Machiavelli

Philip Habib Nov.1, 2003

Block D

Machiavelli

Bibliography

James Burnham

The Machiavellians : Defenders of Freedom

Gateway Editions, Washington D.C., 1987

A political theorist named James Burnham states that in order to be scientific, its method and goals must not be transcendentally based, and its outcome must be realistic. Dante de Monarchia and Machiavelli were considered two of the best political theorists in the time of the renaissance; however, they both had a different way in writing and stating their political theories. For Machiavelli's way of writing consisted of stating the truth of what was going around, the reality and the exact description of politics, unlike Dante, who was using imagination in writing his political theories, and for that he was criticized by Machiavelli, where Machiavelli stated that a true political theorist should not be transcendentally based, and his methods, goals, and overall should be based on reality. One of Machiavelli's was to unify Italy. He did not accomplish his goal, although he tried to in his writings, specifically in one of his books called "The Prince". In this book, Machiavelli tried to call for a hero who could save Italy and unify it. But Italy, back then, was facing problems. Italy had to do a wise decision, whether to unify or to remain in the political structure it was in. If Italy remained in the same political structure then it would suffer from a huge economic and cultural loss, but if Italy decided to unify and become a whole country, then it would become the most important country in the modern world. Machiavelli was surely aware of the situation, and gave Italy his ideas for the unification, but Italy refused it. Later on, Italy regretted not accepting Machiavelli's ideas, but by then it was too late, and Italy paid the consequences of being ignorant to a wise idea that could have changed history. Machiavelli's writings were so important and wise during the renaissance. He was the first person who separated politics from ethics, as well as, science from ethics, considering that politics and science are based on facts and reality. Machiavelli always had a way to look for the truth, and this influenced many people, and in fact, looking for the truth is moral that he taught to every person who knew him, not even personally. In conclusion,