Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince (1517) is a book which openly states that the end justifies the means. Essentially, Machiavelli's political philosophy claims to be scientific and empirical. It is founded on his own experience in the political arena in Florence during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. When all the idealism is stripped away from the behavior of the human animal, he finds, ethics and morals disappear in favor of naked self-interest. Machiavelli has come to represent this idea in the political realm.

Machiavelli looked to such historical figures as Moses, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus as examples of great leadership. Certainly, Machiavelli's methods have enormous utilitarian value regardless of their moral worth. He writes:

This follows from another common and natural necessity: a prince is always compelled to injure those who have made him the new ruler, subjecting them to the troops and imposing the endless other hardships which his new conquest entails (Machiavelli 35).

In modern times, we have seen these concepts in action in Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba, and the Third World countries of Africa. Yet, these examples show that Machiavelli is wrong when he says his ethos leads necessarily to success.

The Prince is dedicated to a younger member of the Medici Family, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Machiavelli's infamous masterpiece was partly motivated by a desire to demonstrate how useful its author could be as a political

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s subjects united and loyal (Machiavelli 95). Machiavelli reached the conclusion that it is better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved. It would seem Machiavelli only admired Caesar Borgia for his skill and not for his goals. During the Renaissance, the admiration of skill and of the behavior leading to fame and high office was a reflection of how esteemed these qualities were. Consequently, Machiavelli was able to throw bouquets at Caesar Borgia for his clever dealings, but accuse him at the same time as responsible for keeping Italy in turmoil. The Prince reflects a utilitarian style of ethics and morality. If a useful goal is served, it is acceptable for a ruler to keep faith; otherwise, there is no point in doing so. Thus, Machiavelli states: Everyone realizes how praiseworthy it is for a prince to honor his word and to be straightforward rather than crafty in his dealings; nonetheless contemporary experience shows that princes who have achieved great at things have been those who have known how to trick men with their cunning, and who, in the end, have overcome those abiding by honest principles (Machiavelli 99). Machiavelli seems to be saying that if it works, do it--no matter how immoral. This is a form

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