Machiavelli, creator of political science – music and books – culture

A politician by vocation and a philosopher by commitment, he went precisely into commitment by the person born in Florence, Italy, who was originally called Niccolò Machiavelli (for us, Nicholas de Machiavelli). That we owe to him one of the great legacies of the study of thought, namely Political Sciencebeing a pioneer in grounding the philosophical debate on power through an empirical method, based on the observation of the sources directly involved (the ruling class) and the analysis of the testimonies of classical historians who highlighted the successes and mistakes of the most powerful – kings, pharaohs, feudal lords, etc.

He is one of the toughest philosophers when it comes to presenting his ideas. His theses are indirectly based on an analysis of his own life, his decline (his case is that of ‘gifted’ tormented by the ups and downs of fortune) and thus the success of his thesis which focused on the application of empiricism in politics.

(Also read: Noam Chomsky, the Living Legend of Philosophy)

Realism was another major component of his theory, as all philosophers up to his time had based their political analyzes on a well-developed idealism.. ‘If all men were good’ was the starting point for supposed social and political criticisms made since Plato that suggested an unattainable romanticism (impossible love is called Platonic), as mentioned in the Republic, where he proposed the abolition of private property And the family of servers is something that, although it will eradicate corruption, will never happen.

With Machiavelli, real criticism of the political class was bornBeing the first to touch and speak before the almighty God of Money. This is how he left it in the twenty-fifth chapter of his most famous work, The Prince, where he describes the essential role of wealth and opportunity: He rules in one half of our labour, but the government of the other half, or nearly, leaves it to us,” he says. Ignacio Iturralde in his work “On Princes, Cascades, and Other Political Animals,” Discover Philosophy Collection Issue 33.

Realpolitik creator

Using a realistic method to observe decision-making in the political arena, Florentine This, he concluded, was subjectively executed and more categorized by personal interests and in the best of situations, than by collective benefit, something nothing revolutionary for our days but which, at the time, was crucial for a society steeped in the romantic political theory of Plato and Aristotle, when the sage was thought of as a possible candidate. to the king.

Indeed, the involvement of the sages in politics has been noticeable since Athens, just as the influence of the Platonic idea of ​​’philosopher kings’ has been noticeable. So much so that some rulers employed thinkers of brilliance to educate their children, as was the case with Aristotle with his student Alexander the Great or Seneca With the future emperor Nero. On other occasions attempts have been made to put some of these ardent ideas into practice, with unsatisfactory results, as happened to Plato at Syracuse”, wrote Ignacio Iturraldi on the subject, De Principes, Casex and Animalis Animalis.

(It might interest you: Heraclitus and Parmenides, an infallible duo of cosmopolitan thought)

And to get there, Machiavelli just noted without leaving room for moral judgment or theoretical prescription, a method he called the method of the effective truth of things, The main item of its real areaAn alliance between historical analysis and the two feet firmly on the ground with which man reached adulthood, and took the first steps of his liberation from one of the chains that were until then, in the step from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. He thinks it is inevitable: Christian morality, the main reason why the Florentine son of a jurist rejected religious teachings that rewarded earthly submission for fleeting salvation because, Iturraldi adds, “His philosophy is fundamentally practical and he has planted it firmly with each of his feet. On these Earth. He is not at all concerned about the fate that Providence has in store for men after the Final Judgment.”

His main business

His great human training was his difference. Indeed, this is where his concept as a diplomatic technocrat comes from. “The accession of the young Machiavelli to the government of Florence indicates the close relationship that existed in the city of the Renaissance between human and political training, somewhat in the manner of the current technocrats who assumed presidencies and ministries as a result of the economic crisis of 2008. The notable and not insignificant difference between the two types of technocracy lies in the fact that At that time the most valuable disciplines for public life were the humanities – a concept, by the way, created in the Renaissance – and not economics or management, as is happening at the moment (…) As the dictionary indicates, the technocrat is the one who “applies Effective measures that seek social welfare regardless of ideological considerations,” adds the author.

(Also: John Locke, the man of thought)

Thus, its bibliographic legacy is very relevant and applicable today. Its prosaic quality is noteworthy Machiavelli’s political works and his short political writings: His reports on the head of the Second Chancellery and the Council of Ten, and his private letters, are selections from his letters with his close friends.

Now, from the obligatory facet of Machiavelli, stand out the philosopher, fables, poems, comedies, and his great works on political philosophy and history: The Prince, his most widely read work, Discourses on the First Decade of Tito Evio, L. Asno de Gold, Belphegor Archdevil (against the wives, with a cynical and misogynistic air) and his most famous comedy, Za Mandrake, is a satire on Renaissance customs in Florence.

Of Princes, Cascades, and Other Political Animals is the 33rd installment of the Discover Philosophy Collection, which will arrive with EL TIEMPOAt 29,900 pesos and with the New Philosophers: Chomsky, Pascal, Habermas, John Stuart Mill, Plotinus, Russell, Erasmus, Gramsci, Althusser, Berkeley, Weber, Diderot, Adorno, Rawlsand Husserl, Gadamer, Bergson, Rorty, and Lévinas; All the amazing thinkers who changed history. Those interested in purchasing the complete collection can do so at tienda.eltiempo.com/filosofia or by calling 4266000 in Bogota, Option 3, and on the national toll-free line 018000110990.

Pilar Bolivar – @lavidaentenis