What role do the concepts of virtu and fortuna play in Machiavellis political thought - Essay Example

?Virtu and Fortuna to Assess Machiavelli’s Political Thought Introduction The essentialness of leadership is actualized when a balanced or jurisdiction is achieved. Leadership, perhaps, is the oldest form of responsibility bestowed upon the people. Biblically, there were Adam and Eve as “stewards” of Creation, while history speaks of ancient tribes with their respective leaders as earliest evidence of organized states. In the 1500’s, an Italian of noble ancestors rose to be in line with the rulers of his time. He is Niccolo Machiavelli, whose The Prince envisioned a leader in its perfect form in terms of success of ruling. Machiavellian thought undermines the modern political philosophy which basically governs the constitution of most powerful nations. Specifically the twin concept of Virtu and Fortuna, Machiavelli’s principle was born out of the nation’s tormented political situation. The concepts presented in his book The Prince owe much to virtu and fortuna as main foundations of Machiavelli’s political thought. Italy in the time of Niccolo Machiavelli Persistence against the Italian monarchy would describe the end of life for most Italians. Europe, during the dusk of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance is a place of real-life nightmare. If there is one good thing about the oppression of Italians, it is the blossoming of ideologies inspired by the severity of social and political assault. However, this was shortly after the Medici family has regained control of Florence. On May 3, 1469, Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy. Unlike the unfortunate Italians in his time, he was born in a family of nobility and political position, which made him unlikely to experience the uneven treatment of the poor in most Italian communities--although the Italian awakening is a better time for Italy. However when the Medici had gone out to regain power, Machiavelli’s political position consequently diminished when he was accused of tyranny and betrayal of the oligarchical government. “Machiavelli was a direct victim of regime change” (“Niccolo Machiavelli,” n.d.) and that the only chance of him to survive was the steadfast opinions regarding Florentine princedom. He made several attempts of reviving his place in the government which resulted to his most notable work, II Princepe (The Prince). The book is a collection of “critiques of traditional moral norms and ideologies” (The European, 2010). It has been said that the book is a form of persuasion to prove the Medicis that he values loyalty and service to the present government. Much appreciated by Lorenzo de Medici, he gained partial reconciliation with the government. The Prince (An Overview) The highlights of Machiavelli’s thought are its complexity and looking beyond the values of norms and its role in the ruling of a kingdom. Viroli (1998) wrote that the Machiavelli contains a significant aspect of “spiritual narrowness,” that life is constantly governed by reasons, and objectivity towards any subject is the key to the strength of public governance. Politics’ austerity towards the issue of infallible loyalty during the Medici regime may one that drove Machiavelli to think the way he did in times when he realized that his status would become a sinking ship. Although written in a traditional style of “mirror of prices” genre, the book teaches a different pattern of didacticism which other critiques of his time regard as inappropriate or in the worst case, immoral. According to Kniatt and Johnson (2007), The Prince contains three aspects in which the principles are tightly knitted together. They believe that the book holds the faces of sarcasm, double entendres and Science. Sarcasm is an important element used by Machiavelli in delivering his sentiments and criticisms in the government he was in. The terms “part reconciliation with the government” may imply that Machiavelli discovered certain irregularities in the Medici regime. Knowing not of ways on how to directly criticize, he used sarcastic elements to address his criticisms in a way that Lorenzo de Medici would spare himself of insult. Having stated that a prince ought to remain unodious to prevent attacks (Machiavelli, 1952) may have implied that the failing of Medici governance was also due to their acts. This was heightened by the idea in Chapter XII when he implicitly stated that the “Medici princeling” is no more than a mercenary, of which he also despised. According to him, “mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous” (Machiavelli as cited in Maartensz, n.d.) not because of they engage in war, but their attitude towards war. Machiavelli saw them as undisciplined, disunited, cowards, and unfaithful. A deep understanding of the text would let readers see that there is a parallel relationship between the Medici and mercenaries. Machiavelli’s writing style has screened the intentions of blatantly expressing his political opinions. Kniatt and Johnson (2007) contend that “Machiavelli used words and phrases that have two meanings.” Double entendres have a special effect towards the realization of Machiavelli’s sarcasm, although not explicitly deciphering what he meant in reality. One example they have pointed out is the “arming of unarmed men” where in return, “their arms become yours.” Kniatt and Johnson (2007) suggest that being employed, at whatever position appointed by the Medici is actually a form of debt to the ones concerned. The phrase “their arms” would not, of course, mean of weapons but of the part of the body: a synecdoche to represent the human being itself. Sarcasm and double entendres intertwine in such a way that a successful mission to hide messages would be achieved. One aspect which made The Prince a valuable piece of politics is Science. Machiavelli based his writings on the nature of human beings. It can be perceived that Machiavelli did not believe that achieving greatness in politics comes from exercising the conventional virtue people has known, but rather imposing leadership that suites the human nature. Obhesion (n.d.) stresses the roles of the lion and the fox as metaphorical images of human nature in The Prince, where the lion is a symbol for strength and the fox represents the outmaneuvering of enemies. Machiavelli wrote that a leader should emulate the qualities of both animals to effectively adapt with the situations. Machiavelli acknowledged the inconsistency of chances, and that life is a battle of twists and turns (fortuna); therefore, for a leader to succeed, he must know how to adjust his sails by being good or evil, whichever the situation calls for (virtu). Virtu and Fortuna In lay man’s term, virtue would have a significant place in the society’s norms and morals. Virtue, as what most of the people interpret it, is the righteousness present in every man. It may be the virtue of honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty, and all of which the people see to be good. However, Machiavelli offers a more non-conventional and complex view of what virtue is in line with government dealings. Although the virtue Machiavelli is referring to is far from moral virtue that man has known, it is still considered reasonable since the Latin root of virtue, “vir,” would mean “man.” Therefore, Machiavelli gave more weight to the worldly aspect of virtue, made it a basis of his own definition. This concept has long been a debate in political science since its conception by Machiavelli. Contained by traditional political thoughts, this concept ideally was rejected and considered immoral by most scholars in Machiavelli’s time. In line of the discussion of virtu is Machiavelli’s inclusion of Moses, Cyrus, Romulus and Theseus and their corresponding fates (Machiavelli, 1952). He mentioned that they were great leaders of their time because they possessed what he called “virtu.” In Moses’ case for example, he used force to free the Israelites from Egyptian oppression and granted them freedom from decades of bondage. Laine (2008) cited a passage from Machiavelli’s book which implies that “to be virtu, cannot lead to material ruin” because realizing virtu would lead people to a better understanding of the world and humanity. An important point made by Laine mentions that Machiavellian principle of virtu “compromises our worldly well-being.” The principle may not have been conceptualized by Machiavelli if he did not believe in the idea of “fortuna” or the changing nature of circumstances. Sfez (2000) contends that Machiavelli is a great believer of reality, and that it does not refer to a single truth, but rather “far from unity;” thus the title “Father of political Realism.” Sfez (2000) contends that the concept of fortuna lies on two notions which he named “divine Providence” and “chance.” It must be kept in mind that the time when Machiavelli thought of fortuna, Italy was reliant to the nature of chances. On the other hand, virtu has provided Machiavellian believers to balance fortuna, and partly diminishing its fatalistic quality. According to Machiavelli, fortuna is a great resemblance of a woman in the contrasting terms of fierceness and compassion, where both concepts are present, mostly at extremes, in femininity (Velasquez, 2000). Like a woman, the way to tame fortuna is through “intrigue and trickery and not by force” (Velasquez, 2000). In mimetic study, the woman is perceived to be an element of changeability, and unpredictability. A more in depth view of this idea would somehow create an idea that Machiavelli favors the nontraditional form of governance, where the leaders have extreme power over their subordinates. Because Machiavelli dwelled so much on the constant flux of instances, he preferred to settle on a more feminist political philosophy (Velasquez, 2000). In this case, Machiavelli is not only a realist, but also a feminist in a way that he acknowledges the ability to change as a weapon of women. From this note, it can be said that Machiavelli denies the strict imposition of the definition of reality, because it would distort his own view about the matter. At the same time, he also separates the values and virtues to perfectly fit the needs of fortuna: for survival, strength, and mobility in power, in that case. The Machiavelli Political Thought If one tries to formulate an allegory out of Machiavellian political thought, a jungle would most likely actualize the idea. Say, a man lost his way out of the dark, and dangerous jungle. Having left all his materials behind in the camp, he must rely totally on his strength and wit if he should want to survive the night and find his way back to his camp in the morning. If he could not make his way back, and hunger would strike his empty stomach, he would probably kill a harmless creature like deers and rabbits, for him to eat. This very act of killing a harmless animal already spells the realization of virtu and fortuna. Machiavelli was able to put into words what people have known for so long, yet failed to give a name about it. His role as a political advisor of Lorenzo de Medici is the proof of success of The Prince. In a historical account written by Christopher Hibbert (2003), the story of rise and fall of the House of Medici stated that the Lorenzo was by far the greatest ruler of the clan. The peaceful ruling of Lorenzo was remarkable, considering that he supported a massive constellation of art geniuses, who were known to be idealists and members of the government opposition. Many scholars have been speculating of the real nature of Machiavellian principle, whether it is a product of his deep thinking and philosophical nature or a product of his republican learning (as he was an identified lover of the republican ideology). Kniatt and Johnson (2007) suggested that “the answer lies in the The Price itself” wherein it follows the Machavellian idea of virtu and his versatility on the ever-changing environment. In The Prince, he wrote that it is “unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities but it is very necessary to have appear to have them” (Machiavelli, as cited in Obhesion, n.d.). Looking at the modern context, this claim made by Machiavelli holds an ambiguous nature. True, that what the public wants to see is an honest, sincere, and strong leader, but in realistic terms, this dream of an ideal political leader is in danger of becoming an eternal dream. Machiavelli served as a wishing star for all people who believed in political utopia, only that he puts an element of disguise. Reality is an umbrella concept that covers all Machiavellian ideals, but knowing that his form of reality is too harsh for the traditionalist to accept, then it is essential for him to build a facade of goodness and moral virtue. Machiavelli was well aware that a leader could not be successful if he contradicts the ideal picture, according to societal standards. To appear to have all the necessary qualities of a good leader and at the same time compromising with virtu and fortuna, the image of which the leader tries to make known to public must be coherent with his actions. For instance, a leader is known to be virtuous, who constantly addresses the needs of the poor. In this case, it is necessary for him to be generous at all time, covering all elements of negativity, and showing otherwise would make him lose public trust. This is very vital because trust is a big issue in public office; the people could not hold on to a leader’s tainted credibility which endangers him of being overthrown from the position. A foremost obligation of a ruler is to know the nature of his people, and compromise to their needs. It was right when Kniatt and Johnson (2007) stated that The Prince is based on scientific observation. Machiavelli cleverly knitted his ideas of forming a book of didactic criticism in line with the reality of human nature. Despite of the negative opinions brought about by his book from classical to modern political thought, the entirety of the truth remains that Machiavelli’s concept holds a practical view relating the two spheres of governance, which is to be a leader and a follower all at the same time. Labelling the Machiavellian definition of virtu and fortuna as immoral suggests a shallow understanding of what politics really is, because the concepts would serve as a way to reconcile human nature and good governance. It provides balance of what people wanted to see versus what the leader ought to do in order to get hold of his people; to gain respect in such a way that violence and resistance are less likely to occur. Conclusion The effect of virtu and fortuna in the matter of Machiavellian political thought ranges from how Niccolo Machiavelli sees life to how he applies what he understands about life in the aspect of leadership. Totally denying the principle of virtu and fortuna is the true form of hypocrisy other than the principle of Machiavelli itself, since it is a form of denying the true nature of man. Machiavelli’s political thought holds a broad spectrum of political and social issues which can be summarized into his twin concept. It is wise for Machiavelli to base his political ideas on human needs because being in the government would require more than a “good man” can offer but basically, a strong, wise, and practical leader. References Hiibert, C. (2003). The house of Medici: Its rise and fall. New York: Harper Perennial. Kniatt, S., & Johnson, R. (2007). Machiavelli’s The Prince as a satire: An exploratory look at Machiavelli’s works to determine his true political inclinations. The Eagle Feather. Retrieved from http://www.unt.edu/honors/eaglefeather/2007_Issue/kniatt4.shtml Laine, T. (2008). The concept of virtue in Machiavelli. Retrieved from http://www.timoroso.com/philosophy/writings/print-machiavelli-virtue-2008 Maartensz, M. (n.d.). The prince. Retrieved from http://www.xs4all.nl/~maartens/philosophy/ machiavelli/prince/notes/chapter12rem.html Machiavelli, N. (1952). The prince. UK: Plain Label Books. Niccolo Machiavelli. (n.d.). In Stanfod Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/ Obhesion, R. (n.d.). Niccolo Machiavelli and the prince. Retrieved from http://www.rodneyohebsion.com/machiavelli.htm Sfez, G. (2000). Machiavelli, choosing the lesser of two evils. Reflexion faite, (44), 11-18. The European Graduate School. (2010). Niccolo machiavelli--biography. Retrieved from http://www.egs.edu/library/niccolo-machiavelli/biography/ Velasquez, E.A. (2000). Nature, woman, and the art of politics. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. Viroli, M. (1998). Machiavelli. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More