The Ends Justify the Means
Machiavelli’s The Prince is a work that, despite its bleak assessment of human nature, remains firmly grounded in the Renaissance humanist tradition. No more apparent is Machiavelli’s emphasis on individual freedom of choice and the authority of observation, as opposed to that of religion, than in the above passage. While the author concedes that fortune plays an integral role in the life of a prince or aspiring prince by, for example, providing opportunity (Machiavelli 26), these humanistic tenets drive the essence of Machiavelli’s argument that the ends ultimately justify the means.
That Machiavelli’s stated purpose is to “say something that will prove of practical use” (Machiavelli 65) is of particular significance because it both delicately and violently attacks the worth of such philosophical systems as neo-Platonism and the moral burdens of Christianity. In true humanist form, Machiavelli cites only historical observation when he writes of the “real truth” that morality is like a powerful noble, to be employed only at one’s advantage and, when detrimental, promptly disposed of.
This is a rather shocking, radical statement indeed. What, however, Machiavelli’s simultaneous use of delicate language and violent implications does is help separate the man from his words. Instead of overtly denouncing as foolish the teaching of Christian morality, he instead deems it “proper to represent things” as they truly are the intimation of the former statement remains, but Machiavelli takes his own advice on outward appearance to preserve himself. This is comparable to Boccaccio’s statement in the epilogue to Decameron that “no story is so unseemly as to prevent anyone from telling it, provided it is told in seemly language” (Boccaccio 798).
The radical approach to morality of which Machiavelli is a proponent is similarly dualistic. The discussion of cruelty earlier in The Prince, for instance, illustrates perfectly his overarching notion that no action that
That Machiavelli’s stated purpose is to “say something that will prove of practical use” (Machiavelli 65) is of particular significance because it both delicately and violently attacks the worth of such philosophical systems as neo-Platonism and the moral burdens of Christianity. In true humanist form, Machiavelli cites only historical observation when he writes of the “real truth” that morality is like a powerful noble, to be employed only at one’s advantage and, when detrimental, promptly disposed of.
This is a rather shocking, radical statement indeed. What, however, Machiavelli’s simultaneous use of delicate language and violent implications does is help separate the man from his words. Instead of overtly denouncing as foolish the teaching of Christian morality, he instead deems it “proper to represent things” as they truly are the intimation of the former statement remains, but Machiavelli takes his own advice on outward appearance to preserve himself. This is comparable to Boccaccio’s statement in the epilogue to Decameron that “no story is so unseemly as to prevent anyone from telling it, provided it is told in seemly language” (Boccaccio 798).
The radical approach to morality of which Machiavelli is a proponent is similarly dualistic. The discussion of cruelty earlier in The Prince, for instance, illustrates perfectly his overarching notion that no action that