Machiavelli’s Virtue

Machiavelli’s Virtue
Harvey C. Mansfield

Dina Mahmoud & Yasmin Mahmoud


Politics According To Machiavelli:
1.1. In his most famous book The Prince, Machiavelli argues that “politics has and should have its own rules and should not accept rules of any kind or form”. He thus writes that “politicians should not be limited by anything not political”.


Machiavellian Politics “You Can Get Away With Murder”:
2.1. He observes that “no divine sanction or degradation of soul or twinge of conscience will come to punish you. If you succeed, you will not even have to face the infamy of murder, because when men acquire what they can acquire, they will be praised or not blamed”.


Machiavelli Wasn’t “Machiavellian”:
3.1. Scholars of Machiavelli confirm that he wasn’t an evil man who taught evil doctrines; he does not deserve his infamy, and he was not an apologist for tyranny. They depend on his saying we should take our bearing from “what’s done” rather than from “what should be done”. They conclude that he was a forerunner of modern political science, which was no evil thing.


Machiavellian Moralities:
4.1. “Morality had meant not only doing the right action, but also doing it for the right reason or for the love of GOD”.


5. Political rather Moral Rules:
5.1. Machiavelli declares that “no moral rules exist, not made by men, which men must abide by. The rules or laws that exist are those made by governments or other powers acting under necessity, and they must be obeyed out of the same necessity”.


6. Justice According To Machiavelli:
6.1. For Machiavelli “Justice is something identical with necessity”. So he confirms “let a prince win and maintain a state: the means will always be judged honorable, and will be praised by every one”.


7. The Moral Virtue of Liberty to Machiavelli:
7.1. It is no use being liberal unless it is noticed that you are so. The right way to get a reputation for liberality is not to care to have reputation for stinginess, in The Prince, Machiavelli sees liberality means taking little rather than giving much.


8. Is It Better for The Prince to Be Loved or Feared?
8.1. It would be better to be both loved and feared, but if necessity forces a choice, it is better to be feared, but shouldn’t be hated by abstaining from the property of others, “Because men forget the death of a father more quickly than the loss of money”.


9. The Prince Can Be a Beast to Get the Best:
9.1. As men will not keep faith with the prince, he must learn how to use the beast in man and to be a fox as well as a lion.


10. Machiavelli’s Virtue Differs From Aristotle’s:
10.1. Virtue in his new meaning seems to be a prudent or well-taught combination of vice and virtue in the old meaning. Virtue to him is not a means between two extremes of vice, as in moral virtue of Aristotle. Virtue is effectual only, when it seems in contrast to its opposite, as Liberality and Mercy are impressive when one expects stinginess, cruelty and fear.


11. Machiavelli’s Notion of Constitutional Government:
11.1. The third quality of a new prince is to make his own foundation. He should ally with people against the aristocracy, which means “constitutional government is possible but only after an unconstitutional beginning.”


12. Machiavelli Personified Fortune:
12.1. Man should learn to be both impetuous and cautious. Fortune is a woman who “lets herself to be won more by the impetuous than by those who proceed coldly”. He makes the politics of the new prince as a rape.