Machiavellianism and Political Philosophy

I heard the word Machiavelli while watching the film Find Me guilty, lead role of Jackie Dinorcio played by Vin Diesel. The word Machiavelli was used in the film, to potray the dirty tactics used by the mafia members in America during the period. When I searched for the word Machiavelli in wikipedia, it turned out to be a lot more interesting.

Machiavelli has his own ideas about power, how to attain power and how to maintain it. Though many moderates may find Machiavelli’s principles a bit crude, the tactics were apt for gaining power during his era.His surname yielded the modern political word Machiavellianism—the use of cunning and deceitful tactics in politics.Though the word Machiavellianism may not be used in our day today lives, we come across several examples in the newspapers. Indian political leaders though they may have never heard of Machiavelli are using his tactics to hold on to power.

In a letter to Francesco Vettori, he described his exile:

“When evening comes, I return home [from work and from the local tavern] and go to my study. On the threshold, I strip naked, taking off my muddy, sweaty work day clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and, in this graver dress, I enter the courts of the ancients, and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world”.

Machiavelli studied the way people lived and aimed to inform leaders how they should rule and even how they themselves should live. To an extent he admits that the old tradition was true – men are obliged to live virtuously as according to Aristotles Virtue Ethics principle. However, he denies that living virtuously necessarily leads to happiness. Machiavelli viewed misery as one of the vices that enables a prince to rule Machiavelli states boldly in The Prince, The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved. In much of Machiavelli’s work, it seems that the ruler must adopt unsavory policies for the sake of the continuance of his regime.

Our leaders who make us feel miserable, have some of the traits of Machiavelii in them, they make us feel powerless, insecure just to continue their reign. Time has come for people to wake up and join hands, to save our world from modern Machiavelli’s.