MACHIAVELLI

In The Prince Machiavelli announces his great moral (or perhaps we should say immoral) revolution in politics in order to make governments serve the interests of most ordinary people and not the aristocratic—or rich—few. The core of Machiavelli’s teaching princes how not “to be good” is found in his re-definition of the traditional virtues of liberality, mercy, and faith. ln re-defining these traditional virtues Machiavelli advises a political leader that if he wants to preserve himself, he should do what is necessary to secure the lives, families, and property of his many subjects or fellow citizens, not seck to reward or otherwise favor his relatively few aristocratic supporters.

However, Machiavelli is not simply a populist or democratic political thinker. ln his Discourses Machiavelli shows that this “popular prince” poses the greatest threat to the preservation of republican or free government. ln his Discourses Machiavelli thus tries to persuade other politically ambitious young men to compete with the “princc” for popular favor.

(From the lectare: Machiavelli’s Popular Prince)