Machiavelli makes many broad, generalized statements that he claims are keys to political success. The importance of stability, the difficulty in trying to manage compassion and cruelty for the ruler’s subjects, and the impact of choosing allies are talked about frequently in “The Prince”. He also suggests that fortune favors the bold. While this may be true to an extent, it is NEVER intelligent to continually make the same decisions without taking the context of the situation into account. What is very wise one moment can be incredibly foolish the next, depending on the setting.
Machiavelli acknowledges this in his work. “… if one knew how to change one’s character as time and circumstances change, one’s luck would never change” (76) he writes. Machiavelli brought lots of concrete advice forward in the book, then advocated evaluating the situation to decide the next step forward.
It seems a little strange that Machiavelli continually brings up the idea of fortune and luck in his writing. Much of his advice is concrete and pragmatic, yet he writes, “I do think, however, that it is better to be headstrong than cautious, for fortune is a lady. It is necessary, if you want to master her, to beat and strike her. And one sees she more often submits to those who act boldly than those who proceed in a calculating fashion” (76-77). It does seem a little incongruous he puts so much stock in superstition, when the rest of the book is almost hyper-pragmatic and rational.
Dear Kate,
ReplyDeleteAs I sit next to you and Katie here at the library, I cannot help but keep on dancing in my chair to my fast-beat music playlist...just kiddin’.
One of the things I want to bring up is your comment, “While this may be true to an extent, it is never intelligent to continually make the same decisions without taking the context of the situation into account.” In political life and political struggle, it is true that fortune favors the bold, but it does not always work the same for everyone. Depending on the person and the situation, the person (in this case, rulers) will end up with a different outcome. I want to refer back to Machiavelli’s quote where he says “Nevertheless, since our free will must not be eliminated, I think it may be true that fortune determines one half of our actions, but that, even so, she leaves us to control the other half, or thereabouts” (74). Although he suggests that fortune favors the bold, Machiavelli also implies that the ruler’s success depends their own actions in addition to fortune.
Garry, I think that brings up a very good point. Free will is always incredibly important in examining the relationship between luck and skill as it is associated with success.
ReplyDeleteOn this point, I actually have to admit that I agree with Machiavelli. I think skill is always the most important. If one has enough skill, they can deduce which action is necessary to take at any given time. Luck may pay a small part in that, but the emphasis should always be placed on skill and skill alone.