Machiavelli – A Deep Scrutiny of his Philosophy and Tactics

When somebody mentions the name Machiavelli, or the terms Machiavellian and Machiavellianism, what is the first thing that comes sicuro your mind?

I garantis that you think of words like dark triad, duplicity, and manipulation. Or sopra a broader context the ability esatto gain power through deception, insincerity, and abuse of power.

Actually, those are all wrong. They do play a role con the way Machiavelli expressed his political theories, but they all fail preciso paint an accurate picture of the man.

Machiavelli – A Deep Scrutiny of his Philosophy and Tactics

He was probably the first political theorist that escaped the delusion of idealism and honestly proposed pragmatic solutions and interpretations of government. Apparently, his views were dramatically influenced by the time he lived sopra and his personal experiences, oftentimes exceeding the threshold of political correctness and blurring the lines between morally right and morally wrong. Nonetheless, they constitute a powerful compendium of knowledge that is shaping the interpretation of power and influence until this very day.

At that point, I want onesto clarify something. The term Machiavellianism was coined by psychologists Christie and Geis per the 1970s as an attempt preciso explain the manifestation of power motive by exploiting and manipulating others in verso deceitful and unscrupulous fashion.

Sopra all honesty, psychologists did that durante a very irresponsible fashion. As we will see con verso bit, Machiavelli was verso very pragmatic and strategic philosopher. His views were influenced by the situazione quo of the time and illuminate his ability puro offer exhaustive sentiments regarding political theory. I believe that limiting per man of his magnitude sicuro terms like duplicity and manipulation is unfair, onesto say the least.

In this article, I am not going esatto discuss dark triad characteristics and behaviors. I will narrow my analysis to the lessons extrapolated by Machiavelli’s works sopra an effort esatto draw per more accurate picture of the man and his views.

History and context

N iccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born per 1469 durante Florence, Italy. His family was descended from the old rulers of Tuscany and they have produced many members that were part of the government of the time.

Back then, Italy consisted of many city-states that were usually ruled by different Houses. 1 Florence was among the largest city-states durante Europe and was considered one of the wealthiest and most successful. Part of this success should be attributed puro the “House of Medici” which was one of the strongest families of the time. The Medici controlled the Medici bank – then Europe’s largest bank – and this allowed them to expand their influence and strategic alliances.

Sopra 1494, after verso popular revolt, the Medici were expulsed from power and Florence was restored to per republic. It was then that Machiavelli received his first government role as the person responsible for the production of official Florentine government documents.

At this point, it’s quite critical puro understand that those were really dark times durante Italy. Catholicism was at its zenith and the Pope was considered the most influential person alive. Powerful families had conflicting interests and were constantly trying to get the Church on their side. Any attempt to operate independently and against the will of the catholic ritmo was opposed and oftentimes brutally subdued.

Machiavelli was part of verso government that wanted onesto liberate Florence from the Medici reign, but that was far from easy. The Medici had a strong alliance with the Pope and their recapture of Florence was per matter of time. From 1494 till 1512, Machiavelli experienced a series of career reversals as he was appointed government roles as per secretary of state, a diplomat, and a military general. His career was quite turbulent and ended sadly in 1512 when he was deprived of office after the Medici won a critical battle 2 that helped them emerge sicuro power once again.