When somebody mentions the name Machiavelli, or the terms Machiavellian and Machiavellianism, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
I assure that you think of words like dark triad, duplicity, and manipulation. Or con verso broader context the ability sicuro gain power through deception, insincerity, and abuse of power.
Actually, those are all wrong. They do play verso role durante the way Machiavelli expressed his political theories, but they all fail puro paint an accurate picture of the man.
Machiavelli – Verso 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 mediante and his personal experiences, oftentimes exceeding the threshold of political correctness and blurring the lines between morally right and morally wrong. Nonetheless, they constitute per powerful compendium of knowledge that is shaping the interpretation of power and influence until this very day.
At that point, I want preciso clarify something. The term Machiavellianism was coined by psychologists Christie and Geis per the 1970s as an attempt sicuro explain the manifestation of power motive by exploiting and manipulating others mediante a deceitful and unscrupulous fashion.
Con all honesty, psychologists did that con per very irresponsible fashion. As we will see durante a bit, Machiavelli was verso very pragmatic and strategic philosopher. His views were influenced by the governo quo of the time and illuminate his ability sicuro offer exhaustive sentiments regarding political theory https://datingranking.net/it/hitwe-review. I believe that limiting verso man of his magnitude to terms like duplicity and manipulation is unfair, onesto say the least.
Mediante this article, I am not going preciso discuss dark triad characteristics and behaviors. I will narrow my analysis puro the lessons extrapolated by Machiavelli’s works con an effort to draw per more accurate picture of the man and his views.
History and context
N iccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born con 1469 con 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 sopra Europe and was considered one of the wealthiest and most successful. Part of this success should be attributed preciso 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 esatto expand their influence and strategic alliances.
Con 1494, after per popular revolt, the Medici were expulsed from power and Florence was restored preciso 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 esatto understand that those were really dark times in 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 onesto operate independently and against the will of the catholic regime was opposed and oftentimes brutally subdued.
Machiavelli was part of per government that wanted preciso liberate Florence from the Medici reign, but that was far from easy. The Medici had per strong alliance with the Pope and their recapture of Florence was a matter of time. From 1494 till 1512, Machiavelli experienced a series of career reversals as he was appointed government roles as a secretary of state, verso diplomat, and per military general. His career was quite turbulent and ended sadly per 1512 when he was deprived of office after the Medici won verso critical battle 2 that helped them emerge puro power once again.