

imagination free
paper,
and

whole

for

ideas,

we

draw

whatever

be
.

retained on
.

this

by

means of

the shortest

possible symbols

(notae).

(X,

78

Interpretation
to oneself, to present
of

This ability to represent the unknown 'symbolic' the eye in form, entails a use
body
will

it

to

the

conformation of

the

involving
seen,

eye,

hand, bones,
is
not

and

blood. The

pre-vision of what

be

but

which

present,

could

fairly be called the

passim.

inner

vision of the calls

living
of

human. It is
the

likely

this pre-vision which

Descartes
could not

"the light

nature"

e.g., Meditatio

III,

We

have it
presents
our and

unless we

had

power

to perceive the outer

world which

back

to us the
we

work of our

tongues as

speak;

nor

hand as we write on paper, or of could we have that pre-vision clearly

distinctly
we

unless

what

pre-viewed

it could, in the future, be paired with a vision of in our pre-vision. And that pre-vision into the

future
way
the

presupposes the power of vision of this

body
from

organized

in

the

that nature

has

caused

it

to

be
of

organized

the

beginning at
it is
one

moment of conception.
power of

But this

pre-science,
magical,

knowing

precisely

what

does
well

not

know,

is

not

presupposes as

that the nature of

is it miraculously given us. It things (both in so far as known, as

nor

merely knowable in whatever far distant future) entails an interconnectedness and order, a pro-vidential ordaining, which
permits one to envisage the unknown as

being expressible
the
order

in terms
method

of of

the

already

given

and

known. Hence,
separate

and

Cartesian Analysis itself

points to a true and substantial

subject-world

ordaining

or

ordering

of a

substantially

that of

Analysis,
step
and

Mathesis Universalis. If,

that

by

step

(gradatim), rung
physical

by
is

is, Analysis from

rung

proceeds

methodically

the
to

given

to the sought-for,

then

the

world

accessible

analytical

Method
a

thought

if

and

only

if

that

very
That
or

physical world

is

"mediated"

structure,

a rational

construct

which

is

put

together

step

by

step,

rung

by

rung
is

(gradatim).
the product

substantially
of an of matter.

separate

physical

subject-world and nowhere

effect

orderly,

"continuous,
says

interrupted

motion"

Descartes

just

this

in his Le Monde. This designation

thus
"medium,"

of

of

the condition of

both
is

a genetic and an epistemological term.

mediocrity, is In the latter case it

refers to that which must what

given

be known in
to

order

that we can proceed

the

from

to what
of

we seek

know, from

datum

to the

quaesi-

tum. It is because
or, in the terms
Analyste,"

the

"mean"

steps that what

is

sought

of

the man to

whom

Descartes

refers as

is accessible, "cette belle

Vieta,

those mean steps are the

ladder

rungs upon which

Volitional Anticipation
men ascend

and

Popular Wisdom
the

79

from dubious
in this

effects to

causes

degree
the
over

or gradus of an upon which

coinage of

equation
we

being literally
of

the

number of rungs of

ladder

find

ourselves

ascent.

(Descartes

takes

this

Vieta's

whole

cloth-e.g., in
the

In Regula XIII
of

Regula,X, 463, Regulae, Descartes

the so-called

3 6

7). form
;
else

rejects the syllogistic

demonstration
he
already

used

by

"Logicians"

(Dialecticos)

where

says that all that

form is

good

for is

the precise revelation of

for the discovery of demonstration of how new truths already arrived at were originally discovered. His own analytic method of demonstration is, however, explicitly understood by him as
what one new

knows,

and that

it is

worthless

truths or, what

is primary, for

the

the method of so
at
one and

discovering new truths and demonstrating them, that

time this
method

the same

reveals: and

(a)

how they

were

discovered, (b)

just

what was

discovered,

(c)

the exact relations

between which things had to be known before the solution could be discovered at all. It thus makes manifest all the steps of the demon
strationtheir exact
number

and their mutual

interconnectedness,
of

interdependency
internal
of

and

interrelate dness. This

manifestation

the

structure of

the

demonstration

with respect

to the multitude
accomplished

factors

and the order of their mutual

dispositions is
of

primarily

by away
to

of

designating

the unknown terms

the problem at

hand in
tionor,
of

terms

of a

suitable representation of the sought-after solu

be

more

precise,
were all

by representing both
knowable in light
of

the

knowns and the

unknowns as

if they
as

the potential solution

they were known hypothetically or provisionally light of the not-yet-attained but analytically represented solution sought for. In Regula XIII, Descartes denies that he distinguished between two
the

problem,

if

in the

dim,

persistent

extreme terms and a mean make this

term, in the way

the

Logicians

distinction;

rather,

he

considers that

(X, 430,

(Dialecticos) xl22): (1)

sought

"in any question, something must be unknown, for otherwise it will be for in vain"; (2) "the unknown ought to be uniquely designated

[aliquo
on

modo

this rather

designatum] for otherwise we would not be determined be than that subject of investigation"; (3) "it cannot
,
...

designated uniquely
with

except

by something which is
in

known."

Consonant
the

this, in setting up
sought-for, e.g.,
x2

a word-problem

algebra we

designate

thing
will

by

x,

and then the other terms of the equation

be, e.g., 2x,

x/6,orx+3,etc.

The way

we represent what

is

unknown

i.e.,

in terms

of what

is

80 known (once again,

says: which

Interpretation
see

Regula XIII:

X, 430,

11~20
f

where

Descartes

"it

cannot

...

be designated uniquely

except

by

something

is

known")
unknown
of

is,

so

to

speak,

evolutionary;

that

is,

each

successive
expedient particular

quantity
it in
Which

is

"designated

uniquely"

by

the
one not

designating
to

terms of a unique

expression

unknown.
able

particular unknown

to choose

for does

seem to

be

be

taught

bv
to

method!1

The Algebraists cannot, it

"fundamental"

seems, teach the tyro

unknown

how

to choose what to call the

choose

what,

as

it were,

to express as

comprising

the

bottom rung of the ladder between given and sought-for. To take a definite example, let us suppose that someone has $3 in nickels, dimes and quarters, with four times as many nickels as quarters and twice as many quarters as dimes; it is then to be determined exactly how many of each he has. The first step is to determine not so
much what

is

unknown

(how many
to
are given

of each

is

what

is

unknown)

but
the

the

way of representing
we

ourselves

what

is unknown; then,
of

further information
(called

for

the solution of the problem

or
"tenor"

by Descartes,

the

"conditions"

also expressed

in terms

of

the unknown.

When this

problem) is is done, then "we

the
a

are

determined
is

on this rather than that subject of

investigation."

It

permissible

to

view

the

setting-up

of

solution

to

word-problem

in

analysis

including
or

the mixture-problems of

'lower'

analysis
of

(or algebra),
'higher'

as well as the somewhat

less familiar
Leibniz Nor
or can

problems

the

analysis,
as

the

calculus

of

Newton's
of

physics

finding

the means to

the

solution. and

this use
always

'means'

be

called a semantic trick.

with

'Ways

Means'

have

had
of a

a meaning associated bridge between where

them which

pointed

to the

figure

we start or

from,

the

data,
to

and where we wish to

end

up,

the

quaesitum

question

be

answered,

what

is

sought-after.2

To

return to the word-problem

just

proposed

someone

has $3 in
as

nickels,

dimes

and

quarters,

with

four

times

as

many

nickels

quarters, and twice as many quarters as dimes: how many of each does he have? we let x express the number of dimes in the $3 worth
of

change.

Then 2x

expresses the number of quarters.

Ten times the

number of

dimes,

or

lOx,
in

will express the value

x number of

in pennies,

i.e.,

the

number of penny-units

the value of the

many

nickels as

dimes, 25 times 2x (or 50x) 2x quarters and, finally, since there are four times as quarters, 5[4(2x)] or 40x, will express the value of
,

Volitional Anticipation
the

and

Popular Wisdom

81
expressed as same unit means of

4(2x)

number of nickels.

The

sum of

$3

will then

be

300
of

'penny-units,'

so that all the terms will now

be in the

monetary

measure.

Interconnecting these
(addition),
we
we

expressions construct

by

the

appropriate

connection

the equation:
operations and

10x+50x+40x=300. When
add

perform the

indicated

the expressions

for

the unknowns
equation

together,

we get

lOOx

300,

i.e.,

300

pennies.
of

This
to

means:

"100 times the

sought-for

number
pennies'

dimes

equals

300

pennies."

That is, the term, '300

the
term

appears
unknown

be

the

analogue

to

'100

times

the
a

number

of

dimes.'

(The

willingness

to

accept

such

confusion of units

is,

as we shall soon

see,

a precondition
we

for

'doing'

algebra and

analysis.) In

this

last equation,
equal to a
of

find

that

100

of some

quantity,

represented represents
number
of

by
the

x, is

known

number of pennies

(where

number

dimes);

then, 100
equal

times

the

unknown

dimes

being
3

considered

to the
x

known

number of

pennies,

we see

that the number of

dimes is 3;

has been
many
=

representing 3. There
nickles
as

being
and

dimes,
be 24
nickles

since

there are twice as

quarters, there
=

must

nickles.
=

Checking: 3 dimes

30$; 6
=

quarters

150$;

24

120<t.

Thus, 30<t+150<t+120(t

300$.

It is necessary to reflect here on the status of the term 300 300, by comparing it with occurring in the equation, 10x+50x+40x the term 300 in the equation 30+150+120 = 300. For, in the former
=

case,
term

where as

300 is

the sum of three

unknown

terms,

we consider

that

known,

expression
conditions
of

precisely because in our search for that

problem.
"tenor,"

we

do

not

have

to consider
express

its
the

equation which

will

of the

In

that

former

equation, the

conditions

problem, its unknown as is x,

the

makes the
of

the
=

number

quantity 300 just as much an dimes. Whereas, in the latter

sides of the equation would

equation, 30+150+120
were

300,

even were we to ask whether the sum on

cast

correctly, the terms

put

both

not

be

being

into
sum.

question

only

the term
case

300 in

so

far

as

it is

the

presumptive

In

the

former
"sum"

involving

the representa

tions
more

for

unknowns, the term 300 is

sum

of representations

or,

accurately,

it

is
were

of

actually

unknown

things

represented as

if they
we

known.
to express what we

This ability
precondition

humans have
is
quite

do

not

for

which

know it)

comprises our prescience or

consciously knowing that inner light mentioned

know (the we do not

above.

It

82

Interpretation

is

at

least very
and

likely

that

Descartes'

interest, indeed,
it is

not to

say

fascination,
essence

with order and method

derives from his

and,
as
so

conviction

that this analytic

order

method

grows out of

manifests, the
of

of, the

human intellect in
of

far

capable

solving any

problems whatsoever. much

Furthermore, it is
programmatic

again at

least very

likely

that

the

Cartesian
of

effort

culminating in the

ramified all

Tree

Philosophy

whose three

things,

Medicine, Mechanics,

and Ethicswas

highest branches were, of directed towards a

search for the ultimate roots, both physical and metaphysical, of the human ability to solve problems by analysis. In Regula XIII, Descartes discusses the ultimate subject of such expressions lOx, 300 and the like. He says (X, 431, 3"23):

ut

for be grasped entirely [Sed insuper for every thing to be so determined that nothing further is sought beyond what can be deduced from the given [ex From which it can be easily perceived how [quomodo] all the datis]

But,

what

is more, in
sit

order
,

that the
wish

sought-

quaestio

perfecta]

we

sought-for unknowns not

entirely

grasped

[omnes
.

quaestiones
.

imperfectae]
in
well

can

be

reduced

to ones

which are

way this

rule

ought

to

entirely grasped; be observed in order

and

it

also appears a

which

to

abstract

understood ab
we

difficulty

from every

superfluous concept

[ad difficultatem bene intellectam

omni superfluo conceptu consider ourselves no

abstrahendam]

being,

in this way,

so reduced

that

further

concerned with this or that

subject, but only

with

that sort of subject

certain

[in genere]

concerned with magnitudes

interconnected in
.

way [circa

magnitudines quasdam

inter se componendas]

This "sort
certain

of subject concerned with magnitudes

interconnected in

way"

is the

subject of

Descartes'

method

applying equally

to

the

equation

equation

10x+50x+40x

questions

(qualis)

is

300, (is the sum correct?), to the 300, (what is x?), and to such diverse as Descartes himself instances (ibid., 431), "of what sort the nature of the as well as (ibid.), "likewise, if
= =
magnet?"

30+150+120

someone should ask me

of sound.
. .

exactly

what

might think about the nature

of subject concerned with

magnitudes

In his phrase, "that sort interconnected in a certain

nature
of

way,"

Descartes
and

specifically
nature of

including
sound"

both "the
to the

the

magnet"

"the

refers

subject

of

questions-in-general,
of

i.e.,

to

the

seeking concerning
and

seeking.

If this reading

Descartes is

accurate

sound, "the

subject

of magnitudes

interconnected in
refer

a certain res as

way"

does

not

and

cannot

merely

refer to extended must

substance,
res

extensa,

alone.

Rather,

that

phrase

to

extensa

Volitional Anticipation

and

Popular Wisdom

83
to

existing in

a certain qualified

way, that

is,

as ordained

be known.
are

But,

the realm of res extensa

is

given to us

sentient creatures.

It is only

when we

far as we "withdraw from our

in
so
of

merely

senses"

by

freely
than

choosing
that
one

to

doubt
of

all

the evidence

the senses

extensa another

we

thereby immediately
res
extensa

transform

concerning res that realm into (rather

that

as-ordained-to-be-known
of our

merely because this transformation

excellence,
world

to

be

sensed

because

neurophysiology).

But,

requires the volitional act of the soul par

doubting, it follows that this transformed realm is a indeterminately merely in the universal doubting of sense-evidence; and, as known indeterminately in this volitional act of doubting, we are justified in saying that it is known through
known
"volitional
next
anticipation."

To

understand that
of

anticipation,

we must

consider

Descartes'

doctrine

"the

objective

reality

of

an

idea."

To

continue with our

word-problem;

if we

are to take the sign

for

equality seriously, that

is,

if

we are

to observe

the units on the two sides of the

equality

sign must

exactly be

the rule that

of

the same
of

kind,
units

= then, in the equation, 10x+50x+40x 300, the number of which the term 300 is representation must be merely the

as

unknown

as

are

the

number

of

units and no

of

which

lOx

is
of

the

representation; 300 is thus

expression
and
of

no

more

less

than a part
of

the

the given

conditions

for

the solution
sum of

the

problem,
units

it is

not

intended

at all as a

definite
since

definite
of

any

more than are

lOx,

etc.

Therefore,
of a

that

expression

300

can

be

intended

as a term

in

the analytic representation

the

conditions

for
to

the possible solution

problem, it is
analytical

theoretically impossible
from
the

distinguish
use

that

technical

use
=

apparently
3-0-0

ordinary
axe

in

a sum such as:

30+150+120
ciphers

300.

Or,

to put this yet

more sharply:
never

For Descartes the

outside

forming the
as

expression

intelligible

their specific use to our

ways of

keeping
using

something in mind; they

solve
all

refer

human ingenious

attempt to

those

problems
or

which

cannot

be

solved

except

by

"symbols."

those

three

ciphers

(Nor

should

it be overlooked,
ciphers, that
that

concerning
algebra was an

the

specificity
whose

of

the

specific

use of these

known for

some

time as

Specious Arithmetic,

is,

as

arithmetic

ciphers

stood

for
solved
of

species

presumably for
and such an
such

species

of problems

which

could

be

with

such

expression.

Indeed,

the

expressions

analysis,

including

84
expressions as

Interpretation

both 300
of

and exy

x,
This is

are used to express

nothing

other than species

problems.

the

definition
search

of

analysis.)
the

Those

ciphers are analytic place-holders

in the
as

for
an

solutions to

all of a certain class of

problems;

they

are,

it were,

entry in

mind's

lexicon

of

engineering-techniques.3

II. The Objective

The
task of

Reality

of An Idea
means

his expres is difficult, as it leads the sion, "the objective reality of an complex thicket formed student of Descartes into a peculiarly partly by the idiomatic Cartesian terminology and partly by scholarship's (usually) laudable conservatism. Concerning this notion, we find assertions on part (LX, 62-63) concerning the fact that indivisible substance is of higher order or degree of reality than is although divisible substance and hence that res comprising one of the two substances in the is of a less exalted order
comprehending
what

Descartes

by

idea,"

Descartes'

extensa

universe

of

being

than

is

the other substance, res cogitans. We

find, further,
(entitas,
as

that the concept of an

infinite

substance

has

more

reality

realite)
that

than

does

the concept of

finite

substance.

We

find,

well,
to
or

of ideas, Descartes refers term, "the material by the interrelation of ideas between themselves, vis a vis their rank falsity" of ideas, he refers rung, whereas, by the term "the formal

the

falsity"

to

our
an

judgment
as

that an
our

idea

refers to this or that which

strained yet

is

not

(usually)

idea. Indeed,
if he

credulity is

speaking
things
which and

means to tell us that we

further as we find him come to know all

"outside"

which are compounds of simpler elements

by
do

means of
other

ideas

are

themselves compounds of, compounded of,

ideas,
token,

that compound

ideas have
what

more

reality
or

than

their

individual

component compound

ideas and,
things
of

is

more,

that,

by

the

same

have
an

more

entity
are

reality

than

do

the simpler
exception

components

which

they

composed.

(The only

is

God

Who,

alone, is

But this
says that

is,

in

fact,

infinite unity.) how Descartes intellectual

"formal"

speaks about these matters.

He

the original

causes of our ideas

he

calls them

"patrons"-have
which

either

reality

or

"effective"

he

reality-by
reality.

seems

to mean

formative

or

effecting
or

What

these

patron

ideas form

or effect

is consequent,

caused, ideas

having no

Volitional Anticipation
more than

and

Popular Wisdom

85
reality

a degree or rung of objective sort of which belongs to ideas which corresponds to the reality only amount of formal or effective reality which belongs to their patron ideas. Likewise, in the case of, e.g., a horse whose real presence outside us occasions our idea of a horse, that idea of the horse is no less objectively no less real in its mode of being than the horse

just

that amount

or

real

of which of

it is the idea is itself actually

or

formally

real

in its

mode

being. The formal reality of the existent horse in horse may be thought measures up to, so to speak,
reality
idea
of

so

far

as that

the objective

my idea

of that

horse.
considering
the the relation

In the

situation where we are

between

the

of a machine

in

the mind

of

inventor

and the machine so.

itself,

the case

is only slightly
of

different, but significantly

inventor

existing
with

machine which the

finally
of are

constructs a

For then, the in accordance

his idea
in

it is

caused

by

his idea

it in

that

which

logical

consequents

caused

way very similar to by their intellectual

patron, is the idea
a

antecedents.

In this case,

however,
'out

the antecedent,
the

in the

mind of the

inventor, but

consequent, effect, is

really
or

there.'

existent,

working
of

machine

In this case, the

whose

craft

ingenuity
tive
of

the
or

inventor

contains the
perfection,"

formal reality
(as Descartes working
all

"objec
that

artifice"

"objective

terms

it), is

the

effective, creative, idea

and works

of

the

machine when

it has

been built
physical

perfectly.

And, hence, (aside from its purely

borrows
the

properties), that

machine

its

actual or

reality

as an

actively working
work effected of

machine

from
is

ingenuity

artifice and

of

its

inventor-craftsman, from

the real power of

his mind,
the.

thus the

by

the machine
machine.
we

the ultimate effect or consequence

his idea
of

of

his

To determine
must, in
to
each

reality reality any

that

any idea, then,

case,

degree of objective determine its formal

as well.

That is to say,
we will we

given

idea,

components; then

have to will find

analyze

grasp clearly the objective reality of it into its absolutely simplest

and a

one,

only one,

existent

whether

be

a patron
us

idea

or whether

it be
the

truly

existent

something in
to the
a synthetic or

front

of

which will

have just
in

entity

which corresponds

objective

reality
idea

of our idea which will

be,

therefore,

compound

except

the three cases of the

ideas

of res

extensa,

res cogitans and their union.

Except in the

cases of these three simple

ideas,
se,

all our

ideas
or

are synthetic and their objective realities

are, inter
on

of a

higher

lower degree

or rank of

being, depending

the

86
number of constituent

Interpretation

ideas

which compose

them.
of

An

example

idiotic)

present-day influence Cartesian notion is to be found in our

of

the

this

(apparently
particular

search

for

uniquely certainly is not a causal analysis mind-body gap; rather, it is a search for a continuous,
ness-states.

neural events which are

correlative

to particular conscious
across the and

This

most

hence

potentially synthetic,
individual

substratum

for

consciousness-states.

Once the

elements within that substratum

have been
rest

established as
consciousness-

being
states,

in

a one-to-one

functional

relation to successive
will

the

neo-Cartesian
of

researcher

assured

that

the

composition

the neural

events,

their true order and number and

degree

of

intensity, uniquely

associates one member out of a series of

"physical"

causes with each and

every

mere consciousness-state.

The

character or true content of

individual

states

is beside

the point; all

that matters
event occurs.

here is
What

that a given state

only
is

occur when a given neural

consciousness-state event

to

be

associated with what

individual medically)
a given

neural

is

theoretically

(although

perhaps

not

unimportant.

This is precisely
that

what

Descartes had in

mind

with respect

to the objective the

idea has

reality

reality of consciousness-states or ideas: it does precisely because it is the final

it belongs.

member of the unique chain of antecedents to which

Concerning these
contains
what

matters, Descartes says, to begin

.
.

(IX,

132):
what

And it follows from this that

what

is

more

perfect, that is to say,

in itself

more of

reality,

cannot

be

a consequence of and

is less

perfect.

Furthermore,
that
and

this truth

is

not

only

clear

dependent on and evident from

the philosophers,

the effects which

have

but it is
which

also

clear

reality evident in
. . .

called actual or

formal

by

ideas,

where

one

considers

only

the

reality

they

call objective.

He

then

instances

hot

stone and

its

idea,

and continues

by
its

saying

that

although that particular cause

does

not

transmit

formal reality,

into my idea any

of

actual or real.

one should not

thereby imagine

that this cause must

be less

every idea being a work of the mind, the nature of any idea is such that it requires for itself no other formal reality than what it receives or borrows from thought or the mind since an idea is only a mode, i.e., a manner or way, of thinking. Now, in order that an idea contain one such
should

Rather, it

be known

that

objective cause

reality
which

rather than

another, it ought,
at

without

in

there

is

to

be found
.
. .

least

as much

contains

of objective reality.

For,

that manner

doubt, to have it from a formal reality as that idea of being objectively belongs

Volitional Anticipation
entirely
to the

and

Popular Wisdom

87

manner or

happen

ideas, because of their proper nature, just as, on the other hand, the fashion of being formally belongs to the causes of these ideas (at least first and principal ones) by their proper nature. And, although it can
to
that one

idea

gives

birth
as a

to another.
patron or

finally

we must arrive at a

first

idea,

whose

cause

must act

an

original.

reality

or perfection
or

is

contained

formally
the

and

In that patron, all the in effect which is found only

objectively

by representation in
reality
it

ideas stemming from it.

Thus,
although

the objective

of an

idea is just

that

in the idea which,

as

it belongs

to

as an

idea, is its reality

borrowed from
is
is
"being"

elsewhere.

(E.g.,

in

the terms of modern set-theory, the number n

the set of the numbers

set a

less
the

than n, so that the

and not on
which

very

of that

is

dependency
of

on

its members,

itself,

since

"no

set

member

itself";
a set

definition

denominates

a cardinal

number as

being

having

the same multitude of elements as a

uniquely distinguished
as

"counter-set"

does

the same

thing, in

as much

the counter-sets

are

these patron

ideas

and the natural numbers

then

borrow

their objective

reality from

these!)5

hold that each individual existent thing admits to a unique and distinct degree of reality (vide even his early Regulae: Regula VIH; X, 392, 10~22). We find him saying, for instance (IX, 109): "for it is self-evident that it is a
To continue, then, Descartes
seems to
greater

perfection
you

in

not

being

divisible
is

than

in

being

divisible. So
genus of

that, if

understand

only

what

quite

perfect

in the

body,
from

that

is

not true at all of the true

God."

What

can we conclude
cogitans

is, in itself, of a higher degree of perfection than is res extensa? Furthermore, it follows from this that mind has a sufficient degree of reality, to enable it, vis a vis its notions or conceits, to be the
this passage other than that soul
or
mind

res

eminent6

or when we

objective

formal reality from which the ideas such as we construct form hypotheses and conceive inventions borrow their reality. We have already touched upon the notion of
the case of

invention. In

hypotheses (which
Descartes'

are a sort of

intellectual

invention,
solutions

one

concerned,

in similar

mind,

with

inventing
each and

to problems),

something

follows. For, if
in one,
and

thing only one, degree of reality, and if the objective reality of a particular clear and distinct idea exactly corresponds, in the realm of rei cogitans, to the degree of reality of its object, then, the rank of being of an
hypothesis-idea of
an

every individual

existent

participates

idea

which

concerns

only

the

possible

88
existence
of
something

Interpretation

is determined exclusively from

to,
or

the parts or
what

elements

of,

or

the antecedents

that

idea, i.e., from

the

the

mathematical analysts call the

data
the

the

conditions of the problem.

Thus, in
equals the

algebraic

equations,

datum, i.e.,

given,

exactly

quaesitum,

i.e.,

the

sought-for or unknown.
Descartes'

Indeed, it is
of

by

no means at all
of

unlikely
own

that

doctrine

of the objective

reality

ideas is his
reality,"

meta-mathematical

analysis

his

and

Vieta's theory "Objective

of algebraic equations and transformations.

as we

today

use

that

term, is for Descartes

we

(but
the

not

for us)

the counterpart to the

ideas

have,

or

may

have,
the

of things

"outside."

For us, today, it

things

concerns

things; for Descartes,

term referred
or

to a characteristic of ideas!

More precisely,

reality
which

entity

of

is, for Descartes,

of

the counterpart to the

one

objective

reality has been

or

of the

ideas

those things.
the

The only exception, invented in

mentioned

already, is
the
there"

situation of a machine and

the

cunning

ingenuity
of

of

craftsman who

it; in

that

case,

the real machine

artifice

"out

is

the objective counterpart to the

machine

objective

the

idea

of

that

the mind of

its

inventor.

Since
idea"

Descartes'

time, there has been

a great

deal

of confusion

concerning his
and

understand would

"objective reality of an "the objective artifice of a As we today the term objective reality, it is what Descartes himself
own

distinction between

the

machine."

have

understood
civilization

as

the

world

of

artifice,

the

world

of

technological

and, it seems, the

or

created world

itself,

as

created,

i.e.,

as

a natural

divine

artifact.

In that Descartes

was

what we might given as the

do

well

to call analytic, and attempted to

of particular and more

derive

the

logical

consequence
about

intelligible

patrons, the very

world

him

comes

objective counterpart to the particular

be a sort of general ingenious hypotheses-ideas of

to

his
the

physics

by

means of which as

he

tries to understand that world; and

those

ideas are,

analytic,
all

characterized

by

their artifice.

Thus, for

analytic

counterpart

physicist, reality (in our sense) is the to his methodically derived ideas: All of reality becomes,
of objective objective counterpart to the physicist's

step

by

step, gradatim, the

methodically
these

achieved analytical

mathematical

hypotheses,
step

hypotheses. Working he adds to his store

gradatim;

by
of

means of

ideas
to

by
this

deriving

equations

by

step,

correlative
will

methodical

procedure, the

nature of physical

reality

be

unfolded

Volitional Anticipation
to

and

Popular Wisdom
this process

89
is
a science

him step

by

step,

gradatim.

The

goal of

in

which,

as Spinoza that profound scholar of

Descartes'

thought

has

it (Ethics; Part II, Prop. IV): "The

that of the order and connection

order and connection of

things."

ideas is

of

(Spinoza
of

saw

clearly
ideas

that the question

was a

of

grades,

degrees,
of all

and

levels

beings

and

fundamental
and

one,

for,

things, Ethics; that

same man also

wrote a work

connecting,
the

even

in its title,

the question of the

highest

being, God, Tractate.)

itself is

political

order, i.e., his Theological-Political

Descartes is very

clear

as

to

his

conviction

that physical
of

reality
the
com

also structured

according
as

to ranks or

degrees

being. In

Responses to the Second Objections

"lower"

(IX,

105-06), Descartes
any

pares
either

animals,

effects,

with

their causes and says:

not

"For,
in

it is

certain

that there

is

definitely

more perfection

the animals which

also with

do

not

have any

reason at

allwhich

is

the case

is

certain that

inanimate bodies or, if there is any perfection in them, it it comes to them from elsewhere and the sun, rain and

earth

are

definitely
to

not the total causes of these

animals."

He then
sole

continues

say

that

it is irrational
not

to

doubt

this

"on

the

grounds that one

does
are

have any idea

a
. .

of the cause which concurs

in

the generation of a
there

fly, i.e.,
in in
a

cause

having

as

many degrees

of

perfection as

"God has
perfect

not placed me and

the rank

things,"

hence,

(IX, 49) that, [au rang] of the most noble and that he is not to be supposed to have all
says
whole universe.

fly.

Again, he

the perfections that exist

says there must
our

in the

Again, (IX, 63), he

or

be

some substance

in

which

the objective

ideas
such

of corporeal

things

is

contained even

formally
very

reality of eminently or,

some other
of

that

substance

may be

"God himself
that

or

creature more noble than

body

in

which

objective

reality
of

my ideas is
geometrical proof of

eminently."

contained

Again,
not

in Axiom VI

his
the

proof of

God's

existence

and what

is

"geometrical"

God's

existence of

if it

does

explicitly

reveal

interdependency
Descartes
substance

the steps or grades

between
and

things

(IX, 128),
idea idea
as
of
of

says that

"there is
the

more

of objective accident of

reality in
more

the
the

than

in

idea in

of an

in

infinite

substance

than

the

idea

finite

substance."

And,

final

instance one
with

which

explicitly joins
or
analytic

the

concept

of

rank of

being

his

algebraic of

considerations

we

find him
effect,

VIII saying in Rule

his early Regulae (X, 392, 16~22): "In

90
whatever

Interpretation

constitutes a complete
which

degree [integrum gradum] in

the

series

by

it is necessary

to pass

from

relative things to absolute

things,
what

inversely, ought necessarily to be examined first before follows. But, if, as sometimes happens, many things belong to
or

the

same

level [ad
run

eumdem gradum

useful

to

through to the the

them

addressing himself
and

pertineant] , it is surely always in all Here, Descartes is methodical analysis of "natural

order."

powers"

says,
the

concerning
specific

search

for

the

powers which

cause

ratio

of

incident

to refracted angles of

ultimately light in

different media,
the ratios

that

between

the angles of

incidence
way in
the

and

the angles of refraction

the

variation of

these same

angles on

because

of the
which

variation, in turn,
all a

depends

the
the

depend on difference of media; and that the ray of light penetrates into
property
to

the transparent

body;

and

knowledge

of

the

body

presupposes

the nature

of

action

of

light

of penetrating into be known also; and,

light, it is necessary to know gener knowledge is, in that complete series, the last and most absolute term. Thus, when one has seen that clearly by intu and if, in ition, he should pass by the same degrees [per eosdem gradus] arriving at the second degree [in secundo gradu] he does not immediately know the nature of the action of light, he should, following the 7th rule, enumerate
finally,
ally
in
order

to understand the action of

power

what

a natural

is and that

all

the other natural powers.

(Ibid., 394,

22-395, 9)
second power of the
"anaclastic"

That "second
equation
of optics

degree"

is,

mathematically, the

from which the whole is derived analytically. for Descartes

which

class of so-called

curves

Taking
in
of

this together with arguments

from

section

I, it

seems

fair

to conclude that

the gradual method

of

reaching

truth

the sciences
the

faithfully images, intellectually, the ranks and degrees

about

reality

it is

concerned.

Furthermore,

we

can

have a truly sufficient grasp of something through its idea only if we have arrived at that idea via a path which has as many distinct steps, grades, or ranks as the thing has degrees of being.7 Truth, for Descartes, is a matter of degree. From this we are also prepared to find that falsity, as well, will be
conclude that we concerned
with

this

question

of the

relative rank of the

we

being
than

of

ideas
that

and of their respective objects.

And, indeed,
so

find (IX, 180)

not recognize

ideas

are

materially false only in reality

far

as

"I do

that there
another."

is

more of

represented to me
we can consider

by

one

idea

by

Thus, for instance,

the

idea

of cold which

Volitional Anticipation
we

and

Popular Wisdom
we

91

receive

from
heat

the

senses.

Here ideas

ideas one of

and another of
we

cold;

our

Descartes says, if
recognize

take the

of

really have two distinct ideas are materially false, heat and cold and "do not

that there

is
the

more of
other."

reality
to

which would

be

represented

by

the one than

or

by

Thus, ideas

as such are
of

in

themselves

true

false,

without
when we

reference

that

which

they

are

ideas

namely,
of

do

not recognize

in

an

idea its

own proper

degree
ideas

objective reality.

On

the other

hand,

when we

consider

formally,

we consider them as

representing something outside,

ideas. All
error
we

and we then make

judgments using
error!8

these

in judgment

is, for Descartes, formal

look
three
at

To

see this

clearly,

only have

to

Meditatio III,
things"

where
of

Descartes

says

(IX, 29),

that there are the

and

forms (formes)
of

images

ideas proper, which are "as (comme les images des choses); II. volitions
thought: I.
affirmation
and

affections,

e.g.,
as

desire, fear,
we

denial;

and,
of

III.
the
of

judgment,
it."

when

consider

something

as

the

subject

action of the

mind,

"thereby

adding something

to the

idea I have

It
to

cannot

be

stressed too often

both

that

judgment

adds

something
the
volition-

our

idea

of

something,
with

and

that

formal
On the

falsity
other

concerns

association of

ideas is
to

their objects.
means

hand,

free

will,

choice

by

no

merely

a matter of action
of

in

this

world,

according

Descartes.
that

Indeed,

one

the

lessons

taught us

by

the

Meditationes is

the

principal

power

of volition

is

to

permit us to withhold judgment that

is,

not

to add
an

anything

to a

present

idea

with

respect

to that of which

it is

idea. However
said to

much a teacher of revolutionaries

Descartes may be
of

be,

he is

indeed
In

a philosopher.
one

judging,
the

takes the
one

idea

cold,

formally,
of cold

as

representing
compares

something; materially,
with

takes the to

idea

and

it

idea

of

heat in
one

order

determine
as

which

idea has

more

objective reality.
of cold

If

is materially false

and concludes that the

idea it

has

as much objective

is

likely

that

he

will

also

does reality a formal commit

is really
we

the

idea

of

heat,
the

then

error

in judgment in

and

assent to the proposition that cold power of asserting/ assenting

contained

ice. This
never

is

never misused

if

and

only if we
sure of the

judge (treat ideas

formally)
reality

until

are

absolutely
pass

that the

degree

of objective

of the on

idea is exactly that

which we

degree

of of

entitas, reality,

of the

thing

judgment. (It is,

92
course,
an

Interpretation
consequence of

apparently necessary

this that the

inferior,

i.e.,

more

ignorant,

man,

can never pass a true or accurate

judgment

on a superior or more

knowledgeable
of what a

hidden,
when

technical
called

intimation

find a very well D'Alembert might have meant

man.

Here

we

he

Descartes
with

"teacher

of

revolutionaries"

traditional

societies

their

traditionally does
to

chosen or

i.e., legislators
appreciate

that
and

judges

must

be
as

replaced
we

by
see,

analytic perhaps

physicists

their

students.

D'Alembert,
place of

shall

not

fully

the

will, volition, in
we commit

Descartes'

political

thought.)

In short,
an

error,
as

according
caused

Descartes,
something

when we outside us

take

idea

and consider even

it
a

being

by

(or,

sometimes,

by

particular

patron

inquiry
to
of

as to

its

respective grade of reality.

idea inside us) It is this source

All

without of error

which

he

addresses

his

method primarily.

entities and all

ideas

those entities are so ranked and graded that true science,

consists

Mathesis

Universalis,
continuous,

in

leading

thought

by definite, but above all, by

or

degrees

up

ranks,

grades

steps,

gradatim

which

exactly

parallel the structure of

are placed as

hierarchical
our

being

within which we

humans
that

thinking beings. It is
this
view

perhaps

out

of

bold to speculate contemporary fascination with

not too
genesis and

historical
this
received

processes and stages takes

will

its

that,

furthermore,
taught
and
of the

fascination
physics

endure

as

long

as

the

generally

is

analytic:

The historical

analytic

physics

Enlightenment is
Descartes'

spring which feeds analytic History. doctrine concerning will is essentially concerned
the

with

our

rank

in the

hierarchy
True in
our at

of

beings. He
False,"

tells us,

in Meditatio IV,
that
we

"Concerning the distinctly limited

which given

and

the

(IX, 45-46),
but
that
we

are

substantial

being

have

a will

at any given time any is strictly limited as to what in the structured understanding universe it knows, the possessor of that understanding still has the intellectual power to assert opinions concerning anything, even no

is in

way

all

limited. Although

though

it be

above the will

'level'

of

his
of

understanding

where, it

must

be

remembered, both

and

understanding
willing

are

intellectual facilities.
in
cases

Therefore,
where

one's mental

faculty

can operate even

his ideas do not have the degree of objective reality required for a clear and distinct grasp of something at hand, that is, before those ideas have a level or degree of objective reality commensurate with that degree possessed by what he is judging. This excess of the

Volitional Anticipation
extent of the will over the

and

Popular Wisdom

93

grasp

of the mind

is the

precondition

for
to

the

possibility
in

of universal

doubt. This
analytic)
of

alone gives us

the power to

stand all

a certain sort

(i.e.,

anticipatory relationship

things whatsoever, no matter on

respect to their

what

level

our

thoughts

may be
in
of

with

degree

of objective

reality.

Thus,
a

although

fact
time

the mind of

any

given mortal who will

die in
to

finite length
a

may

not

be

capable of

grasping

some particular truth

because,
time

that

is, he

will never

have his

the time to
will

build up

it in

finite

is actually ("en effet") capable of to make some judgment concerning that truth, even when it choosing is highest and most beyond the degree or rank of the intellectual
still,

from his

birth

reality of his ideas. As a consequence, those level of understanding are nevertheless in relationship
to it one
which

things above
a certain

his

present

and

definite
of

has here been

those
of an

termed a
cannot

relationship

"volitional anticipation";

for,

things

be merely

un

known,
part of

since

they

are

objects

intellectual
one of

power

of willing.

Descartes

calls this tenuous

relationship

indeterminacy
to

on the

knowledge
of

and says that

corresponding
We
are

it is

the volitional

relationship
is

indifference

(IX, 46-48).
reality
the
that

the creatures that we

even on what

are and therefore we

have
be

the power to pass

judgments

infinitely

more real than the

well
of

of our

ideas concerning it. An

who

instance
extreme

might

that

of

atheist

judges, from
God has
as

the

depth

his ignorance,

his idea

of

its

ultimate patron the

a

fiction

of some conniver.

He is free to

pass such

judgment. But, Descartes points out, this freedom which the immensely ignorant atheist has to judge that his notion of God is ultimately merely
a

fiction
of

of

freedom
which and on

and

is

so

unreal,

relative to that

deceiver is the lowest kind of degree of objective reality

have

the atheist's

idea

God

could

e.g., if

he

were to read no effect

Descartes'

comprehend

own Meditationes that

it has

his ignorant idea. Hence,

that
either negative

the
or

atheist

has

so

little

grounds
are

for
and

judging,
called

affirmative

judgments
choice.

equally

for,

and

he is

thus indifferent as to

his

In this case,

in

all such

cases,

error

is based

on negation of

being

(IX, 47-48).
is
a matter

What is
of

a matter of

indifference

with respect

to the will

indeterminateness with respect to the understanding;

of

for, the bare

not

notion

the

higher reality is present, is

not

even

if that reality does

of

happen

to

determine

although

the atheist

fully fully

the objective
aware of

reality

the

idea. Thus,

it, i.e.,

although

he does

not

94
realize

Interpretation

it in thought,
true
of

the

idea

of

God

which

he truly has is
of

the

unique,

patron-idea

from
the

which

his thinking

God

must pit of
a

borrow its degrees

ignorance
one

objective

reality.

Hence, in
patron

whatever

might

be,

ultimate

ideas

are

present

fundamental theme in Descartes and the necessary precondition his analytical mathematics as he himself understood it and, as a consequence, whatever stands between one's present ignorance and the full intellectual realization of those patron ideas as patron is, as it were, known indeterminately in the bare consciousness of the
subject-matter.

for

Likewise,
solution to a
of

to return to mathematics, the quaesitum or sought-for

problem,

is,

in

some

very determinate
are

and

definite

sense

the

"anticipated,"

term,
Things
grade
of objective

or, even,
whose

"indeterminately
of a

given through

anticipation."

reality

higher degree
ideas

than the

present

reality

of our

present

about them

are,
the

so

to speak,

foreshadowed
the

"to-be-known"

or adumbrated as

in

very
to

excess of

extension of

the will to

know

over our actual

understanding, and, therefore, the

principal source of grounds

error,

accord

for anticipating a Descartes, ing very replacement of error with knowledge. (This is the heart of Meditatio VI.) Once again, volition is a power of mind, for Descartes no less
is
also

the

than
and

is

ratiocination

itself. Choice is
of

an

that

very infinitude
volition or

the extent of the will

intellectual act, essentially, is a sign of the

extent to which man can expect other powers of

intellect is
not

to extend.

In

calling

choice

where

choice

desire for

Descartes an

thing
under

which can

intellectual power, Descartes thereby identifies any be chosen at any time (in or out of understanding) ,

any

circumstance

object

of understanding.

(drunk, sober, ill), as a definitely potential Therefore, as an actual object of volition,

is
a sort of actual subject of

everything in
anything
of

the universe

intellect. We

are thus permitted to whatever

akin to objective

say that, for Descartes, the very fact of willing implies that there is some degree of something present even in the most wild or disordered reality
volition which

ideas.

And it is

supplies

sort

of

pro

tern

replacement
yet grasped

46)

that

are not as reality clearly and distinctly. Indeed, we see Descartes say (IX, once he has grasped entirely clearly and distinctly some not at all

for

objective

to

ideas

of things which

idea, he
subject

is

indifferent
rather

to

it and
and

hence it is

no

longer

to volition,

but

to

desire

repugnance which are

Volitional Anticipation
contingent on true
complex nature).

and

Popular Wisdom
upon the

95
of our

understanding (or
up in
so

else,

teaching

We

can

sum

this

the

desire
same

and

repugnance,

is

following analogy: As volition is to merely being aware of existence to the

idea
whose
objective

grasping
reality.

or

conceiving
of

of an

reality is
of

of

the
or

rank

being

as

the

thing

itself has

of

degrees

entity

psychic and

thus

mental

power,

volition,

supplies

to our deficient ideas of what is truly existent but not known the defect in objective reality of our ideas which sufficiently can i.e., only be made up, en effet, through the analytical

("eminently")

procedure

through
and

assuming

the

sought-for, quaesitum,
this

as

given

and

known,
conse

then

deducing (gradatim) from

this

supposition

the

quences until we arrive at

something truly

given or

truly

known vide

La

Geometrie, VI, 372, 10-24.

We
close

development
is
of

with a reflection on

the relation of will

and popular wisdom.

The

citizen who customs

a non-scientist must

ignorantly

adhere to the

laws
to

and

non-scientist could

fix his

choices
analysis

his country by an act of free will. For, no possibly have the perfect understanding required to the absolutely best choice possible. Under
of

Descartes'

volition,

knowledge,

and

indifference, any
could grow
and

adherence to a civil order out of which would

lawfulness itself
choice

be based
could

either on an act of positive

this,

at

first

sight,
stands

only apply
good

to the

citizen-scientist
of will

who

clearly

under

his
as

own as

or an act

fixed

through some negative

works

'scientistic'

means

such

propaganda on

which

through

such

devices
try'

constructing

attacks

the

pre-scientific

culture,

by

positively promising 'better

and the

things

for better
can

living

through chemis

like,
to

or,

by

redefining
which with

all political problems as

precisely

those

human

problems
continue

be

solved

by

technological

progress,

if,

this

latter
of

case,

such

were to succeed
willinp-

in

fixing
to
a

the will of the non-scientist citizen, then

devices in fact his

adherence comprise

the
sort

legislation

the scientist-ministers would

substitute

seem

to

of volitional

for scientifically

based
would
of

adherence

to

those

very laws. In
the

this

case,

however,

the

"eminent

reality"

of the volitions of

be only
minds
sought

that
of

borrowed,
civil order

relatively ignorant populace in turn, from the "objective

artifice"

the

the
a

scientist-ministers.

Whereas,

to the

contrary,
of the

what

is

is

in

which

the eminent

reality

96
volitions obscure
objective

Interpretation
of the

relatively ignorant
matters clear
a
of

populace

lend

to their

relatively
not

grasp

of public

reality

which although

the

reality

the

and

distinct ideas

of

the

scientists-

would make of the

up for

that

defect because
safety
and

the exalted

degree

of

reality
this

substance,
within

res

cogitans,

wills the good of the union of mind

comfort of civil

and

body

the

society;

eminence of

degree

would suffice

to make

up

that

defect

of objective

reality in

their

relatively low level

will
of

of understanding.

The

eminent

reality
power

of the

free

the populace should manifest

itself in its

they live a degree of objective perfection just commensurate with the degree of objective reality of the ideas each citizen has of his or her own healthy union of body and soul. For, then, and only then, would the art of politics become
to give to the state

in

which

medicine dessin. materially identical with the art of if volitional indifference answers to intellectual indeterBut,

Descartes'

minateness,

how

could

volition

be

freely
of

exercised

by

relatively
render wills?

ignorant
them

populace?

Would

not

their

ignorance necessarily

In

indifferent, and hence incapable Meditatio IV, Descartes tells us

answers

exercising
the

their

free

that

infinite

plenitude of

volition

universe

as

actually infinite plenitude of being of the perfectly known by God Himself. He says that it is
to the

precisely in
most

our possession of an

infinitely

extensive will volition

that we are

God-like

(VII, 56,
of will

26-

57, 15). Since

supplied

is

an

intellectual

power, the "eminent

reality"

by

the mind to our particular

our

intellectual

acts

must

therefore

contain

only basis for

judgment

and

hence for

particular choices subsequent on particular

reality"

borrowed desires. This requires, however, that the "eminent from the substance, res cogitans, by volition anticipates a distinct degree of reality precisely that degree possessed by the object being
considered structure as

choiceworthy level
of

or not.

In precisely the

same

way, the

of

the general equations

of physics expresses

indetermin

ately

the

grade or

reality

of whatever

it is

to which
a

they
sort

can of

apply in
one.

their

full

generality

where

that

generality is

anticipation

of ail

individual

cases which can

fall

under the general

Free will, like Mathesis

or needed where there

Universalis, (algebra), is only called for is something definitely unknown, i.e., known
manner and

definitely
But,
again
which

in

the

indeterminate

hence

by

anticipation.

like Mathesis Universalis, the degree of objective reality must be present in any given instance of thought (including

Volitional Anticipation volition), in

order to

and

Popular Wisdom

97

be precisely
order

commensurate with the

degree

of

entity

with which

it is concerned,

must

be

present to

it

formally:9

In

mathematics,
explicit the

the

very

of

its

symbolic

expression

makes

interdependency
can

of the partial expressions

it

contains

for

the givens and the

unknowns;

ignorant

populace

be

by freely expressed
is

analogy, the

will of the

relatively
open to

only in
of

that state whose

freely
the

chosen

form

of government

one which

is entirely
that

constant

inspection

and

re-affirmation

populace.

The

relatively ignorant
profession,

populace can

of government which

is defined
all

freely exercise its will in that form by its structures, where politics is a
where

but

above

else,

the

goal

of

civil

union

is

explicitly
the

understood
of

by
the

each and

every

citizen and minister as

being

continuation

union

of

body

and

soul,

of

life,

of each

citizen/elector.

Problems
or

in general, the Solution of 1. Vide: Fenn's Algebra (Dublin, c. 1750): ". consists of two Parts, in the first the Analyst expresses by a letter as x
. .

y etc.,

the unknown

Quantity
.
. .

sought,

or one of

those

which

when

known,

determine the rest. "The first of those two Parts is not easily reduced to precepts intelligible to (p. 5). This author, Beginners, and perhaps can be learned only by who taught algebra for five years, concurs with Mr. Fenn. heartily 2. It seems not unlikely to this author that Descartes, as well as Vieta, was
serves to
Example."

possibly influenced (directly or indirectly) theory, the Sectio Canonis, Vide: I. Heilberg Omnia, Vol. VIII, "Phaenonena et Scripta
esp. pp.

by
and

text

of

pre -Galilean

music

Musica"

H. Menge, eds., Euclidis Opera (Leipsig: Teubner, 1916),

Descartes'

Musicae (X
not that of

169-73, Props. VIII-XII; also, Vide: 89-141), whose treatment appears to be

Galileo. is only
a variant required to make that adjective

own

Compendium
and

that of

Euclid

certainly
plus

3. The
the

term engineer

ending ingenium.
machine

spelling into

of the

Latin term ingeniose

a noun

referring

to one

who

has

4. It very

likely

did

Descartes'

not

escape

notice

(nor

should

it ours) that
of

in Greek

(Mekanike)

is

translated

by

ingenium in Latin.

5. This is Bertrand Russell's definition

Peano's Postulates follow

of a natural number.
Descartes'

The definitions

the same rationale.

Descartes'

6. Vide: Definition IV Sec. Ob].,

Latin
said to
as version

of

proof of

the

influence is very great. existence of God in Res.

changes
same

especially in the French

version which

has important
are not

from

the
are

(French, IX, 125; Latin, VII, 161,

10-13): "The

things

be eminently in the objects of ideas when they in the ideas, but when they are so great (si grandes)
defect

that

truly such in them they can make up for

that

by
(E.

excellence."

their

Gilson

Gilson, Etudes

sur

le Role de la Pensee Medievale dans la

98

Interpretation

Formation du Systeme Cartesien (Paris: Libraire J. Vrin, upon this question of the eminent reality of ideas in

1967) hardly

touches

Descartes'

thoughts.

When

he
of

does, however,
the problem

it is in the
this

context of

discussing
as

causality (passim). The heart

enters

with

term,

as well as with

the term "objective

idea,"

lies

with

intelligibility

and, in

so

far
to

causality

the picture,

reality of an it is as

the cause of

knowledge. For Descartes,

be sure,

to think

is

to make. But

any

making is for him posterior to a thinking. 7. Vide: Vieta's "Introduction to the Analytical
Mathematical Thought
1968 given
and

Art"

(in: J.

in

an appendix

the Origin of Algebra, Cambridge, M.I.T. J. Winfree Smith). trans,

Klein, Greek Press,

by

8. This is truly refers primarily to

such a
meaning

odd,

since

"judgment,"

however

else

it is used, constantly

our sense of what

usual
one

is

more

important

than

something

else.

But

does not fall in Descartes where we might falls under what Descartes calls the question of expect. Rather, that meaning material falsity and not under that of formal truth and falsity which (according
the to

him)

concerns

judgment.

Our contemporary low estimation of 'value judgments' is not unlikely to have its origin in this Cartesian reversal, which replaces the question of value (for
Descartes
a material
a

question)

with that of

the objectiveness
question).

of a state of mind

(for

Descartes,

formal,
its
since

"judgmental,"

If

so,

this

reversal

of

definitions is

not without

momentous not

to

say

awful

consequences.

9. That is
volitions, etc.)
objective considered

to say,

have
a

for Descartes les pensees (including perceptions, distinct mode of being as pensees, any given one has an
is
present to
of

reality
as

which

it

materially.
which

If any pensee,
not
a

however,
(such
as
with

is
a

then tree

pensee

something
as

is

pensee
or

outside),
which

we consider

it, formally,

it is the

(presumptive) pensee.
correct
as

not, being commensurate, Hence the formulae of mathematics

that of
can

be

viewed

(a)

as

mathematically
means

deductions from
of
a

other

formulae,

and and

thus,
thus

"materially"; (b)
"formally."

to

solution

problem

in physics,

Any

investigation

of volition a

in

a context

including

choiceworthy

and repugnant objects would

identical

with

formal undertaking and, in Descartes's case, is La MoraleEthics, or perhaps more accurately, Social Science.

be

99

ALIENATION AND THE AMERICAN SCIENCE OF POLITICS

JOHN W.COFFEY
Rockford College

At

the

close

of

his

masterful

study
the

of

the

roots

of

American
that

politics, Gordon Wood

shattered men's
work

says

of

Federalist

achievement

it

"the

conceptions centuries

of political

theory

that

minds

for
new

and

for

republican

brilliantly liberty a reconstruction

politics."1

reconstructed

had imprisoned the frame

that

radically
accom

changed

the

future discussion
to
what

of

The Federalist
watershed
a

plishment,
politics"

according
a

Wood,
view

marked

in Western

history, inaugurating
or

he alternately
of

calls

"romantic

politics."

"kinetic theory of Whereas seventeenth-

century

contractarianism repudiated rulers

the

idea

of an organic

hierarchy

embracing
solved a

and

people,
the

thereby
a

breaking
political

the

community into

antagonistic

interests,
republic

Federalist

solution

further dis
on

unified a

people on

into

mass

of

competing individuals.
spiritedness, immediate

Erecting
and

egoism, the Founders intended to rely

than
on republican public

self-interested

feeling

rather

they

sought

to guarantee

freedom
of

by

means of the

interest

of each autonomous

individual.
politics

Thus,
Hobbes,
norm

the

Federalist
to

science

consisted politics

institutional form

the

psychologization

of

in giving begun by

a process wherein appetite and

man.2

desire displaced

reason as the

for

The Federalist

transposition of political order to the

was remarked

appetitive and passionate

level

by

Arthur O. Lovejoy:

'Their

problem was not

chiefly

one of political ethics

but

of political about what

would were

psychology,

a need not so much to preach to

Americans
what

they

ought

to

do,

as

to predict

successfully
mechanisms

they
(or
the

do,

supposing
"method

certain

governmental

were

established."3

Lovejoy
the

noted
was

that

the

effect

of

not) Federalist

counterpoise"

of

to preserve the status quo.

of

Others too

have been

recognized

durability

the

regime

established attention

by
has

the
not

Federalist "science
given

politics,"4

of
consequences

but
of

adequate

to

the

that

Paradoxically, formula for republican

stability.

the

preservative entails

overarching system of force of the Federalist

alienation
of

liberty

the

men

in

liberal-democratic

society.

It is necessary,

however,

to

say

a word

100
about
of

Interpretation
the concept
of alienation of this

before attempting
science
of

to

draw
as

out some

the

implications

"new

politics,"

Hamilton Hegelian
apparent
suffice

called

it.
term
"alienation"

The

in

this

discussion does

not

bear

or Marxist meaning. Why this is not the case may become from the development of the discussion, but for the present

it
I

to

say

that I

mean

something different

by

the term.

By

alienation

mean

two things:
nature

first,

a psychological condition when the rational

and

social

of man

is vitiated; second,
of

a political

condition part

resulting from

the separation of man

from his fellows. In

shall

try
and

to

indicate how these two dimensions

are
man

alienation, the

personal

social,
was

polis

inseparably linked. Long ago Plato perceived that the writ large, that there was a cycle of society and
society
revolt mirrored

character

in

which

the

order

or

disorder

of

its
the

members'

souls.

Although

James

Madison

participated

in

eighteenth-century
implied
"But
what

against

the classical political

tradition, he
rhetorically,

a somewhat similar recognition when

he

asked

is

government

itself but

the greatest of all reflections on that the alienation endemic

of men

human
to

nature?"5

What I

am

suggesting is

liberal-democratic society, the estrangement selves and from their fellows, is predicated by
political
politics

from

them

the premises of our

science
of

tradition.
and

Let us, then,

the

turn
of

to the

American

examine

order

politics

proposed

by

The

Federalist. The paramount

problem

of republican

government addressed

by

Madison in Number 10
the
violence of

was the problem of

factionhow to

control

The

object was

faction within the framework of popular government. to find some artificial, mechanical means of balancing
interests
the
so

competing,

antagonistic

that

neither

minority
a

nor

majority

could
of

tyrannize

rest

of

society.

Madison took the

division
society:

society into
pride
as

adverse

interests

to

be inevitable in
wholly

free

the

and
as

selfishness

of men

corrupted their

reason;

hence,
and

long

liberty

exists,

men's egoism will attach their

"opinions."

"passions"

"interests"

to their

fallible

Since he did
the

not

want

to abolish the cause of

faction,

namely

liberty,

only

acceptable solution was to control

of

the struggle

between

men.

its effects, to mitigate the ferocity Most crucially, the unequal faculties
property;

and talents of men gave rise to unequal possessions of

common

any

interest between men, therefore,

was

impossible.

Con-

Alienation
sequently, "the first
protect

and

American Science of Politics

government,"

101
to

object

of

Madison wrote, is
property"

those

"different degrees
inequality.6

and

kinds
years

from

men's natural
essays

Some

resulting previously in his "North

Madison
made good

of

American"

for The Pennsylvania

Journal

explicit

the

Mandevillean

equation of private vice with public

contained

in the Federalist formula for

of

republican

the

identity

the good and the useful, Madison

liberty. Implying declared that

breast,
of which prompts

the same active and predominant passion of the

mankind

human

to arrogate

superiority
to the to
extended

and

to the

acquirement

riches,

honor
we

and

power,

which

restricted
when

selfish

purposes

of

an

individual
of

term
a

ambition,

is

the

disinterested
the
appelation

object
of

aggrandizing

community,
exertion of

what

we

dignify

with

patriotism

(that)

the

this principle

being

as advantageous

to

republic,

as

it is

useful

to

man.

P
merely
the case that a private
vice

It is

not

may
and

incidentally
avidity.

accrue

in

some seen

way
as

to the public
of

benefit;

rather, the public good

pride

in itself is

derivative
on

individual
the

In

fact,

the

condition

which

Madisonian
of

scheme

in

Number

10 is

based the irreconcilable

parties

division

is

the

very

condition

which

society into hostile interests and must be perpetuated, in fact

intensified, for
If the
think that

the solution.
of man

nature

inevitably

bred

faction,

Madison did

not

human

conflict revolved around the sole

issue

of property.

In the first place, he did not mean by property simply material goods for in "its larger and juster meaning, it embraces and wealth,

everything to which leaves

includes
not

which a man

may

attach

a value and
advantage."

have
8

right,

and

to

everyone

else

the
and

like

Thus, property
opinions, the

only
of

land,
of

goods,

money,

but

a man's

safety
the

and

liberty
a

his person,
to

and the exercise of

object

government

protect

both

his faculties. It is kinds of property,

most

especially

man's

property"

sacred of all

which is "the property in his conscience because it is a natural right, while other
law.9

rights

depend partially
tion
are
as

upon positive

The

sources of

human

conten

varied

as

life:
and

"opinions"

men's aversion

on

religion

and

government,
even cause

the

attraction

and

to

different personalities,
where

"the

most

frivolous

fanciful

distinctions"

no real

exists.10

Indeed,

Hamilton
arose

claimed over

at

one

point

that

the

severest

controversies

often

personal

pique:

"There is

102

Interpretation
apt

nothing
to

so

to

agitate

the

passions

of

mankind

as

personal
who are

considerations,

whether

they

relate to ourselves or
preference."

to others,

be

the objects of our

choice or

1 1

property holders

serious conflict

frequently
has been

arises

Moreover, among between different

and commercial
most common

kinds
and

of

property,

for

example,
factions"

between

agricultural

interests. Nevertheless,

Madison acknowledged, "the

the
unequal

durable

source of
conflict of

distribution

of

property, the
of

haves

have-nots.12

versus

The

chief concern

The Federalist
the

was

to protect the

minority
A

of

property holders
and

against

majority

of propertyless men.

continued rule of good

and wise

men, Madison
3

feared,

was not to

be

expected,

"we

all

know
was

that

neither moral nor religious motives can

be

relied on as an
solution

control."1

adequate

Therefore,
the

some

secular, institutional
of

necessary
and

to

control

effects

faction,
and

to promote a re

strained

enlightened

pursuit

of

appetite,

to

avoid

physical

violence, and to

protect personal
must either

security

the rights of property.

A majority faction

be

prevented

from

forming,
in

or

if it
For

does
to

come

to exist,

it

must

be

made unable to act

and

concert.

this reason

Madison followed David Hume

and
others

advocated, contrary
of a

Montesquieu
over

before him,

the the

superiority
sphere
of

large
to
of

republic

small

one.

Extending

republican

government

meant that

act

upon

shared

be difficult for men to form or interest. Madison delineated the solution

it
would of the

Federalist Number 10 in "Vices

States,"

Political System

of

the

United

notes

"The

Society

composed in 1787 before he went to Philadelphia: becomes broken into a greater variety of interests, of
which check each

pursuits of

passions,

other,

whilst those who

may

feel
and

a common

sentiment

have less opportunity

of

of communication secure

concert."14

If the

object

politics

is

to

individual

autonomy

by
be

playing

one

competing interest expanding

variety
will

against

another, this
the manifold

purpose will

enhanced

by

and

multiplying
sphere,"

passions and appetites of men. and you will produce will

"Extend the

Publius wrote,
interests;"

"a

greater

of parties and

you

lessen the chances for do feel a "common

of

a common

interest

to

form;
the

even

if

men

motive,"

it

be difficult for
increase

them to act; and,

course,

greater numbers
them.15

of people will

isolation
plan

and

distrust between
republican

In this fashion the Federalist

for
in
civil

liberty

fosters

the atomization and alienation of men

perceive a parallel

society.

Nor did Madison fail to

between

Alienation

and

American Science of Politics

103
and

liberty

and

religious

freedom.

Religious disestablishment
innocuous

the

proliferation of sects rendered them

and neutralized

any

have on society. Secularism and liberal democracy go hand in hand, but we must return to this point later. In Federalist Number 51 Madison reverted to the same formula of fragmentation and atomization, as he sought an expedient to secure
tangible effect religion might
the separation of powers

in the

new government. offered

Again the

solution

lay
This

in the
a

guarantee

he previously
of

for

republican

liberty

generally

balance
of

of power

between
We

competing, private
egoism

interests.

countervailing balance
prudence."16

individual

"invention(s)
between

must explore

he called the further the relation

of

reason

and

the appetites and

we

desires in Federalist theory,

Madison's understanding

but for
of

the

moment

should

note

prudence.

He does
the

not conceive of prudence as the

means

deliberate habit

choosing

due
of

to a good end,

but

rather as an external

constraint
gratified

whereby

the emancipated passions

mutual annihilation.

of

individuals may be
system
of

short

The

whole

the
of

separation

of powers within government and the

federal division
was

authority between
achieved must

the
on

national

and

state

governments

to

be

by

relying

the ambition and

envy

of men.

"Ambition

be

made

to counteract

ambition,"

Madison

proclaimed.

'The

interest
of

of the man must

7

be

connected with the constitutional explained

rights is

the

place."1

As Hamilton

in arguing for the

the
duty."1 8

re-eligibil

ity

of the

President, "the best security for

with

fidelity

of mankind

to make their interest coincide

their

The

structure of

government, Madison explained,

will

must

be
of

so contrived that one part another.

impose

an

external

constraint

upon

Similarly, in
of certain

describing
based
the

the

structure
of

and

powers

the

presidency Hamilton
condition:

success

the

institution

upon

the triumph

passions over others within an

intrinsically
his
as

disordered

His
might

avarice might

be

a guard upon as well

avarice.

Add to this that the And if he

could

same man expect

be

vain

or ambitious,

avaricious.

to

victory

good conduct, he might hesitate to sacrifice his prolong his honors by his for them to his appetite for gain. But with the prospect before him of appetite his avarice would be likely to get the approaching and inevitable annihilation, over his caution, his vanity, or his ambition.

It is

not

my intention

to

deny

the

due

merit of a separation of

104
powers and of

Interpretation

the principle of

federalism. Today,

as

before,

Madison

is well taken when he says, "you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control
itself."2

Yet

perhaps of

we

have

come

of sufficient

historical

age so

that the
politics

deficiencies
can

the Enlightenment's mechanistic approach to

be

recognized.

Although the
to

classical political

teaching
bad
is built

held

that one

cannot expect

have

a good

society

composed of

men, liberal-democratic theory

posits that good government

foundation of moral and social disharmony. The Federalist erected a scheme for more than a governmental structure,
precisely
and
we

upon a

must

appreciate

this

in

order

fully

to

understand

the

American
tionalize

political
a

tradition.
and

The Federalist
sustained

attempted
of

to

institu
and

systematic

liberation
achieved

appetite

passion,
external

liberation
of
varies

more

effectually

the more stable the

order

the regime

moreover,

directly

becomes. The stability of the regime, with the instability and disorder of the

individuals

and groups

comprising it.

The liberal state which emerged in the eighteenth century was fashioned after the image of the free economic marketplace which in
turn
was

modeled upon

the autonomous individual

of

defined
the

by

his

passions and appetites. of reason

A leitmotif
of

The Federalist is
passions

impotence Publius

in

the

face

irresistible
Even
of

and appetites.

regards reason as a calculative

of

desire

and

appetite.

2 1

capacity for the as instrument

reason
of

effective satisfaction

or

servant,

however,
A

reason

fails, for
and

the

frailty
but

leads it
passion

to succumb to the
and
appetite.

immediate

unrestrained

rush

deliberate,
guide utilitarian

measured gratification men's

will

of passion

and appetite ought to

provide and even

government,
calculus.
exercise

reason

cannot

the

Men

inevitably
lowest,

divide

attempt

to

reason; therefore,
a condition of

common passion.
will

In

they disordered

must

fall out in the be ruled by a

community
appetitive,
to
and

existence

be possible only on the level. To the extent, however,

the measure of the

or passionate

be ruled according lowest level, community is further attenuated.

that men must

'This
rival

policy,"

Madison wrote, "of supplying,

by

opposite

and

interests,

the

defect

of

better

motives,"

permeated the whole of

2

human
of

life,

"private
which

public."2

as well as

Madison
and

portrays an

image

society in

individual autonomy

assertion

pervade all

relations

from

the marketplace to the

family. Alexis de Tocqueville

Alienation
pointed
out

and

American Science of Politics

of

105
society.

the

atomizing tendency
the
moral
and

bourgeois
how
order of

In
3

Democracy
the
ground

in America Tocqueville
of

explained political
chaos

egoism

furnished

America.2

Furthermore,
society
was

the

increasing
Private

private

fostered

by

democratic

far from incompatible

and

with

public

order

and a certain

regularity its satisfaction,

public

of morality.

aggrandizement needs public order

for

a particular species of

morality is

conducive to

tranquillity and industry. Some pleasures will receive social disapprobation, but those allowed by democratic society will tend to
"virtuous
materialism"

absorb men and create a sort of end

which

in the

"would

not

corrupt, but enervate,

action."24

the

soul

and

noiselessly
effect: the

unbend

its

springs of

Tocqueville

revealed the connection

with

between liberal
and

democracy by

and capitalism

along
and

its

total politicization and commercialization of

life.2 5

All human ties

powers

relations,

all

traditional

institutions

intermediate

would

be
so

swept

away

the principles of self-interest and popular

aimed to comprehend

sovereignty.

The Federalist expressly

separate
of a

"in the

society
not

many

descriptions

of citizens as will render an

unjust combination
impracticable,"

to

interests

and classes of released

citizens."26

very improbable, if majority break society itself "into so many parts, Tocqueville believed democracy
of the whole
could never satisfy: the result would

inexorably

desires it

be

ceaseless upheaval and

dissatisfaction.2 7

fragmentation,

together with constant,

galling
society
This

Initially, it would be so
public
order

might seem that such a

unstable

fragmented,
apart at

atomized

it

would

come

the

seams.

disintegration does
upon architects of

not

occur

because liberal

democracy
to

grounds other

private

chaos.

Before turning
aims

certain

bourgeois society in
of

order to elucidate the of

problem,

let

us

recall

one

the the

principal

government.

Unlike

government under

the

newly Articles of Confedera

would act

the

proposed

tion,
upon

the new

regime ordained

by

the

Constitution

directly
rep

individual

citizens rather

than

resenting
the
unable to

citizens

in

capacity.2

their

indirectly 8
that the

through the states

corporate

Hamilton

enunciated

Federalist

intent,

when

he

argued

Confederation,

by being

legislate for individuals, had

associations

created a condition of anarchy.

In

political will

of

subordinate,

independent

sovereignties

"there

be

a perpetual effort
order and

in

each to

fly

off

center."29

The

stability

of

the regime

from the common will be secured, then,

106 insofar
citizens
as

Interpretation

it

can

intimately and forcefully attach itself to the persons of

individual
status.

in

their

The

authors of

The

Federalist,
but
the

of

course,
namics

were of

referring

to the

issue

of state

sovereignty,

dy

the

formula for

republican

liberty
be

tend to enervate other

society.

subsidiary

groups and

intermediate

powers

in

The

national

authority, Hamilton explained, "must

able

to address

itself im
to

mediately

to the

hopes
In

and

fears

of

individuals;

and to attract

its

support those passions which

have

the strongest

influence

upon the

human

heart."3

the new era of the psychologization of politics the

affects the
which

more national

authority tangibly
into
the

lives

of

individuals,
human

"the

further it

enters

those objects

touch

the most sensible

chords and put

in

motion the most active springs of the

heart,

the greater will

be

probability

that
!

it

will conciliate the respect and

attachment of the
and

community."3

Since

man

is

a creature of passion

appetite, the
of the

key

to political success will to

touch

be to "interest
internal in which the

the sensa to

tions

people,"

"matters

concern,"

of

operate

"through those

channels and currents

passions of

mankind

flow."3 2

naturally

Nor, in

the gratification and control of

emancipated

individuals,

should rulers

be

unmindful that

"obedience

to a government will

commonly be
and

proportioned to the goodness or

badness
"public To

of

its
a

administration"

that the

accumulated power and

resources

of

single 3

authority

will

have

an

irresistible impact

on

opinion."3

understand the

Federalist formula for

English

republican

liberty
and

one

must refer to the writings of certain

thinkers who

influenced
James

the

Founding Fathers,
Hobbes
means
of

particularly Thomas Hobbes

Western
political

Harrington.

revolutionized

thought

by

restraining the mob of liberated, passionate individuals. The ordering principle of Hobbes's entire work is fear of the greatest evil, death. That "mortal Leviathan, imposed an

devising

god,"

artificial,
appetitive

external

control

upon

the

instincts

of

autonomous,
through

individuals.

Beyond
state

securing
would

self-preservation
order

terror, Hobbes's
material

artificial

preserve

by

promoting
out
of

gratification,

what

he

called

"commodious

living."34

For Madison

physical

survival

and

happiness,
obviate

arising

the
s

instinct for self-preservation,

Universal
solutions:

are the ends of political

association.3

anxiety

and

the
will

desire

to

death

admit

two

erecting "a

in the community independent

of the

Alienation
majority"36

and

American Science of Politics

regime, or,
as more

107
securely,
state
of

as

in

monarchical

establishing
nature

an

extended, federal
are

republic.

Just

in the

where

the weak are at the

mercy

of the stronger and

"even
their

the stronger

individuals
so

prompted,

by

the

uncertainty

of

condition, to submit to a government

well as
themselves,"

which

may

protect the weak as

too

in
a

civil

society

precarious majorities will

"be gradually
which

induced, by
all

like motive,
the

to wish
as

for

a government as

will

protect

parties,

weaker

well

the

more

powerful."37

Madison

offered the

extended,

federal
and

republic as the
comfort.

instrument for obtaining physical survival Throughout, Publius directs his argument
appetites
of

material

to

the

passions
will

and

his

readers:

the

new

national

government

best

prosperity.38

provide physical

This
who

plan of

security and commercial The Federalist followed the teaching

must

of

David Hume
govern

insisted
to

rulers

take

men

as

they
state

are

and

them

according

their
power

passions
and
of

fostered
avarice

the

produced a profusion and

industry"

society only because it goods, but because it instilled "a spirit of stability
of

and

interests. A
a

commercial

not

in

men and tended to

"gratify

the senses and

unleashed

appetites."39

commercial

society, Hume admitted,

insatiable
would

desires;
the

yet the more or

less

equal gratification of appetites

bind

interests
of

of egoistic

individuals

to the state.

"The
sciences,

politics,"

science

wrote

Hamilton,

"like

most
of

other

has

received great

improvement."40

His survey

led Hamilton
recurring
the

to see

it

as

unrelieved,
and

dismal failure

characterized

history by
from
for

political

instability

decline. This
understood

legacy

resulted

fact

that

"the

ancients"

ill

certain

principles

perfecting
political
orbit on

popular

government,

principles such as the separation of

powers and a system of checks and

balances.
As

Particularly
of

critical

for
the

stability
which

and

durability
the

was

the principle
the

enlarging
not

government

operated.

Federalist formula

suggested,

however,

key

to

political

success

lay
the

only in
the

enlarging
ambit of

the

geographical orbit of

government,
the

but in expanding
of

human possibility

and

altering

level

relationship

between
A

government and citizens.

century

before
of

the

new

American
writer

science

of

politics

was

constructed, the the

English
the

political

James Harrington
republican

outlined

direction

Federalist

formula for

liberty.

108 Harrington described

increase,"

Interpretation
an

imaginary

society,

Oceana,

as

"a

common

wealth

a for society built "upon the mightiest foundation has been laid from the beginning of the world to this any day."41 That foundation was equality of opportunity. The authors

that

of

The Federalist

were

struck,

as

Harrington
era,

and

Hobbes

and others

were at the

dawn

of the modern

with the

decline

and

failure

of

all

former

governments.

Harrington

contended that the

permanence of government rested

each

in uniting

the material
competitive

stability interest

and
of

individual

citizen to

it. An equalitarian,

society, he
that no

predicted,

would create such a or

distribution
the

of political power

individual
it: "the

group

would

have

inclination

or

perfection

of government

lies
the

upon such a

disturb capacity libration in the

to

frame
or

of

it,

that no man or men in

the

or under

it

can

have

the

interest,
with

having

interest,
an

can

have

power

to

disturb it

sedition."42

Only

"equal

commonwealth,"

Harrington

main

tained, contains this "full Hamilton viewed men

neighbors make natural

perfection."43

as

so

animated

by

blind
The

passion

that

enemies,

unless their common weakness can

other.44

force
the

them

into

dependence

upon each

evil

indicated
could

cure

for Hamilton. The

attaching

durability

of

government

be

secured

by

a multitude

of private

interests
could

to

it,

and the

centrifugal

tendencies of an atomized
gratification
enterprise

society
upon

be

checked

by

making
whole.

men's

dependent

For this

a moral and social

ancient

stability of the order were irrelevant.

the

Already
orders,

Harrington had declared the

to create good

belief

good men are

necessary

laws

to

be demagoguery: "But 'give

men,'

us good

and

they

will make us good

politics."45

is

the maxim of a

legislator,

and the most

infallible in

Harrington's design
coincides with

of

the

everlasting,

bourgeois

commonwealth

the

Federalist

plan at a number of

the

factor
is

of

mobility
and rapid

and perpetual change.

points, including He discerned the need

for

constant

movement

in

order

to preserve the

equality

which

the cement

of society.

process of ceaseless

deracination

formed

a prerequisite

and the motion of a commonwealth will never

circular."46

both
the
of

as

to

for "in motion consists life, be current unless it be The commonwealth, he warned, "if it be not in rotation persons and things, it will be very Anticipating
of external

order,

sick."47

Federalist

solution

of social atomization and

the multiplication

factions,

Harrington

wrote:

Alienation
So
that

and

American Science of Politics her

then

109
her be

if

you allow not a commonwealth

rotation, in

which consists

equality,
physicians
as must

you

reduce

her

to

party,

and

it is necessary

that

you

indeed,

or rather

farriers;

for

you will

have strong

patients,

and such

be haltered

and

bonesetters.48

cast,

or yourselves

may

need

Harrington argued, before the eighteenth century discovered the hand," "invisible that the common interest of society (a conception
which

by

the

seventeenth

century
apart,"

replaced

the common good of

of private

society) derived from "Whereas

the preponderant weight

interests.
private

the people, taken

you

he said, "are but

so

many
the

interests; but if
interest."49

take

them

This
called

public

interest,

the

public together, they sum of individual appetites,

are a
concept

Harrington

"right
the

reason,"50

similar

to

what

Hamilton
utility,
or

meant

by

"general
!

or remote considerations of

policy,
and

justice"

in

contrast

to men's

"momentary
"the

passions"

"immediate

interests."5

The bourgeois
in

commonwealth

Harrington

compared to a perpetual

human

organism where the arteries of the suck and

heart

circulation"

spout out more

vital

blood."52

"by

This

type

of

government

would

be

because, like
forever. With
never

the

earth,

generations

may

pass,

durable than life itself but it will remain

and

the proper
at

"architecture"

such a commonwealth might

dissolve,

least from internal

must

causes,

if

an

appetitive

balance is
your
world"54

maintained, "you

balance."53

bring

the world

in

such a case to

Set

on

this the

foundation,
grasp
of

"the

empire

of

the

shall wealth.

not

escape

the

everlasting
and

common

The idea

of

secular

society, the order,

seventeenth-

eighteenth-

century
of

solution

for

political

constitutes a significant element

Federalist

theory.

From his

vantage point

in

the

early

nineteenth

century Tocqueville believed his

The
philosophers of

predecessors

had been
in
a

wrong:

the

eighteenth

century

explained

very

simple manner

the gradual

decay
by

of religious

faith. Religious
is

zeal,

fail

the more

generally

liberty

established and

they, must necessarily knowledge diffused. Unfortu

said

nately, the

facts

no means accord with

their theory.

It may be Tocqueville
present

questioned was

whether

on

the

terms

of

his

own

analysis

warranted

in

drawing
take
to

this conclusion,
account of

but for

our

purposes

let

us

simply

intention.

Indebted

especially

David

Hume

his for his

predecessors'

political

110
philosophy, Madison took

In terpretation

from Hume

the

formula

of separation and would guarantee

division in

society.5

Hume believed that formula

both

civil rival

and religious

liberty by

multiplying,

and

hence

neutral

izing,

society; the

factions. Secular society was the counterpart of liberal formulas for civil and religious liberty were identical. As

Madison
of

expressed

it,

"It

consists

interests,
be

and

in

the

other

in the multiplicity 7 Both in the multiplicity of in the

one case
sects."5

would

enhanced,

he

held, by

mobility, expansion,
cases will

and movement:

promoting a maximum of variety, "The degree of security in both

interests
of

depend
to

on the number of

and

sects;
8

and this

may

be

presumed

depend
the

on the

extent

country

and

number of

people comprehended under

the same

government."5

The

men

of

Enlightenment did
In

not

have in
visited

mind
was

merely
correct;

religious

freedom
zeal"

and toleration.

a sense
when

Tocqueville

"religious

had
a

not

abated

he

America, but
with a secular other

"enthusiasm,"

as

Hume

called

it,

was

compatible

society, that

is,
an

society in

which

religion

was

private,
and

worldly
Hume

affair

divorced from
essay
to treat

all

dimensions
he
termed

of social

political

existence.

In

entitled what
civil

"Of Superstition

and

Enthusiasm"

proposed
which

"two

species
gave

of

false

religion"

threatened

society.

Superstition
organized, or,

rise, he

argued,

to

"priestly
religion

religion,"

that

is,

institutional,
perilously,
sects

ecclesiastical

such

as

Anglicanism

more

Catholicism. Enthusiastic
were

religions

like

the radical

Protestant
saw

more

furious,
atrophy.

were

noisier,

at

first, but

Hume

that

they

eventually

"Priestly

religion"

endangered

civil

society

because it could make an impact on it. On the other hand, when the first passion of enthusiasts is spent, "men naturally, in all fanatical
sects,
sink

into

the

greatest
religion,"

remissness

and

coolness

in

sacred

matters."5

upon civil

society;

"Priestly hence, concluded

and enthusiasm a

in contrast, can exercise an influence Hume, "superstition is an enemy to

it."60

liberty,

friend to
are

Add

to this the

fact,

he continued,

typically free-thinkers with no theological formation, and secularists should recognize they have nothing to fear. Before long these enthusiasts will become indistin guishable from them; they will become latitudinarians and deists. For Hobbes also secularism provided the final solution to the political
that
enthusiasts problem
allow
of stability.

The

rational

state

of

the modern era cannot

of

the

fear

of

God

to overcome the

fear

death,

the

desire for

Alienation
security.
order.

and

American Science of Politics

weaken

111
of political

To do

so would
of

the

very foundation
religion,

The fear
1

God

must

be

eliminated,

a task achieved

by

the

disenchantment
enlightenment.6

of

the world,

by

rationalized

by

popular

The

disenchantment
be
its
and value

of

the

world

and

the

rationalization

of

religion will
opinion

furthered,
is
and

if religion is

reduced

to a matter of private

measured

by

its

success

in

the marketplace.

In his 1785 Memorial

support
of

Remonstrance to

the

Virginia legislature in
offered a

Jefferson's Bill for Religious Liberty, Madison

defense
the
vidual

of religious

freedom

which prefigured

the secularist

intent

of

Constitution

and

The Federalist. He held

religion a matter of indi

reason and private conscience

"because

the opinions of

men,

depending
cannot

only
is

on

the evidence contemplated

men."62

by

their own

minds,

follow

the
an

dictates
affair

of other

matter of private opin

and

ion,

religion

between

the

individual

the

Deity;

civil

society is totally autonomous, and "Religion is wholly exempt from its Each individual's religious faith comprises one com
cognizance."63

peting interest among many Those

.

who make claims of religion

church are afraid

to put the merits

up

to the

for an established free market

public order

place of competition. establishment

Finally, Madison
the moderation

argued,
of sects

experience shows that

destroys

along with

and prosperity.

Among their
kind for
nation.

purposes, the
order

authors of

The Federalist delineated

in
the

the

of political

necessary

to establish a powerful

commercial

The

pattern of alienation contained

Federalist formula thus,

we must

republican

liberty
of

derives from

commercial

society;

seek

the

roots

the psychologization

of politics

in

the nature of

commercial society.

It may be
all

instructive, then,
in his
age

to turn our attention

the political

to the man who above

others

fashioned

economy

of

the

wealth of

nations, Adam Smith. Smith's reflections on

the effects

of commercial

society

and on religion and education arise

from

the

problem of political order

in

society

of

liberated

passions

and appetites.

Prior
marked gain

to

Smith it had been

observed

that

commercial

initially by
when

a moderate

but

pervasive and
created a

society was incessant desire for

appetite.
"Thus,"

which,

gratified, in time
who

larger

Montesquieu wrote, "he

raises
great

has

gratified

himself

to a

situation

in

which

his desire of gaining a little he is not less desirous of gaining a

of economic

deal."64

With

the

emancipation

activity in free

112
republics commerce

Interpretation

became

everywhere

mixed with

public
all

affairs.

Once unleashed,

the passions and appetites would

lack

restraint,

Montesquieu perceived,

less

acquisition. more

In the

for the dynamics of capitalism promoted limit absence of an intelligible order and any directive
a

principle,

is better: "It is difficult for

The

country to

avoid

having

superfluities;

but it is

the nature of commerce to render

necessary.

the superfluous

useful,

and

the useful

state will

be,

subjects."65

afford necessaries to a much greater number of

therefore, able to An archi

tect

of modern

political

economy, Smith
passionate and

endeavored to make nor

mative

the

appetitive

and

elements

in human nature,
the ethical

thereby psychologizing morality

question to a problem of

politics.

Reducing

functionality,

Smith

viewed man as a set of

psychological reactions and construed the

and again

dysfunctional as immoral. In

later in The Wealth ofNations Smith his Lectures on Justice explained how self-interest forms the ordering principle of all human exacerbates this element of human action and how commercial society
nature.

Since

commercial

consumption or the
"crazy"

society is directed toward either immediate increase of fixed or circulating capital, that man is

who seeks neither present pleasure

for future

profit:

"A

man

be perfectly crazy who, when there is tolerable security, does not employ all the stock which he commands, whether it be his own or
must

borrowed
ways."6

of

other

people, in

some

one

or

other

of

those

three

6 maintained that commercial certain produced much good and

Smith

society

fostered
ality.

desirable human
conceded, there

qualities such as
were

probity
mass

and punctu

But, he

"some

inconveniences"

to

it,

namely, people. The division

tasks so that

the stupification and

of

debasement

of the

of

laboring

labor confined men's attention to a few, routine "in every commercial nation the low people are exceed

their concern was restricted to immediate, material ingly benefits; education was neglected and the family weakened; the moral
and social senses were

stupid;"67

sapped,

and

gradually

men grew effeminate

luxury."6 8

by
In

"having
short,
this

their minds

constantly

employed on the arts of at

said

Smith,

"His
9

dexterity

his

own particular

trade seems,

in

manner, to be
the vast
would

acquired at the expense of

his intellectual, social,

called

and martial

virtues."6

Since
society"

majority

of people

in

what

Smith

"civilized
that that
an

be brutalized
"those
and

and

alienated, he

proposed

government

support

most essential parts of

education,"

is, "to

account."70

read, write,

Accordingly, in Smith

we

find

Alienation

and

American Science of Politics education,

education conceived as

113
the

early
these

proposal

for

mass public

acquisition

of skills

and vocational certification.

could
of

The

acquisition of

utilitarian

skills

awarding "little badges

people who

be encouraged, he distinction to the children

Most
advantageous

suggested,
of

by

the

common

excel

in

them."71

importantly,
because it

mass

public

education would

be politically

would make

more enlightened and, therewith, more docile and "The state, however," Smith emphasized, "derives no inconsiderable advantage from their instruction. The more they are

the

masses

tractable.

instructed,
most

the

less liable they

are to the

delusions
and

of enthusiasm and

superstition

which, among ignorant nations, dreadful disorders."72 "An instructed

frequently

occasion the
people"

intelligent

would

be

orderly; it
toward the

would possess a passion

inclined
through"

obedience;

it

would

"interested In later

complaints

for respectability and be have a capacity of "seeing of faction and it

sedition;" capriciously"

would

be indisposed "to judge rashly

years

or

the actions the

case

of

government.73

Madison similarly
government
made

stated

for
and

public

education.

Popular

public

education

indispensable

because
power.

self-government

requires
a common

knowledge,
class

knowledge is
public

There
aside

should

be

interest in
utilitarian

education,

for

from its

many,

incontestable,

benefits,
Public

public education contributed to social order and cohesion.

would provide on

education

"the best security

public

against

crafty &

dangerous

encroachments
and

the

liberty;"

the

study

of

geography break down "local would be

classes"

history,

particularly,
4

would enlighten

the masses and

prejudices;"

finally,

"the leisure

of

the

labouring
of

occupied.7

Within
religion

the

and

overarching problem of political order morality is inseparable from that of

the question
education.

For

for Hume, secularism and sectarianism were inseparable; Smith, religious factionalism was the correlative of political factionalism. Smith's formula for political and religious liberty followed exactly
as

the
and

plan sects

adopted
would

by

The Federalist: numerous, conflicting

the

groups
and

atomize

people,

neutralize

each

other,

render negligible the cumulative effect of religion on society.

In the
to a

end, he hoped, "rational

religious

liberty

and

sectarianism

would

lead

religion,"

for

the

concessions

which

they

would

agreeable

to

make

to one

another might

mutually find it both convenient and in time probably reduce the doctrine of

114
the
greater

Interpretation
part
of

them

to

that pure and

or

rational

religion,

mixture of
of

absurdity,

imposture,

fanaticism,

such as wise men

free from every have in all ages

the world wished to see established.

Like Hume
people,
above

and all

the

authors

of

The Federalist, Smith

order.

thought

common

people, committed to moral or religious

to
political

principles

were

deleterious
sects

Seeking
in

way

to

"correct
of all

whatever was unsocial or

disagreeably
country
political

rigorous

the morals

the

little
the

into

which

the

was

divided,"76

Smith
secular

turned to
society.

final

solution

for

order

in

liberal,

An unsociable, disagreeable morality in the masses could be eliminated in two ways: first, through popular enlightenment, that is,
through the popularized
antidote

study

of

philosophy
and

and

science, "the great

superstition;"77

to the poison
a

of enthusiasm

second,

through
public

measured and

hedonism
common

and

skepticism

induced

by
is

various
and and

diversions
among

amusements.

Austere,
In this

intractable beliefs

practices ridiculed

the

people

could

be debunked

by

public entertainments.
mob
of

manner order

restored

among

the

emancipated

individuals

constant

gratification.
an

The

progressive

rooting it in their enlightenment of deracines

by

becomes
noted

exercise

in the

manipulation

of

public

opinion.

Smith

in passing

that

such popular enlightenment would

be

supplied
class

by
had

academic

competition

between
of safe

members

of

the

middle

which would

furnish plenty

teachers.

Less

than a

taken

half century after the new American science of politics form Alexis de Tocqueville discerned the paradoxical

liberal-democratic society. Having dissolved the traditional bonds of community, democratic society casts men in lonely isolation from one another. Democracy severs the organic links of society, cuts every man off from his ancestors, descendants, and contemporaries, and "throws him back forever upon himself alone
nature of and threatens
of

in

the end to confine

him entirely
the
science
of

within

the solitude
eighteenth
on

his

own

heart."78

The

men a

of

seventeenth

and

centuries
orders"

intended
as

to

found
vice.

new

politics

"good

alone,
the
release was
of

Harrington

put

private

derive public benefit from The Federalist formula for republican

it,

and to

liberty
pursuit

based
last
of

upon

the

atomization

of

society

and

relentless

of self-interest.

Tocqueville

perceived

vidualism at

enervated the whole of

how democratic indi human life, and he grasped

of

the

paradox

the successful

gratification

men's appetites and

Alienation

and

American Science of Politics

115

desires. A
and

measure of gratification
of new

merely
soon

stimulated

misery, anxiety,

the

pursuit

pleasures.

The American "clutches every

thing, he holds nothing

fast, but
Life

fresh

gratifications."79

becomes

loosens his grasp duration of a

to pursue
unrelieved

restlessness, apprehension, regret, and envy in an elusive quest to satisfy the appetites and desires. Although the new science of politics
promised eternal

life for
at

the public

body

and material

prosperity for
which

its members, "Death

length

overtakes

him, but

it is before he is

weary

of

his bootless

chase of that complete

escapes

him."80

felicity

forever

The juxtaposition

of political order alongside personal and social

disorder bottom
to

was suggested
of an

by Tocqueville

in

what appeared to

him

as the at the

monotony
of

"excited

community."

A love

of riches

lay

everything Americans did, and eventually this love served homogenize the passions of men together with the actions
gratified those passions.

whereby they

Thus,

regularity

of

habit

and

disorder: "The stronger the passion is, habits and the more uniform are these acts. It may be said that it is the vehemence of their desires that makes the Americans so methodical; it perturbs their minds, but it
conduct emerged moral

from

the more regular are these

disciplines
men and

their

lives."8 1

Observation

and

reflection

persuaded

Tocqueville that

while democratic society liberated the desires of disposed them to perpetual change, at the same time it diminished the capacity of each individual and required a settled order for the gratification of those desires.

Harrington

predicted

that

the

maintenance
would

of

the

appetitive

balance in
whole

an

equalitarian

society
of

bring

the empire of the

commonwealth.

world

under viewed

the

sway

the

everlasting
centuries

As
in

Tocqueville

the

prospect

two
as

from isolation from one

disappearing

the

human

race

all

men,

later, variety insensibly and

Men
another,

was

another,

drew

nearer

to one another.
one

were a

becoming
be

alike

without

ever

having

imitated

and

similar condition of
order spread.
constant

society developed everywhere as the democratic The final result Tocqueville thought, might not simply
,

change

but

the
and
. .

extinction

of

humanity
cease

through
men

an will

absorption

in

"bootless

trifling."82

solitary
.

While
to

remain

"in

continual motion of

humanity will
of

advance."83

The

paradox

the
social

modern

science

politics

is

that

the more
stable

individual

and

disorder

are

heightened,

the

more

116
political
order

Interpretation

becomes;
from
each

the

more

estranged
more

men

themselves

and

other,

the

alike

from they become.

grow
science of

Tocqueville

and others

have
only

claimed

that the American

politics was the

political

best

possible under

historical

circumstances. proportion

Perhaps
to
the

success

can

be

achieved

in

diminishment

of the person and attenuation of community.

Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (New Norton, 1972), p. 614. 2 See Leo Strauss, The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis, trans. Elsa M. Sinclair (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952), ch.
York: W. W.
vi

Lovejoy, Reflections on Human Nature (Baltimore: Johns University Press, 1961), pp. 46-47. Among the extensive writings on Federalist political theory the essay of James P. Scanlan, "The Federalist and Human Review of Politics, 21 (1959), 657-77, deals with the
Arthur O. Hopkins
Nature,"

psychologization

In

recent

Politics,
reform of

politics, though Scanlan does not develop its implications. Man," Review of "Political Obligation and the Brutish in essay, 33 (1971), 95-121, Ellis Sandoz links the deterioration of community in
of
"libidinous"

America to the

orientation of

its politics, maintaining that

...

modem

may be

seen as

"a

conscientious attempt

to optimize the

satisfaction

the

acquisitive

reform"

political

lust of the entire citizenry through social, economic and (p. 114). If Sandoz had interpreted the Federalist achievement
not

differently, he
discontinuous.

would

be forced
also of

to

view

our

subsequent

experience

as

4See Wood,
Federalist: Science

pp.

612-15;

Martin
the

Diamond, "Democracy
Intent,"

and

The

A Reconsideration

Framers'

American Political
Federalist,"

in (1959), 52-68; and Martin Diamond, "The Political Philosophy, eds. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago: History of Rand McNally, 1972), 2nd ed., pp. 631-51. Diamond's analysis is acute but

Review,

53

neglects to pursue the

implications

of

perpetuating
and

the new regime.

Alexander
All
citations

Hamilton, James Madison,

are

John

Jay, The Federalist,

edition of

no.

51.

from The Federalist

taken

from

the

Clinton Rossiter

(New York: New American Library, 1961). 6 The Federalist, no. 10.
7

James

Madison,

"The North American No.

1,"

Sources

of the Political Thought of James (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1973), p. 36.

James

Madison,

in The Mind of the Founder: Marvin Meyers ed.

Madison,
p.

"Property,"

ibid.,

p.

243.

9Ibid., 1
1 2

244.
no. no.

The Federalist, The Federalist,

The

10.
76.

Federalist,

no.

10.

3Ibid.

Alienation
James

and

American Science of Politics

the

117
States,"

Madison, "Vices of The Mind of the Founder, p. 91. 1 sThe Federalist, no. 10.
1 6

Political System

of the

United

in

19
20 21

The Federalist, "Ibid. 11 ''The Federalist,

no.

51. 72.
51.

no.

Ibid.
The

Federalist,

no.

Federalist, nos. 42, 48, 49, 50, 55, 72. Federalist, no. 51. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, ed. Phillips Bradley
The
York: Vintage Random,
24 5

See, for

example, The

(New

1945), II;

see esp. pt.

II, bk. II.

Ibid., ch. xi. Ibid., pt. I, chs. xiv, xv, xvii. 26 The Federalist, no. 51. 7 See Tocqueville, pt. II, bk. II,
Diamond
what states

ch. xiii.

In his two

essays cited above

Martin
to

that the
called

Federalist formula for

"the

republican

liberty corresponds

Tocqueville
ch.

understood"

principle of selfinterest

pt.

II, bk, II,

viii)
of

and that

it demands the

absence of

rightly any rigid barriers

(see

to the

ceaseless

pursuit

immediate
of

interest.

Diamond

rightly

points

out

the
of

complementary

nature

the

Madisonian solution, the

public

dimension

democracy,
spirit.

Franklinian utilitarianism, the private aspect of the democratic Neither he nor Tocqueville pressed the utilitarian defense of democracy to
and

its

conclusions.

Diamond

expresses

some

apprehension mind

over the effects of the

utilitarian

calculus

for

the

life

of

the

radically, indicated the

and

possible moral and

in America. Tocqueville, more social consequences, if certain beliefs

institutions did
of

not continue to mitigate the

impact

of

the calculus,
of

but he

stopped short

saying

there was

nothing

to prevent the
and

logic

the

calculus

from ultimately corroding those very mollifying beliefs 2SThe Federalist, nos. 15 and 20. 29 The Federalist, no. 15.
30 3 1

institutions.

The Federalist, The Federalist, Ibid.

no. no.

16. 27.

32
33 34

Ibid.
For
this

reading

of

Hobbes I
ch.

am

indebted to Leo Strauss. See The Political

Natural

Philosophy of Hobbes, University of Chicago Press, 1953), 3 s

The

ii,

and pp.

Right

and

History

(Chicago:

166-202.

Federalist,

no.

43.

36 3

The Federalist,no. 51.

1-3, 14, 20, 23, 42, 45, 56, 85. in Essays: Moral, Political (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 269. 40 The Federalist, no. 9.
nos.
Commerce,"

"Ibid. 38See The Federalist, 39David Hume, "Of

and

Literary

118
41

Interpretation
James

Routledge
42

Harrington, The Commonwealth of and Sons, 1887), p. 14.

Oceana

(London:

George

Ibid., p. 37. Ibid., p. 39. 44 The Federalist,

43

no.

7.

45Harrington, p.
46 41
48 49 50 5 J 52 53

69.

Ibid.,
Ibid.
Ibid.

p.

135.

Ibid.,
Ibid.

p.

178.

77te Federalist, no. 6. Harrington, p. 187.

Ibid.,

p. p.

234. 246.
pt.

s4lfcd 55
56
of a

Tocqueville,

I,

ch. xvii.
Science"

and "Idea See Hume's essays, "That Politics May be Reduced to a in Essays. Douglass Adair established Madison's Perfect
Commonwealth"

debt

to

Hume,

and

religious

liberty
a

Irving Brant has shown the conjunction between civil and for Madison. See Douglass Adair, " 'That Politics May be
Federalist," State,"

Reduced to

Huntington On
the

Hume, James Madison, and the Tenth Library Quarterly, 20 (1957), 343-60; and Irving Brant, "Madison: Separation of Church and William and Mary Quarterly, NS3
Science': David
no.

(1951), 3-24. 51 The Federalist,

58

51.
Enthusiasm,''

Ibid.
in

60

"Hume, "Of Superstition and

Ibid., p. 79. See Strauss,
Enthusiasm"

Essays,

p.

78.

Natural Right Hume

says

and

History,

pp.

and

that

along

with

enthusiasm

198-202. In "Of Superstition "sound reason and

in The Mind of the

philosophy"

are enemies to

James

Madison,
9.

priestly religion. "Memorial and

Remonstrance,"

Founder,
63

p.

Ibid.
Baron de

York: Hafner

Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Press, 1949), I, xx, iv.

trans.

Thomas Nugent (New

Ibid., I, xx, xxiii. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, in Adam Smith's Moral and Political Philosophy, ed. Herbert W. Schneider (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), p. 380. Adam Smith, Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms, ibid., p. 319.
68 69
10 11
12

Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,

p.

320.
p.

Smith,

The Wealth of Nations,

433.

p. p.
p.

434. 435. 436.

Ibid.,

Alienation

and

American Science of Politics

119

13Ibid.
74i

James Madison to William T. Barry, August

p.

4, 1822,

in The Mind of the

Founder, p. 441. 75 Smith, The Wealth of Nations,

439.

n6Ibid.,
11
78
'

p.

442.
ch.

Ibid.

Tocqueville, pt. II, bk. II. Ibid., ch. xiii.

Ibid., bk. Ill,
ch. xxi. ch. xvii.

ii.

S0Ibid.
81
82

Aid., 83Ibid.

120
ESSAY-REVIEW:

The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, edited by Robert H. Horwitz, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1977, 245
pp.

WILL MORRISEY

Looking through
us
of

a collection of

scholarly

essays too often reminds

valuable,

looking through an knowing that, at best,

'antique'

there

hoping for something be something useful. But may

shop;

browses in Professor Horwitz's volume shall probably stay to for several essays are valuable and all are useful. admire, Every political founding bases itself on moral or ethical principles, but the Americans differ from some other nations in knowing this. Although this volume's ten contributors frequently disagree with one
he
who

another on
none

the Tightness and the effects of our moral that such

foundations,
are

disagrees

foundations
shop.

exist.

Exist:

they

ours,

not

only then,

those of a small this volume

late-eighteenth-century
'antique'

republic; in two senses,

is

no

The first
Search for

two

essays

Robert A. Goldwin's "Of Men

Constitution,"

and

Angels: A

Morality

in

the

and

Benjamin R. Barber's
America"

"The Compromised Republic: Public Purposelessness in introduce

the major themes that recur throughout. three main parts.
our moral

Goldwin divides his essay into

a self-posed question

In

each

he

answers

by

the

concerning Constitution. The first question

foundations as embodied is: Why do we have to look

for morality in the Constitution? He answers, in effect, that we look for it there because we look for it everywhere. It is our nature as Americans. Further, "the two basic American moral facts are that immorality is unavoidable [because men are not angels but here they
are at

liberty]

and unacceptable

[because

judgers']
synthesizing)

We

attempt to reconcile

'unrelenting moral this tension by combining (not

we are
self-interest."2

"noble

principle

and

Unlike

many

fashionable writers, Goldwin does not regard this combination as hypocritical. It less debases moral principles than ennobles the many

Book Reviews

121
politicians ruined

interested

selves.

Hence

we

see

American

displays
What is

by
is:

of

immorality

tolerated in other countries.

our

For this Goldwin thanks

meant
although

Constitution. His

second question

by
he
of

the

Constitution? The

question

matters

here
the

because
central

cites religious and economic causes of our moral

foundations,
the
essay

he

regards

politics

as

the

architectonic

art.

In

passage

this central

section

the passage

is

also central to

he

quotes

Aristotle: "Lawgivers
of

make the citizens good

by
all

training

them
and

in habits
if it

right

action

that
a

is

the

aim

of

lawmaking,
distinguishes

fails

to

do

this

it is
a

failure;
one."3

this

is

what

a good

Constitution from

bad

The American

Constitution, Goldwin adds, "seeks to train us in habits of restraint and moderation, because that is the only way ambitious office
holders
can

contend

with

other

ambitious

officeholders

without

falling

victim to the

law,

or to power

struggles."4

Such habits

of restraint

and

moderation

do not, however,

yield

harmony. Goldwin felicitously refutes the Newtonian analogy, so dear to the imprecise. The founders, he shows, did not seek the

harmony
beatific
the

of

the

heavenly

spheres

(the

arranged their system of checks and

realm of angels) when they balances. Everyday tumult, not

peace,

results

from
to

that

system.

It

seems

to me that the

principle of

balanced

conflict raised

to the

level
to

of nature resembles

paradox,

familiar

the

Greeks

and

eighteenth-century

discors. As Goldwin hints by his use of Aristotle, the difference between the concordia discors of the Greeks and that of, say, Adam Smith, is that the former has a telos that exceeds the sum of its parts and the latter does not. The Greek
thinkers,
of the concordia

version
version

therefore

tends

toward

concordia, the

eighteenth-century
the
point
of

toward

discors.

(That, incidentally, is

the

volume's
without

final
saying

essay; its

beginning

anticipates

that Greek

theory does
makes

not

its end.) It should go reflect Greek practice in

this respect.

Our

problematic

quasi-te/os

moderation

all

the

more

important for

us and all the more

is: What morality is possible and tion, obviously, is appropriate; the Constitution makes it possible, but a rhetoric is necessary to make it actual. If the telos of the whole is vague,
even

difficult. Goldwin's third question appropriate for America? Modera

dubious (although
moderation

the telos of the

parts, the individual

should moderate

citizens, is less so),

is hard

to

defend. I

122
myself?

Interpretation

What for?

Inevitably,

what

do I

get

out

of

it if I do?

Extreme individualism yields, for example, resentment. Goldwin's description of Lincoln's position on slavery ("the chief task was less
to
punish
wrongdoers

than

to

right

the

wrong")5

represents

teZos-oriented,
ment.
one

not

intention-oriented,

ethic which eschewed resent

And Lincoln was, to say the least, a successful politician. But must ask of Goldwin: What could a Lincoln say now? Recent
suggest

events passion

that

resentment
ad

rules

many

souls.

Resentment,
aims

usually directed

hominem,
our

intensifies periodically in
which

American

history; it
persons

reflects
at

individualism,
ethical

more

easily

at

than

shared

standards.

The

unstated

suggestion of

suffice, that
resentment

Goldwin's essay is that rhetoric and law alone may not the Lincolnian magnanimity which overcomes extreme
always

has

been

a rare

thing,

and seems rarer today.

Barber

sees

the

problem

Goldwin sees, stating it

never

rather

more public
one of

baldly. He
the

contends
. .

that

"America has
was
.

purposes and
nation's

for a long time this fundmental strengths

.
.

had enduring properly taken to be

A
public
purpose

is

not

identical

to a regime's

telos; Barber

writes that our

. . .

"faith has

always

been
of

that

from

the

clash

of opposites

will come not the

victory
Our
private

any

one

but

the mediation and accommodation of them the

and and

all."

public

telos,

then, has been

partial people

satisfaction
were

of

interests. America's geography republicanism of Montesquieu institutions

could not
were

unsuited

to

the

Rousseau,

and

the

Founders'

"surrogates for
under

pristine republican
unique

institutions

that

function
contends

America's

conditions."7

Barber Increased

that

population
a

today those conditions have been reversed. limits abundance; we can no longer believe
thing the

inequality
property
tatives to

temporary

assumption

being
also

that

equality
Barber

of

contributes

to

the

public

good.

It

causes

represen calls

be irresponsible

and citizens to

be

apathetic.
crucial

for "periodic redistricting in

and economic
tion,"

accordance

with

demographic
"aliena

developments."8

Whether that
might

would assuage

"rootlessness"

and

"solitude"9

be seriously debated in

the

Center for

the

Study
fails

of

existence.

And I

notice that when

Democratic Institutions, were it still in Barber faults the Constitution for

mention
at

being

outdated

he

to

the

existence

of

modern

communications,

which

must,

least potentially,

strengthen

the

Book Reviews

123
But
when

bonds between
institutional
modern

representatives

and

citizens.

he lists
include

props

for his

own

system,

he does
the

not neglect to

communications.

On

deeper
and
which

level,
would

he

suggests

that

cause

of

alienation,

rootlessness
hubris"10

solitude

is

"modernity
nature: an

itself,"

the

"Baconian individu
not

conquer

aspect of the

alism

he

and
all

Goldwin describe. His egalitarianism, then, does

of

exclude

kinds

selectiveness, any
contends, must

more

than, say, Rousseau's

notions of
men,"

does. Republicanism, he
accommodation
dence,"

be founded "on
on x

to nature and
and

mutuality among
"freedom."1

"indepen

"self-realization"

He

seems

to combine
question

some

ancient

political
can

ideas
the

with

much

Rousseau. The

is:

To

what

extent

deeply

modern

Rousseau

overcome

modernity?

The ideas
and

next

two

contributors

discuss

our

moral

foundations

with

reference and

less

to present circumstances than to the

circumstances.

founders,

their

their

The late Martin Diamond's "Ethics

Politics: The American

Way"

is,

to

my

knowledge, his final

of
Realism"

and

best

statement of a career's work on the

American

founding. Richard
(a
chapter

Hofstadter's "The
Men Who Made

Founding

Fathers: An Age

from his widely distributed The American Political Tradition and the It) is a popular analysis that few undergraduate or political science majors don't encounter. history In the opening pages of his essay, Diamond treats explicitly what Goldwin suggests: the relation of ethics to politics. Seldom has that relation been illuminated with such lucidity and grace. Today, he
"morality"

observes, the
tions on what

word
governments

usually
and

signifies
do";12

"negative

prohibi

men

may

positively stated,
Aristotle thought
other

morality today wise (and recall

are:

signifies

rights,

not virtues.

that

Goldwin

admires

Aristotle). Aristotelian
the
or

virtues

"all

those
.
.

qualities

required

for

full

humanness

that

comprise

the

health

completion

development of of human

character."1

modern

Completion, of course, is one aspect of telos; insofar as origins not ends, emphasizes rights not morality looks to

virtues, it is

fundamentally
each

incomplete. An

ethos

is

an

ethics-pattern,
each regime

distinctive

to

regime.

It is distinctive because

is

124

Interpretation
and

distinctive,
tion

"the

political

order or the

regime"14

its

constitu

in

the comprehensive

sense

contributes more than

anything

else

to

the

formation
of

of an

ethos.

The

polis results

from
an

ethical need

(men
the

are political

animals, Aristotle wrote) ; it is

character"1

"association for
question are to of

formation
these

5
that

is its telos. 'The

excellences
politics."1

how

developed in
The
title

character-forming ethical man is what links ethics

of

[virtues]
6 not

be

and

the

volume

refers

to

the

moral,

the

ethical,

foundations of the American republic. In modernity formation becomes secondary to liberty and economy. Whereas Goldwin finds the American regime problematic because it lacks a well-defined telos, Diamond believes America isn't fully political in
the Aristotelian sense.

character-

He

writes

that

we

owe

our

distinctively
and

modern
owed

politics

to

Madison

above the other

of

founders,
tenth

Madison

his

celebrated

treatment
ancient.

faction in
as

the

Federalist to

Hume,
on,"

who was no

Madison,

Diamond interprets
as

him,
to

regarded the

improve
to
so

citizens'

ment

of or

opinions

"too
and

risky

rely
opinions,

preferring
and

tame

devitalize
to

religious
them.1

political

"not
to

much"

improve

Further,

Madison

wanted

avoid

to leaders and to distribute property some former prevents one kind of faction, the latter causes a mild faction based on economic competition instead of the more virulent religious and political faction. He thus preferred moderate discord to the attempt for harmony, which yields extreme discord. If modern political thought "had begun a kind of depolitipassionate attachment
what

unequally; the

cizing
in

of politics

in

general"

contributed to that enterprise

particular."18

He

thus

de-ethicizing, then, as well), Madison by "depoliticiz[ing] political opinion "deliberately risk[ed] magnifying and
the selfish, the

(a

multiplying in American life

and the
economic."1

interested,

the vulgar,

crassly
the

9 seeks

But for

first
the

time

Diamond
He

to go

defining
possess

"American-ness."

distinguishes
encourages
and

avarice

beyond Madison in the desire to

acquisitiveness

from
earn.

preferred

American

desire,
such

the
as of
of

desire

to

Acquisitiveness
partial

modest

virtues a

honesty, industry,
moderation.
whom

liberality

some and

justice:

kind

One thinks
cites.

of

Montesquieu "political

Tocqueville, both
observes
of the

Diamond

Most

interestingly, Diamond
truths"

that

Madison himself

thought the

Bill

of

Rights

Book Reviews
passion"

125

"counteract the impulses of interest and as citizens are habituated to (Paul Eidelberg, in his A Discourse on 1 ; the dialogue between Statesmanship, quotes this same Diamond and of the few genuinely serious one was Eidelberg
them.20
passage2

political

dialogues
analysis

of our

time,
of an

deserving
the

the

attention of all careful

students of the
careful would

founding.) Clearly,
of the

next

investigation

would

be

Bill

Rights. Perhaps Professor Diamond

analysis;
now

have

given

us

such

his

work

can

only be

continued

by

we who

have learned from him.

that the

Hofstadter's
Hobbesian
require

argument

founders his

were

Calvinistic,
to

and therefore

undemocratic

is sufficiently

well-known

no

summary.
a

Goldwin

refutes

contention

that
with

the

Constitution is

Newtonian

document; Diamond,
which

writing

care,

subtly

criticizes

his

"humanism,"

is really

the

historicist belief

that one can change

human

nature

by

changing

economic conditions.

ping-pong ball of his bounces from biography to ideas, back and forth, heedless of the logical net that separates them. I would rather read this piece before Diamond's it being traditional in a dialogue (and that is one of the things this book is) to move from fashionable arguments to less fashionable ones. Physically placing it before Diamond's, however, would have the disadvantage of making it central to the first half of the volume; fortunately, teachers need not assign
rhetoric

I find Hofstadter's

entertaining; the

argument

readings

in the

order

they

appear.

If

one

were

to

group Joseph Cropsey's "The United States

of

as
of

Regime

and the

Sources

the

American
with

Way
the

Life"

of

with

any

the other essays,

one would

group it

Diamond

and Hofstadter-

book. But I prefer to think of it as the book's central essay (in fact it is the fifth often), (if I may be forgiven a Newtonian radiating insight, illuminating
and as the culmination of the

first half

of

metaphor) the planets that The American regime has other element is but

revolve around

it.
"political
fragment,"

legal,

coercive

"every

subject to

ongoing

thought":

chance.22

which

is private,

not

political,
what we

a matter of

thought, The "regime is

alien to the

what teaches us

to

be

are,

and

intrusive thought,

126
regime
with

Interpretation

but

unrepressed

by

the

regime,

teaches us to

be dissatisfied

what we are
what we we are

and,

incidentally,

with

the regime that teaches us

to

be

are."23

Moreover,

the regime

itself "includes both

that
we

what

must

dissatisfied with and be dissatisfied with it."24

tension
sees.

what provokes us to see

This
sees

insight
the

comprehends

the

liberty/morality
tension

Goldwin

and

economics/politics

Diamond

Thus "the
and

regime
manner

is

problematic with a view to

which

its

own

persistence

to

the

in

it determines

the

way

of

life

of the

nation.25

not

but
cies,

within

the

fully a regime. Beyond the founding there founding itself there are two modernities:
exhibited two moral man
of

is religion, "From its

or

inception modernity has

one

meanings

tenden

inspiriting, reminding
the
world other

his

earthbound solitude and greatness

of

presenting

as

an

opportunity for
toward
and

some
and

description,
freedom
to

the

pointing
private and

survival,

security,

cultivate

the

privately felt
Hence
in I

predilections":

Machiavelli

versus

Hobbes

Locke.26

modernity's our

self-criticism.

"The United States is

out."27

an arena

which

modernity is
Machia
excision of

working itself
velli contains

(On this,
and

incidentally,

suspect that

his

"bourgeoisification,"

own

because his
politics

wisdom,

both

ancient

Scriptural, from

while

retaining
.)

thymos

leaves

thymos

vulnerable to seduction

[cf.

Mandragola!]

As
an

Cropsey interesting shift

"Scripture"

traces the metamorphoses

occurs.

of modern political

thought

At first he finds
to

the present

of

and

of natural science

be

of

modernity;

understanding later, he

exempts

them

partially

(Cartesian

natural

science,

for example,

"brings way

together the moral

of science

fortitude or spiritual toughness that the both demands and cultivates, and the promise that
. .

science

holds

finally
say it,
phosis.
of

writes

ministerial

for prolonging life and emending souls. ); he both have been "transformed into, or made indolent." Although he does not [!] to, the mollifying or
out

that

this

shift

may

parallel

an

important

philosophic

metamor

In the

essay's central passage

nature to

Cropsey

states that the

"change

focus from

history by

[completed

by Hegel]
with

produced no
of

mitigation

of modern man's

dissatisfaction
and

the absence
official

any

exaltation,

vivacity,
as

or

high-heartedness
Hobbes
science

from

political

modernity
it.29

laid down
and

Locke"

but, rather,
a

increased
universe

"Scripture"

natural

"both

presuppose

that is

ultimately

mysterious and

in

which

the most

important

things

Book Reviews
can

127

yet

be known

to

man, especially

the truth that there

the

is

one,

or

absolute, the

being

of which

dominates

whole."30

Cropsey

tells

us, subtly, that

historicism

attempts to reveal that

absolute,

but fails.
Hege

Rather,
lian
the
nor

modernity's "dialectic" which

for

Cropsey

is

neither

Marxianis one in

which

"the indulgent silently

that
and

consumes

inspiriting."3 1

It

would

seem

historicism

deliberately
Moder is

intensified
its
apparent

modernity's

self-criticism

undeliberately intensified

opposite, But Cropsey's analysis becomes

some

self-indulgence. still more comprehensive.

and

nity in itself a

"self-criticism"

way

resembles

pre -modernity,

Western,

not

only

modern,

phenomenon.
which

Self-criticism

requires a self to

criticize; individualism (that

a

makes political

life problematic) is
invented
itself,"

by
has

modernity.

Western phenomenon, exaggerated but not If "Modernity has grown by consuming

2

so

the

West.3

That leads

to some to

final
of

questions.
as the

If "the highest
task of

task of political

philosophy is

understand,

highest
life
to

to govern, the relation that reveals the

thought"33

political
of

statesmanship is (a statement
that would

importance

historicism the
then

doctrine
politics.

unify

theory
as

and

conceived

dialectic,
nature

practice) is at

philosophy
with

itself, philosophy
Is
political

tension

philosophy
one

by

paradoxical?

Goldwin's

question

How does

find

a rhetoric of of

moderation?

is

one aspect of the govern

fundamental
relation
of

problem

statesmanship,

which

must

the

something
the

that

is

political to

comprehensive

As magnanimity, something response to Goldwin's seems the virtue, only

that
not.

is

question,

so some yet more comprehensive thought-system seems the

only Cropsey's is

response

to

Cropsey's. That is
which

to

say

that

of all

these essays,

the one

leaves

an attentive reader with of a philosopher.

the most

fundamental

questions: the

mark, perhaps,

Gordon S. Wood's "Democratization

Revolution"

of

Mind in "John
of

the

American
and

and

Robert

H.

Horwitz's

Locke

the

Preservation
treat
the

of

Liberty: A Perennial Problem

theme
as embodied

Civic
the

Education"

thought/politics

in

work

of

the

Founders

and

that

of their major philosophic precursor.

This

section

Diamond/Hofstadter parallels, therefore, the Goldwin/Barber section,

and

section rather than

the

appropriately follows Cropsey.

128
Wood

Interpretation
contends that at the time of the and

founding

"ideas

and

power,
with

intellectualism
each
other

politics,

came

together

indeed

were

one

way The Founders unintentionally "helped

in

never again

duplicated in American
create

history."34

the changes that

a
regime of

led
in

eventually
which

to

their

undoing."35

own

They founded
such

egalitarianism
as

rules,

aided

by

instruments
Federalists

mass-

communication

the

printing publicly

press.

"The

found it

increasingly difficult
not get punished
could

to

speak the truth as were unable to

for

it."36

They
an

defend
one

"elitism"

in

anti-"elitist"

(On this,

might consider the possible

and

they saw it and find a rhetoric that world; deference waned. relation of deference and

moderation,

egalitarianism

immoderation

That

our

Revolution
of

"contributed
men"

to

"remarkable group
radicalism."37

illustrates

recalling Goldwin.) demise" of this [the] its "transforming democratic

. . .

Of the two historians

whose

contributions appear more

in

this

volume,

Hofstadter

writes more

stylishly, Wood
the

thoughtfully. Whether
was

"the democratization
Revolution"

of

American

mind"

caused of

by

"the

itself,

or rather

by

the political

ingenuity

Thomas

Jefferson
our

and

others, is

question

whose answer wouldn't conceal

Constitution's susceptibility
shows

to that

democratization.
Federalists
nor

Horwitz

that

"neither

the

the

Anti-

Federalists

provided an adequate analysis of the character and place

of civic virtue
of

in

the

American Republic
Both
wanted

and the need

for

some

form

civic

education."38

to

insure
one

rights

one

by instituting a commercial republic,

we

liberty, natural by imposing the

For
such

strict self-discipline of
an

Samuel Adams's "Christian

turn not tc
statesmen

Sparta."

analysis

should

but

to a philosopher:

John Locke.

Locke, in Horwitz's
essentially
virtues
liberty"39 on

words,

believed

that

"a

republic

based
those
of

the pursuit

of private

interest

can still

develop

that

are

ultimately indispensable
exists

to

the
a

maintenance

if

there

in

that

republic

rightly
public

-educated

gentleman -class

(not
and

to

be

confused with the

titled
of

'nobility'). The
education

inept
could

methods

overly-Christian

doctrines

be

avoided
of

by

the engagement

of a right-minded private tutor

(the privacy
the
modern

Lockean

education reminds us of
of

Diamond's

point on

"depoliticization"

politics).

In

Some

Thoughts

Book Reviews

129
tutor

Concerning
Central moral)
and

Education Locke

tutors not the

but

the

parents

who shall select

him.
Lockean
calls
civic

to

understanding
is
what

education

Locke

the

(and therefore, in part, "law of Credit

adults,
alike.

opinion."

disgrace powerfully
the

reward and punish children and

Whereas
passions

public educators of the physical

day

attempted to suppress the

by

punishment, Locke
passions,
of

finds

that mental reward

the child to

and punishment redirect the

habituating
"law

defer

them, Hence
of

to

develop

the

idea

"self-interest rightly

understood."

the patriotism

necessary

to

defend

liberty even to the point

opinion"

risking

death stems
method

from

the
with

of

and

the

educational

consonant stems

it. Even

the

authority
a

of

the

gentleman-class republic

itself

from

that

law, for in
the

well-ordered

ordinary

citizens would

defer

to those who,

in

the modern

phrase, "make

opinion."

This illuminates

link between deference

and moderation.

That

raises

an

important

question.

Love

disgrace bespeak individualism; they

would
which

also

surely

ask

if

this were not evidence

of credit and fear of limit it. A critic of Locke of natural human sociality,

Locke's

state-of-nature
and

I think, that
and

praise

doctrine blame cause

are

precludes.
sensations

Locke
of

would

reply,

mental pleasure

pain; those sensations

natural,

but

the

forms they
insist
which

take are

conventional,

post-state-of-nature.

Still,

one might

that there
causes

is
to

something
respond to others.

about

that

tabula, allegedly

rasa,

it

those

rewards and

punishments,

and more

readily

than to

If Locke

argues that one can write

anything
the

on a

tabula rasa,

his

critic,

waxing
the

polemical,

could

agree

citing

Essay [on]

Civil
one

Government
maximizes

as an example
"rasa"

(the

unpolemical point

being

that
no

if

aspect

of

the

tabula there is then

a-social

more

justification for calling

man

naturally
or

than there
more

is for calling

him

naturally

social,

political

anything

than

naturally

sentient).

It is
the

possible that
of

Locke
essay.

conceals

the tension

Horwitz describes in

beginning

his

vied with the commerical

The Christian Sparta (itself problematic) republic. But the tradition of the Christian
in American literature for
various odd can't

Sparta did
and

not

die. It
of

persisted

decades,
today.

occasionally
pitchfork

manifests

itself in

idealisms
expel

even

The

individualism

quite

sociality and,

ultimately,

politics.

130 In his final

possible
would

Interpretation
sentence

Horwitz asks, "is

such an educational program

today, and, if so, be its proper

by

whom would

it be developed

and who

recipients?"40

In asking that he
the
or

reminds us of

Goldwin, Cropsey,
who

Wood. For today

passions
apt?

exemplary
appetites.

people are those

embody

or

symbolize

'Sex

goddess':

is

that not

laughably

It is

enough to make one turn to religion. and

With Walter Berns. His

to the volume's

"Religion
second

the

Founding

Principle,"41

central

McWilliams's "On
nity"

half, begins the final section, which includes Wilson Carey Equality as the Moral Foundation for Commu and the late Herbert J. Storing's "Slavery and the Moral
of

Foundations
Berns

the
us

American
no

Republic."

offers

consolation.

He

shows

that

undiscriminating
Jefferson
that
our agreed

toleration
and

(or,

as

they say
had in

now,

"pluralism")
a

was not what

the

others

mind.

The founders "all

providential

institutions do
that

not

presuppose

Supreme
the

Being,"

but
of

"their

preservation

does"42

(it

seems

that

pitchfork

individualism mortally

wounds

itself if it impales its

that
the

enemy).
of

Jefferson, for
lightened

example,

believed
natural

religion

the unen

supports

modern

right (which is
to
modern

no

Christian

doctrine). One

reconciles

Christianity
one

natural

right Thus

by
we

making Christianity learn of "Nature's centrally

natural asserts

reasonable:

of

Locke's

projects.

God"

in the

Declaration;
replaces

one might

say

that

Berns

that

America

Christianity
men extreme

with

Lockean
religion-

right.
as

Further,
Diamond

commerce

makes
an

forget
rest
on

replacing,
manageable

might

say,

passion

with

one.

Religious

toleration

can

only

what

is

regarded as political truth.

as

Paradoxically,

poHtical truth

is

then

more,

it were,

sacred

than religious

belief;

the

Jefferson

who

tolerated
rational

any

reasonable

Christianity

tolerated

only

the

self-evidently

politics of modern natural

right.
of

There are, I observe, kinds

passions.

Economic

passions

are

appetites, directed toward the individual. Religious passion directs itself beyond the individual. Paradoxically, reason seems to be a better weapon against transcendent passion than against "natural"
appetitive passion.

It

seems

that

Jeffersonianism depends

on

the

Book Reviews
progress
of

131

"Enlightenment":
is
one of

misplaced

faith,

it

now

seems

clear.

"Democratization"

"Enlightenment"

latter destroys
Jefferson is
of

the

basis

thing, Lockean deference.

another.

The

an enthusiam of

McWilliams's,
oddest.

although

the rationale
the

his

enthusiasm seems

problematic.

His essay, among

better
the

ones

in the volume, is also, surely, the Although "equality is apparently McWilliams thinks
about

age,"

that

conquering dogma "contemporary humanity is

the

of at

best

ambivalent

equality,"

that

"the cry for equality is

much closer

too

often

only

the rhetorical

heart."43

disguise for Modernity defines

treatment."44

values

to the modern
external

"equality"

as

something
and

and

merely
reject

individualistic:
of

equality

of

having
that

doing,
the

that

is,
to

"equality
the

Because
equal

allows

individual

possibility

that

he is

to others

(imagining

his

own
of

superiority while asserting his equality), the demand for equality treatment is usually a means to eventual domination. (One thinks
Marx's is
proletarian

of

dictatorship.)
and

a matter not of
a matter of

having being human.

But true equality, to McWilliams, is doing but of beingin the case of man, it

True equality is something internal

essential
quality"

and

political,

not external and economic.

McWilliams defines "humanity's

true
equality

the

basis

of

as our natural

seeking
that

of self-knowledge and

the good

life.45

All men, equally,

seek

although, obviously,
philosophers

each

may

seek

it differently.
though

Contemporary

political

"are led
to

toward teleological
even

arguments

regarding

the

natural end of compel

humanity,
stop

their presumptions and

teaching."46

training

them

short of that

It is

a credit to

he

almost

does
we've

not

stop
so

short of that
often

McWilliams's subtlety that teaching. On the problem of

argues

telos that

seen

here, he
that

for

a new regime

in

which citizens

honor "common
He

values"47

presumably, those

based

on

true

equality.

recognizes

in

the

"exchange
over

societies"

advocated

by
or

capitalists

and radicals

alike, "power
social

others-not

equality
"humane

with

them remains

the

highest
which

value."48

He

prefers

authority"

nurturant
which

does
He

not yield

equality of

treatment, but
of

would aim

at

encouraging
or

our natural

seeking
of

self-knowledge

and

the

good

life.49

traces

the

history
to

political

philosophy
and

from

the

"classics"

"ancients"

the
and

"moderns"

to

the

American

founders,

showing

that

Plato

132
Aristotle
understood

Interpretation

true

equality far better

the practical
and

than their successors.

of

Moreover, he soberly
the

recognizes

difficulty

actualizing
admires;

commonality"

"inward
to

sense

of

equality
the
of

that

he

central

his essay is
ideal
and

observation

that, for
. .

the classics,
.

"The

philosophical

perception

mystery,

an

was a kind of human equality truth safe only for adequately prepared

initiates."5

wrote

that

McWilliams

almost

does

not

stop

short

of classical

teleology.
able

By

emphasizing
that
we

the seeking, not the achievement,

all

he is

to

argue

are

equally human. One

might

contend,

following
resembles

McWilliams,
or

that the most tiresome

Manhattan socialite,

recalling his

self-knowledge

her banal fantasies on a psychiatrist's couch, seeks and the good life with as much eros as Socrates. That
than

Aristotle less

it does Rousseau,
common good

who

shifted

the

emphasis of politics
agglomerate of

from

the

to the

General Will: the

seeks

individual wills,
although

each

of which of

fervently
of

the

good

for itself,
to

the

individual's idea

the good

be

wrong.

Aristotle

defines

humanity
to

in

terms

may in fact virtues (recall

Diamond);
human

he

fully

human is
would

have developed

the

distinctively
as

virtues.

Aristotle

therefore regard
socialite.

Socrates in

more

fully
sense

human
was an
.

than the

Manhattan
or

"Equality
for

the classical

not

merely formal
sense of

material,"

McWilliams writes; "it

the good of the

involved
whole
. .

internal
x

equality,
the

a concern

In

melding

efficient

with

the

final cause,
who was

McWilliams departs from

the classics, perhaps

enthusiasm an

This accounts, I think, for his

no ancient.

knowingly. for Jefferson,

sense,"

Jefferson believed in
which caused

inner "moral
to value

the

basis

of

his egalitarianism,
[his
polis-like education as

him

"political community

for
that

"ward republics"] for moral in the perception of

education and

especially

equality."52

But Jefferson's

morality,

respect

McWilliams sees, is a matter of sentiment, not reason. In it derives from modern subjectivism: Hobbes, Locke, McWilliams
seems to

Adam

Smith, Rousseau.

desire

synthesis of

ancient and modern political philosophy.

As is prudent, he [the
true politics
of

reminds

us

the ancient

"Of course, we cannot realize polis] in our great industrial states;

that

size alone prevents

it,

and those who

have

attempted to

impose

civic

equality

on such states

have only

monstrosities."53

created

Rather,
life
as

he

proposes

less

grandiose changes to

"revitalize

our political

Book Reviews

133
radical,
and therefore

far

as circumstances

permit."54

He is

a genuine

a moderate

in his

own way.

Any

regime

that professes to

admire

find slavery
repugnance:
of

repugnant.

To have

tolerated
politic.

equality and liberty should it is to have swallowed that

In his essay
on the relation
our

poison to the our moral

body

slavery

to

foundations, Storing
sure)
that some of

confronts

most

extreme ethical

failure.
am
our yeastier polemicists wrecks

I hope (in vain, I

can

read

and

understand this essay.

Storing

the

hackneyed

arguments:

Jefferson -was-a-slaveholder-and-therefore-a-hypocrite;

the-Constitution-made-the-Negro-three-fifths-of-a-man, and the rest. He directs our attention to Frederick Douglass, who may have been
the most magnanimous

(in Aristotle's sense)

that

of

Americans. He
the texts

shows
which

that

"these

masters

knew

they

were 5

writing

in

their slaves would

learn

their the

rights."5

Yet

Storing
.
. .

criticizes
of

founders,
itself
an

moderately

and

radically.

"That very
worked

principle
contains

individual

liberty

for

which

the

founders

slavery."56

toward

uncomfortably large opening With McWilliams, and others, he sees that

within

individual

rights, defined
what

as

self-interest, nearly

counsel

one

that

"one may do

one can

do."5 7

Such

are

"the

political and moral

defects

individualism."58

of mere

One thing might be Although "the ones.

added

to

American

his essay, in founders

politicians

view of the and

their

preceding immediate
those

descendents
of

not

only believed in but

generations emphasize

emphasized who

the wrongness

slavery,"59

the

of

followed
of

descendents did
America's

not

it.

If

we

agree

with

Wood that

mind was

"democratized"

due

to the efforts
unlike

Jefferson,

admittedly, but remembering peers, believed that

come

that

"democratization"

Jefferson, many of his brought 'Enlightenment'-we

"democratization"

to the
and

seeming

paradox

that

increased

(less

natural

conventional

aristocracy,
racial

more

egalitarianism

in the

ordinary
resisted

sense)

yielded

more

discrimination,
defects

not

less. The
aristoi,

aristoi who

framed
of

the

Constitution,
political and

being genuine
moral

or natural of mere

alism."

many Their

"the

individu

"democratized,"

vulgar-ized

grandchildren
not more.

did

not.

Democracy

with

liberty

yielded

less equality,

Democracy

134
without

Interpretation

liberty,

as

we

know,

yields

the

same

problem,

only

worsened.

offer

an egalitarian compliment to the editor and contributors:

Any
from

person who

them.

seriously wants to learn about our country can learn The dialogue between the contributors, as with any

carefully-arranged

dialogue,

shall teach

every

student

according

to

his

nature,

whether

it be

the nature of a college sophomore, a

professor,
price

or one unattached to academia.

Insofar

as these students partake of

America's Lockean component, they shall find the $2.95 assigned by the University Press of Virginia truly satisfying.
I
also offer two suggestions to the editor and the publisher:

for

the

second

edition,

commission an article
our

on the problem of

foreign policy in

regime;

for

the next printing, add a good

conducting index.

All

references are

to the

reviewed

text,

20

unless otherwise noted.

21

Diamond, p. 71. Paul Eidelberg,

Discourse
and

on

Statesmanship: The Design

Trans

pp. 9-10. Aristotle quote from Nichomachean Ethics, Bk. 2,1103b.

Goldwin, Goldwin, 3 Goldwin,

2

p. p.

6.

formation

of the American
of

Polity,

4.

University
22

Illinois

Press, Urbana,

taken

Goldwin, p. 10. Goldwin, p. 14. 6 Barber, p. 20. 7 Barber, p. 24. Barber, p. 36. 9 Barber, pp. 37-38. 10 Barber, p. 38. 11 Barber, p. 38. Diamond, p. 40. Men
5

1974, pp. 400-01. Cropsey, p. 88. 23 Cropsey, p. 88. 24 Cropsey, p. 88 25 Cropsey, p. 88. 26 Cropsey, p. 92.

27Cropsey,
28

p.
p. p. p. p.
p.

Cropsey, Cropsey,

92. 94.

are not

angels,

"Cropsey, 3 Cropsey, 32Cropsey,

Cropsey, Wood,
p. p.

93. 98. 100. 95.

101.

Publius
14
15

wrote. p.

p.

Diamond,

41.

Diamond, p. 42 Diamond, p. 43. Diamond, p. 44. Diamond, p. 53. Diamond, p. 56.

34Wood, pp. 35
36Wood, 37Wood,
38

102-03.

p.

103. 119. 128. 133. 133-34.

156.

Diamond,

p.

59.

Horwitz, 39 Horwitz, 40 Horwitz,

p.
p.

p.

Book Reviews This

version

135
189.

essay
of

is

partially
1
of

revised

4sMcWilliams, p.
46

Chapter

Berns's

McWilliams,

p.

189. 185. 186.

190.

remarkable
ment and

book,
the

The First Amend

47McWilliams, p.
McWilliams, 4 9Mc Williams,
5 48

Democracy
1976,
even

Future of American (Basic Books, New York,

p.
p. p.

1-32). The present essay is better than the original; there is a

pp.
shift
of emphasis of

"McWilliams, 5 x

significant

con

McWilliams, 52 McWilliams,

pp.

197. 192-93

cerning
'sanctity'

the
of

theme
religion

the

relative

and

politics

in

America,
limited

too subtle to express

in this

space.

42Berns, p. 165. 43McWilliams, p. 44McWilliams, p.

182. 184.

209-10. 212. McWilliams, p. 212. 55 Storing, p. 225. 56 Storing, pp. 225-26. 57 Storing, p. 226. s8 Storing, pp. 232-33.
pp.

"McWilliams, p. S4

59

Storing,

p.

220.

136
BOOK REVIEW:

Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, N.Y. 1978,
two vols.

$25.00

GERALD J. GALGAN

St. Francis College

Arendt
and

analyzes

the

"vita

contemplat

judging, thereby nearly completing

the

"arch"

into thinking, willing, begun with (and

repeating

activa"

the symmetry of) The Human Condition where the "vita is divided into labor, work, and action. Work, in The Human
presented as
while

Condition, is
world
of

the

activity
in

which

produces an artificial

things,
vital

labor is
and

presented

as

the

activity

which

produces

necessities

doing

so

corresponds

to

the

processes of the

human

body; but both

are
slavish

work and

labor,

as construed

by

the

Classical

Mind,
of

activities

since

their end

is

the the the

maintenance of

life. Action,
the

unmediated

only

component

"vita

activa"

activity between men, is worthy of a free man;

in
the

"political,"

consequently,

is

supreme

"vita

activa."

This

symmetry is
and

repeated

in The Life of the Mind

where

willing is
things,
the

presented as the power of

spontaneously
the

beginning

a series of

judging
of

is

presented

as

making

manifest of

thinking in
its

world

appearances;

as their objects.

but both willing Thinking alone has the

in
the

and

judging

have

particulars

universal as

object and

is

therefore supreme

"vita

contemplativa."

Arendt distinguishes

thinking (the
since the

quest

for meaning) from

as
activa,"

"vita

contemplativa,"

knowing (the quest for truth); understood by the Classical Mind,

is
the

is

superior to the
of

"vita

the quest
questions"

raising
the

"unanswerable

for meaning found in the highest activity for man.

Action
and
work of

The Human Condition dramatizes

Classical

the Modern Mind's inversion of

activa."

hierarchy
to

of

the

"vita

are

made
made

subservient

labor,
as

and this entails

redefinition

man,

explicit
of

by

Marx,

the

"animal

laborans."

All

'use'

objects

objects (those of labor), as work) become the industrial revolution replaces workmanship with labor and pushes laborans" "political" the "animal into the public realm. The can no

(those

'consumption'

longer be

supreme

in

the

"vita

activa"

since the

only thing

men

have

Book Reviews

137

in

common

is

their private interests private activities the

displayed in
the

the open.

The distinction between

"vita

activa"

and

"vita

contemplativa"

is

erased and

thinking

comes to

be interpreted

as one

among
Mind

several

manifestations of the

"vita

activa."

dramatizes
of

the

Modern

Mind's

inversion

The Life of the of the Classical

and

hierarchy
the

the

"vita

contemplativa."

Thinking

judging

are

made subservient to

willing,

and this

entails a redefinition of man as

of unqualified

undetermined

being,
both

the

being

selfhood of

transcends

the political and natural orders.

shifts

freedom, whose By virtue

of
us"

its

notion of

progress, the Modern Mind

its understanding

future from the Classical "that which we determine by the projects

the

which

approaches

to that

of the will.

Modern technology
that

is thereby
These

made

possible

as

"the

will

to

will,"

is,

the will to

subject the whole world to

its domination
"arch"

and rulership. constituted

are the rudiments of the

and
of

by
is

The Human
unfinished.

Condition

At the
on

time

The Life of the Mind; but this her death in 1975 Arendt had not
plan was that this section could

"arch"

started the section much shorter than

judging; her
sections

be
it

the

on

thinking
she poses
of

and

willing
of

appended
moral
which

to the second volume

at

would simply be The Life of the Mind. But the

and that

question emerges

the

beginning

of this

work,

a question where she could

out

her book Eichmann in Jerusalem

evil,"

speaks about the

"banality

of

namely,
men's

whether

thinking

be
It

one

of

the

conditions

for

abstaining from evil, is

never

really satisfactorily
appears that

answered

by

her

analysis of

thinking

and willing.

not

only

to

only an analysis of judging, where we find the ability distinguish the beautiful from the ugly but the right from

the wrong,

would

be

Yet,
when

if

"arch"

the

satisfactory answer to this question. is unfinished, it does present a certain

vantage

grandeur

viewed
grandeur of

from
is

the

point

of

contemporary
and

experience.

This

reflected

in her hopes

expectations

for

the

future
She

thinking.

places

herself in

the

company

of. those
with all

who

attempt

to

"dismantle

metaphysics

and

have known
interested

them

from

their

philosophy beginning in Greece

its

categories as we
today."

until

She is

not
us

in

the truth sought

by
has

the great thinkers

being
the

for

(who live in

a time when the

but in their "basic distinction between

the
the
of

sensory and the "thread of tradition is

come to an end and where

broken"

and

incapable

being renewed)

138

Interpretation
clues"

"only
The

to what

"thinking
time"

means to those who engage

in

it."

works of great

thinkers survive

because
which

these works were written

men are
able

in

kind

of

"timeless

in

to

create

"timeless
are

works with which a

to transcend their own

of

finiteness."

We

experiencing today antiquity

it
was of the

"shrinkage

decisive
the than

than the shrinkage of spatial

greatest

behind us distances on the

time

that

is

no
so

less
that

earth,"

thinkers

is "much

closer

to us

today
our

to our

ancestors."

As

result,

our advantage

is in

ability

to recapture

thinking with

a mind

"unburdened

and unguided

by any traditions"; and the only obstacle in the path of the exercise of this ability is the growing contemporary "inability to move, on no invisible." matter what level, in the realm of the
The
counterforce
need,"

to

this
men

obstacle,
to
not
a

however,

is

an

inclination,
of

"perhaps

in

"think beyond the limitations "inspired

quest

knowledge,"

a need which

is

by

the quest

for

truth

but
or

by

the

quest

withdraw

for from the

along

meaning"

which

"permits
able

the mind to

world

without

ever

being

to

leave it

transcend
and

it."

She is

confident that the

knowing,
position

with the of

breaking

difference between thinking of the thread of tradition, have

come to the

foreground
where

in

we

contemporary consciousness; we are now no longer "expect truth to come from

the need to think with the
of

thinking,"

where we no

longer "mistake
a position

urge to

know."

We

are

in

to see that the experience

source of our

the
of

"activity
has

thought"

of

is

the

"aboriginal

notion

spirituality in
ultimates
tradition."

itself,
the

regardless of the

forms it has
of of

assumed."

What

come to an end

for

us

is

not the

possibility

thinking

about the

but

"Roman
come

trinity"

"religion,
us

authority,

and

What has
as

to an end

for

is theology, philosophy,

and
of a

metaphysics,

traditionally
closer

practised

few
if it

professionals. remains

If this be so, if
than

thinking as the province thinking still remains for us

the

and

ever,

then

intimacy

between
wrong

thinking
requires

about ultimate meanings and

judging about

right and

long last demand the exercise of thinking from "sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, how every intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be." Her expectation is that at last "the will be open to the possibility of experiencing
that we at
many"

what,

in

the

words

of

Coleridge,

was

only

experienced

by

the

"nobler
a

minds"

of the

past, namely, that there

greater than their own

is "within themselves
nature."

something

ineffably

individual

Her

Book Reviews

139
tradition we are
which

fervent hope
"be
resolved

is

that

position to transcend the

in transcending the ties of "modern identity

in

the

crisis"

can

only

by
be

never

being alone and never trying to

distinguished

think."

In the end, however, the grandeur of these hopes is rooted in the possibility that the quest for truth

and expectations
and the quest

for
can

meaning
they?

can

"meaningfully"

and separated.

But

Could it be
to

that the
at

only

task that remains

for thinking (when

the

it

ceases

be directed
so

the articulation of

"what is

case") is
take

precisely
to

what

many
of

of the professional philosophical

'few'

be

philosophy, namely, the

construction of

"ideal languages"the

arcane

intricacies

persistent

identification

truth

in

traditional to
use

of symbolic logic? Could the for meaning and the quest for philosophy, metaphysics, and theology be itself a

the new systems

of

the quest

"clue,"

Arendt's
in it"?

own

words,

to what

"thinking

means to

those who engage

140 BOOK REVIEW:

Human

Reality

and

the Social World: Ortega's

of

Philosophy

of History

by

Oliver W.

Holmes, (Amherst: University

Massachusetts

Press, 1975)

MARTIN NOZICK
Graduate

Center,

CUNY

The scholarship done in English on deplorably brief. It seems, however, that

there

Jose'

Ortega y Gasset has been

the

future looks brighter:

have

thinker:

been, recently, two broad-spectrum studies of the Spanish Robert McClintock's Man and His Circumstances: Ortega as
1971),
and

Educator (New York:

Harold C. Raley's Jose Ortega y

Gasset: Philosopher of European Unity, (University, Ala., University of Alabama Press, 1971). Such works, along with Mr. Holmes's, may
yet rescue

Ortega from
call

the

limbo

of

being
in

what

Professor James

Collins
With
of

"para-philosopher"

might

the

English-speaking

philosophical guild.
admirable

control, Mr. Holmes ranges

over the entire corpus

Ortega's work, from

the
exception
of

the earliest articles to the posthumous works, the

aesthetics
on

with

and

most

of the

politically-

oriented

essays,

and

converges
reason."

the

thinker's

philosophy

of

history, his "historic

provides an
adequate
state of philosophical

The author, in his

the philosopher's

"Introduction,"

sketch

of

early

life,

the sad

inquiry
in
will

in Spain

at the turn of the

century, the
that
the

years

Ortega

spent

Germany. It is in
come

this

section minor

professional

Hispanists

across
'Don'

few

errors:

e.g.,

Larra

referred to as a

novelist, the

used without a given name. catalytic effect

of

work

Above all, the author neglects the on Ortega: indeed, nowhere

that

Unamuno's

throughout
man as

the

book does he
a reaction

suggest

Ortega's
nebulous

emphasis

on

history

is

to

Unamuno's

but

poetic metaphors of

"infrahistory"

(intra-

historia)
refer

and

"superhistory."

On

more than one occasion

did Ortega
phantas

to

the

respected
who

rector

of

Salamanca
in
vague

"energumeno"

as

an

(madman),
most:

one

took

pleasure

outlines, in
to what

needed contributing light and precision. Indeed, Ortega's first book Meditaciones del Ouijote may, among other things, be considered a refutation of

magoria, in confusion,

rather than

Spain

Unamuno's

earlier

subjective

Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho. As

Book Reviews
against

141
Life,"

Unamuno's
of

'Tragic
the
are

Sense

of

Ortega

evolved

the

"Sportive Origin
art and

State"

and never tired of

pointing

out that

philosophy

life's

exhilarating

manifestations of the overflow of

energies.

of Ortega's organization of the group "La Servicio de la Republica" (In Service of the Republic) in 1931, Mr. Holmes makes no mention of Ortega's earlier (1914) Liga de Educacibn Politica and its manifesto Vieja y nueva politica. Such facts are important to show that if Ortega was aware of being

Again,

in his discussion
al

Agrupaci6n

the

"sole

begetter"

of modern

sidered

his

role to
and

include
politics.

that

of

Spanish philosophy, he also con tutor to his nation in the arts, in

if Ortega
writes endless variations

education,

in

Indeed,

on the themes of perspectivism and the gerundive

of man's

(faciendum)

nature

history,

it is

to give the

lie

to those pundits who,

like

the

formidable Mendndez y Pelayo, staunchly maintained that to be Spanish was inseparable from being monarchical and Roman Catho lic. Furthermore, Ortega's admiration for German culture is in part an answer to Mendndez y Pelayo's disdainful references to "germanic
nebulosities."

But

the

sweep
thought

of

Mr. Holmes's discussion

Ortega
more

of

the

impact

of

Germanic
oversights.
of

upon

than

makes

up for

such

Cohen
on

and

Beginning Natorp
the

with a

lucid description
Ortega
of
focus"

of the

Neo-Kantianism

with whom

studied at

goes

to

"historicist
the

Marburg, Holmes Windelband, Rickert and

paid such

Dilthey, especially
years

latter

to whom

Ortega

deep homage
At

later
and

when

this point
cism

he actually read his Holmes also analyzes the intersection

of

posthumous collected works.

of

Croce 's histori

on

Ortega's philosophy
to

history,
on

and

goes

directly
the

to

Ortega's introduction

1911;
on

and

it

would

be less
of

phenomenology than just to fail

which

his

return to

Marburg in
the author
most

to

congratulate

his discussion
sections of

Husserl

constitutes

one

of

successful

of

his book,

and

is

on a par with

his

analysis of

the

influences
upon

Scheler's

Ressentiment

and

The

hierarchy. All we are lacking here is a quasi-indispensable into Nietzsche's influence on to be a step backwards in time, borrowed from the sage of the Engadine not only Ortega. For Ortega
sure

Sympathy

Ortega's

central

concepts of social and

Nature of intellectual
incursion-

broad

attitudes,

but

also a specific

vocabulary
and

such as the adjectives

"active"

he

applies

to the

"select

man"

"reactive"

to the

"mass

142
man."

Interpretation

To be sure,

as

Mr. Holmes's book unfolds, Nietzsche is

not

neglected,
the

but

various references to as

him

en passant

do

not

dramatize

Nietzsche-Ortega coupling
one

forcefully

as

Professor Gonzalo

Sobejano does in his Nietzsche There is

would

en

Espana.
that the present reviewer
acknowledged the concept
of

more

possible

oversight

like
is

to suggest: although to

debt he
reason"

owed

Ortega thoroughly his formation in Germany, his

as much a

"vital

perhaps

reaction

against

the atmosphere of
as

pedantry
entire

that reigned

in German intellectual
tradition
of

circles

against

the

nineteenth-century

idealism. Ortega
cultura,"

underlines an almost

incessantly
mately
as

his

contempt expression

untranslatable

for "la beateria de la but one which may be

culture."

rendered approxi

Although, unlike his peer from referring to German culture sardonically as Kultura), Ortega was a fervent Germanophile (witness his lifelong adoration of Goethe) and never failed to keep abreast of the scientific publications emanating from that country, there is an
"stiffnecked

idolatry

of

Unamuno (who

could not refrain

obverse

side

of

the medal which

that

is

often overlooked:

it

was

in

the

German
The

universities

he

grew

fully
and

aware

of

the

learning/life
affinities

dichotomy.
pages

devoted
and
of

to

Dilthey

Ortega
are

and

the

between Heidegger
the

the

Spanish
we

writer

among

the

most

enlightening emphatically stating in

book. And

must

thank

Mr. Holmes for

that there

answer to so

many detractors
philosophical

is "a

fundamental
even

coherence"

in Ortega's

thought

(p.

68),
"he

though

he

confines

his judgment
philosophical

to

the

1930s, for
of

succeeded

in

fusing

the
and

perspectives
a

phenom

enology,

historicism,
"a

intellectualism into
history,"

systematic
upon

philos

ophy
cachet

of

men, society,

and

and

confers

Ortega
of

the the

of

philosopher
once

in the

traditional
although

European
was

sense a

word."

Thus,

and

for

all,

Ortega

journalist,
we

popularizer, book reviewer, tutor

to the

Spanish -speaking world,

than that.
comes

may discard the unfair Chapter II, on the

with

notion that

he
of of

was no more

historicity
or

human reality,
Ortega's

to grips
struggle

the

central

theme

axis
or

thought:

his

against

abstract

tions

he

makes,
and

sciences

history,

that

thinking and the distinc between the physical the human sciences, that man has no but man lives in constant interaction with his "circumrationalism

"utopian"

like Dilthey

and

others,

"essence"

Book Reviews
stances,"

143
at a given point

the present that surrounds

him

future. Man is thus latter are the same as they always were, while man, as he lives, writes his own story, is his own novelist or dramatist. Chapter III, based principally on Ortega's Men and People, discusses in depth Ortega's sociological views: again, the
the past and projects

from

into

the

but draws different from

the stone or the

tiger,

since

the

genesis
which

society is the "radical then opens him up to an

of which

reality"

of each

man's

existence

awareness

of

other
work

existences,

notions

never

fail

to

contexts.

Mr. Holmes

goes

in diverse further: he demonstrates how "Ortega's

crop up in Ortega's
to the

phenomenological

approach
...

importance
the

of

transcending
of am

individual
and
. .
.

experience

is

...

in

tradition

Husserl I
and

Heidegger, Sartre,
enunciated

Merleau-Ponty."

and

The "I

my

circumstance,"

in his first

book,

is Ortega's

major theme

and

lends itself

to all sorts of

orchestrations, sociological, political,

pedagogical,
all

aesthetic.

The

major

thinking is

to reduce

reality

to the ego and to

the ebb and

flow of life. But as of his context surroundings, he must hearken to himself, his authenticity: he must become what he is, and must especially beware
of

dereliction (or perhaps, crime) in isolate the ego from man finds himself ensconced in the

being

swallowed
of
of

up

by

mass

pressures.

Ortega's
man"

most notorious to
resist

elaboration

the

need

for
is

the

"select
out

the

dictatorship
Masses
of

"mass

man"

worked

in The Revolt of the

overshadowed much
of

which

has had

such

diffusion

that

it has

his

other work and made of

author,"

him,

in

the eyes

the

general

public,

"one-book

and

especially

the

author of a popular

book,

much to

his discredit among his

Mr. Holmes's
close
which

professional confreres.
of

All

of

reasoning
concerns
which

Ortega's thought
with

reaches a

climax

in Chapter IV
of as the
and

itself primarily

Ortega's
of

philosophy

history
basic

and

embraces

his
man

concept

the

"generation"

unit of

historical dynamism,

the
a

differences

between ideas
not
a

convictions

("creencias"),
the
as

as

faciendum,
reason"

factum,

all

falling

under

heading

of

"historical
to

(Dilthey's

historische

Vemunft)
has
no

opposed

"physico-matheunlike the

matical"

or abstract reason.

Man is ongoing narrative, and,

stone or tree or

animal,

Since Mr. Holmes

take the time
wealth

writes

fixed lucid prose, it is

delightful

essence or nature.

too

bad

that

he did
of

not

to point out the sheer metaphors, the

beauty

of

Ortega's style,

the

of

his

surprises of so

many

his

144
analogies.

Interpretation

The

Spanish

thinker

himself

claimed

repeatedly

that

clarity
to
use

was the

courtesy only

of the philosopher and that

his

purpose was

"lyrical

means"

to

"seduce"

the
most

public

into

reading
Spanish

philosophy.
philosopher

Not
since

is

Ortega

the

significant
out

Suarez as

Julian Marias in

points

consummate stylist with a secure place

the

history

of

he is also a belles lettres

as well as the

history

of philosophy.

students of

One thing more: Mr. Holmes's Ortega.

bibliography

will prove a

joy

to all

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X&PPubfc

Philosophy

Advisory Editors
Stuart Hampshire, John Rawls
Editor Marshall Cohen

C^Affairs
...

Associate Editors

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is designed to fill the need for a periodical in which philosophers with dif ferent viewpoints and philosophically inclined writers from various disciplines
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THE INDEPENDENT JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY UNABHANGIGE ZEITSCHRIFT FOR PHILOSOPHIE

Double Issue: Volume I. Number 21 Volume II, Number I Autumn 1977- Winter 1978

LEO STRA USS Essays

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Contents. Laurence Berns. Leo Strauss 1899 1973 / Leo Strauss. Hans-Georg Gadamer. Correspondence Concerning Wahrheit und Methode I Helmut Kuhn. Naturrecht und Historismus / Leo Strauss. Letter to Helmut Kuhn / Harry Neumann. Civic Socrates and Aristophanes/ Piety and Socratic Atheism: An Interpretation of Aryeh Leo Motzkin. On the Interpretation of Maimonides I Martin A. Bertmann. Science of Politics and Plato's Laws I Michael P. Zuckert. Of Wary Physi cians and Weary Readers: The Debates on Locke's Way of Writing / Louis B. Rosen blatt. A Reading of Leibniz / William B. Allen. Montesquieu's Lysimachus: Trans lation and Commentary / Hwa Yol Jung. Two Critics of Scientism: Leo Strauss and Edmund Husserl / Warren Harbison. Irony and Deception / David Lowenthal. The Case for Teleology / Book Reviews / In the Journals / Books Received
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Future Issues. Spring 1978. No special theme / Summer 1978. What is Living and What is Dead in the Philosophy of Hegel Today? I Autumn 1978. The Philosophical Conception of Modernity / Winter 1979. Historicism / Spring 1979. Knowing and Making / Summer 1979. Heidegger and Wittgenstein: Language, Truth and Poetry / Autumn 1979. Nature and History
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