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I would like to discuss the morality of Machiavelli. Because the name of Machiavelli has come, in our time and even before our time, to have very negative connotations, and to be associated with amorality, unscrupulousness, deceitfulness. If you call someone a Machiavellian, they will probably not take it as a compliment, unless of course you are speaking to Dr. Falvo or myself. These ideas have come down to us through all of Machiavelli's interpreters, and I am glad that we have this opportunity, in the true humanist spirit, to go back and read Machiavelli's original words, to examine his text and to judge for ourselves if Machiavelli was as, well, Machiavellian as his reputation would lead us to believe.
So I shall begin our discussion of the morality of Machiavelli with the statement that in Machiavelli we find first and foremost an ethic of practicality and pragmatism. Machiavelli is a great student of human nature, as we see throughout The Prince. He is always citing historical examples to back up his arguments and showing that these lessons come from experience, especially the experience of history. He will often say "we see from recent experience...." or "experience teaches us...." He finds these examples in ancient as well as modern history, going back to ancient Greece and Rome and also finding examples among contemporary rulers.
From these observations Machiavelli arrives at many conclusions about human nature, and we find these kinds of generalizations throughout The Prince. These observations often lead Machiavelli to be exceedingly pessimistic, and this pessimism goes a long way in explaining some of the more drastic measures he recommends at times. If Machiavelli's prince seems at times harsh and cruel, deceitful or hypocritical, it is because this is how he must be in order to govern men as they are. We see this pessimism especially in Chapter XVII concerning whether it is better to be loved or feared. Here we can see clearly Machiavelli's...