By Joseph V. Femia
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Additional info for The Machiavellian Legacy: Essays in Italian Political Thought
Example text
174 Although Machiavelli took a dim view of human nature, he was not devoid of political ideals. These, however, were neither wild nor fantastic. 175 The purpose of politics is to satisfy people's natural desire for esteem and material gain, not to achieve some transcendent excellence. Statecraft must operate within the limits of human possibilities. 176 The best state is best because historically tried and proven, not best in an abstract and illusionary sense. If Machiavelli prefers republics over monarchies, this is purely for practical reasons.
As human beings are naturally selfish and suspicious, dissension is inevitable. But the continuing clash of opposing groups, if moderated by a common devotion to the patria, generates an equally common devotion to liberty. For, where bargaining and compromise are necessary, there develops a climate of tolerance, of giveand-take, of live and let live. Calls for unity are, to Machiavelli, a cover for the suppression of dissent, for the triumph of one social interest, one absolute principle. Roman class divisions, he adds, were also conducive to social morale and civic responsibility.
For Burnham, no stranger to hyperbole, he shared the methods of Galileo and Darwin and Einstein. His detailed conclusions might sometimes be wrong, but his methods were scientific. Political questions were to be settled by appeal to facts: if these disclose that successful rulers lie frequently and break treaties, then such a generalization takes precedence over an opposite law drawn from some metaphysical dogma which states that all men have an innate love of truth or that truth - in the long run - always triumphs over lies.