The Prince Chapter 15 - Machiavelli

The Prince

Written as a “mirror for princes.”

  • Recognized as advice for rulers

Chapter 1-11: Kinds of principalities (types of regimes)

Chapters 12-14: Military foundations

Chapters 15-23: How a ruler should rule

Chapters 24-26: Why rulers lose, Italy’s predicament, and a call to action

Chapter 15 - Of The Things For Which Men, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed

This is about guidance

  • He intends to write something useful to those who understand it

The Effectual Truth

Looking at the actual causes and effects of decisions, without thinking of how things could be.

Sometimes, you have to do the “not good” for the better.

  • Truth vs. Imagination

  • This is not about ideals, about what ought to be done; it is about what actually works

The Aim of Ruling

  • The distance between is/ought

  • What a ruler should do is whatever is needed to avoid ruin

  • The best regime is one that preserves itself

When you can do good, you’ll do good, but the inverse is also true. When you can’t, you need to know when not to be good.

When you have to be bad, some people will not like you.

Hence, a prince must learn to be able to be not good.

  • The end goal for a prince is to maintain power

  • Given that you must preserve power, and given that you will be morally categorized, which reputation can you afford?

Human conditions do not permit being all good

He must be so prudent that he knows how to contain the infamy of his vices, which keeps his state.

It is necessary for him to be so prudent…

Circumstances

  • We all want to be virtuous or seem virtuous, but we cannot be. Makes it impossible for us to always “do the right thing”.

The Effectual Truth

  • But that means we need to rethink what “the right thing” means; it cannot be the case that the right thing is against my aims.

  • Prudence is about knowing when to do good or bad.

The Aim of Ruling

  • Conceded the ideal of full virtue

  • Denied its practicability because of “human conditions.”

  • Elevated prudence over moral consistency

  • Redefined vice as necessary

Good comes into the equation when there is no necessity

Machiavelli is a “teacher of evil”