Machiavelli

• Realist, concerned with the way things are, not with the way things should be.
• Politics was an amoral activity. Noting to do with virtues, ethics, and vices.
• Rules, manual, guideline of what a prince should do to stay in power
• Modern writer and different from the past, critic.
• Dark view about human nature

Chapter15 XV:
• Politics should be based on realities. Any prince who ignores realities brings his joy because he
distances himself from these things. So it is necessary for a prince to know how to be evil because it
is the only way to survive.
• In medieval times virtues produced good, and vices produced evil. But to Machiavelli, vices that are
evil are meant to produce good, and virtues that are meant to be good could produce good.
• Makiavelli is aways concerned with the many not the few. (ex; taxes the many should always be the
ones satisfied)
• Princes are praised or blamed for the kind of qualities they have (praise:virtues or blame:vices)
• Classification that people used to believe in the. Midivil times. Generous; giving-praise, miserly-vice,
giver-praise, rapacious-blame, effeminate and cowardly-blame, human-praise, proud-blame, chaste-
praise, lascivious-blame, hard-blame, the other easy going-praise, frivolous-blame, religious-praise,
unbelieving. So for Machiavelli will flip these. “but since it is neither possible to observe them all
completely, because the human condition does not permit it, a prince must be prudent enough to have
those vices that
• The first kind of vices are the ones if u have, they’re so crucial you might end u losing the state.
Ex: unbelieving, cruelty, breaker of faith
• Second kind of vices that if you have, they will not necessarily take the state away from you.
• But if you’re a prince who does have both these vices, he shouldn’t worry- because there is more
good in doing evil and more evil in doing good.

Should a prince be generous or miserliness

• Two meanings of generosity; you can be generous in a virtuous way (practice it in secrecy) or
general in a non generous way (publicly, tv, media). So to be truly called generous by people you
should do it with festivals, splashing out. But this is costly, you’ll lose your money, your resources
will be drained. You need to finance yourself by overtaxing the people. So this will cost you peoples
hate. Generosity which appears good will produces bad. If you’re truly generous, you’re gonna end
up being looked upon as a miser. —> so be a miser/parsimony therefore you would be truly
generous, because you wont overtax people, you’ll be ready for making war, also benefitting the
many therefore they wont hate you.

Of cruelty and mercy, and whether it is better to be loved than to be feared or the contrary
• Cruelty, execution and punishment, the tough aggressive violence of the enemies.
• Cesare Borgia (pope): used as a perfect model of a perfect politician.
• a prince shouldn’t be forgiving to evil doers which will lead to lack of security. If a prince is cruel
not compassionate to evil doers, then this would send a message out to others. Cruelty will prevent
any body of committing crimes.
• Although cruelty might appear evil, there is more good in being cruel than than being
compassionate.
• Cruelty will be felt by the few
• Much safer for a prince to be feared and loved but its difficult to have them both; medieval times a
prince should be loved. A prince cannot rely on love, people could claim they love you with words
 when things are peaceful, but when danger comes near you cant be sure that they will stay loyal
to you.
• Makiavelli nature of human beings; ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers. But fear can
be loyal, because fear creates a bond of royalty, therefore it’s reliable. Love is based on
obligation.
• Friendship: based on nobility of spirit is comparable to relationship based on fear. Second
friendship, based on purchase ,friends out of interest is based on love
• You can fear a persons authority but it doesn’t mean that you hate them (fear animals in a
jungle) so a prince should rely on fear, he should never perform any actions that will make people
hate him.
• How would a prince avoid hatred: stray from peoples property, stay away from their women
and reckless types of killings. If you need to execute someone you must have a valuable reason for
it. People are so selfish that they care so much of their inheritance that they don’t care who dies.
Much harder to find reasons for killing than for taking peoples property.

• There are two types of power: ruling and fighting. He stated 2 distinctions: 1. Killing with laws
(proper to man) 2. Ruling with force (beasts). But fighting by laws is not sufficient so a prince should
be half man half beast. The prince should know how to be both animals (a fox and a lion). He cannot
be a lion alone because he will fall into traps, he cannot be a fox alone bcz he cant protect himself
from the wolves.
• A wise ruler must not keep his word for the fox quality is in himself.
• A prince should not be __________ but he must put effort to to pretend to be faithful and deceive the
public. He must have legitimate reasons to cover his acts.
• He should make things appear as if he is virtuous when he’s not
• Man can be easily fooled for he is simple minded (naive) because he is controlled by his needs.
• Simple minded people judge things by their minds but not by their hands. "Everyone can see, but few
can feel “
• The few cannot contradict the many
• Ordinary men only see the final results and can be easily fooled.
•

Avoid being despised or hated

• To be hated is not the same as being despised.
• Avoid hatred by being away from women and property
• What makes him despised is by being changeable (people will look down on him but wont hate him)
• Frivolous: effeminate, cowardly, irresolute
• Opposite qualities: spirit, strength, dignity, greatness (to avoid being despised)
• One a prince makes a decision he cannot change it back on peoples request. He shouldn’t take back
decisions because he will not be viewed as honorable and great

There are two kinds of fears:

• Internal: concerning his subject and external: foreign powers
• As long as your external threats are managed you internal threats will be managed
• Safety of the state, depends on external affair

Whether fortresses and many things that princes employ everyday are useful or harmful
• Living in a fortress is not sufficient for your survival because if your hated and despised a fortress
will not save you.
• Thus you must follow makiavellis recommendations

The kind of army a prince should have:

1. Home (idealy) but not X
2. Mercenaries: are the best, for they are less evil from the foreign armies.
3. Foreign (more organized- more dangerous and might take power)

A prince should not keep his word

Two ways of fighting, one by law and one by force
Force belongs to beasts and animals (lion&fox)
Human bei
ngs are evil selfish
Make it appear when he is faithful when he is not virtuous
People can be deceived
There are only orderly people
Difference between despised and being hated
Despised:people look upon you with content, changeable, frivolous, effeminate, cowardly

How a prince should act to esteem

• Prince should be neutral or take sides ( being neutral would not earn you esteem)
• x and y fight, z should takes sides with one of them. If x wins, z will win.
• If you remain neutral, if y wins, z will be a prey. And x will not be willing to help you “to the delight
and satisfaction of whoever win” so either way its better to take sides
• A prince should demonstrate that he is lover of the virtues.
• To be virtuous (Arete->function->skill). The more he is a lover of these, he should be a supporter of
skillful men.
• commerce: to be in trade, in which fear can pursue money trade with no taxation, and with the
appropriate times , and should meet up with groups (guilds),
• The selection of ministers is important because people judge according to what ministers he selects.
• First kind of intelligence: understand on your own, second of intelligence: discerns what others
understand and via others (depend on you).Third kind of intelligence: neither understand by themselves
useless. First will be dangerous, that he might develop an ego and ignoring, and thinking about his
interests. For technical ministries it wouldn’t harm choosing the first.

XXIII-Of how to avoid flatterers

• The dangers of flatters is that they might make the prince disconnected from reality,
• Theres a danger, by protecting yourself from flattery is that you might become despised
• Allow people to speak the truth (but this might cause people to despise you), but in specific places only
and by selecting people who he trusts in closed circles.

To what extent human affair are determined by chance, fate, or free will.
• Control goes with freedom. According to makiavelli, its 50 fortune 50 to fortune.
• analogy: He compares human affairs to destructive rivers, floods. Human can only bring precautions
(banks), princes can take precautions to face off the risk or change of fortune. Does not mean there its
free will. So the prince should prepare himself to face off these. And to avoid this is by following all the
steps provided by makiavelli in his book.
• If a prince relies on fortunes only he wont survive long.
• A prince who will prosper, will adapt himself to changing forces/fortune. There has to be harmony
between policies and the fortune.

Two attitudes that a prince can take; one with cautious vs impetuousness
• (defensive, agressive)
• You prosper as long as your fortune is harmony with your politics.
• Fortune is a woman, unpredictable. And so to control fortune its better to be aggressive. Excuse the
more aggressive u are the better all be able to command. And if your cautious the winds of change
could be so powerful that u might be too late to adjust yourself
• A price will survive as long as his lu
Altruism vs egoism
• Makiavelli belives humans are all egoists
• The test about altruism is to care about strangers
• Gap between morality and politics
• A prince should be virtuous in the sense of having skills(being skillful) and only appear to be virtuous.
Knowledge of war is being skilful, knowledge of literature and education, know how to apply the rules,
be crafty in knowing how to device politics that can be conducive to his survival

Modernity
• Value of reason (he understood reason as an instrument of calculation- advantages and disadvantages)
to make use of his power of reason
• Amoral
• Doing something new (criticizing the old)
• Stresses on the role of deception (to be able to appear someone who he is not really like being virtuous)
to be able to deceive the public
• Connection between knowledge and power (DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL)
• Know how to bot the more you know the more powerful
• This all depends on wether makiavellis view is right or wrong (egoism and altruism)