MAQUIAVEL: BEING AND LOOKING TO BE IN POLITICS.

Like the destabilization of the medieval world and the beginning of modernity, the intertwining of the sphere of ethics with politics, so present in the world of the Greek polis and medieval Christian society, seemed to have come to an end, for the new society which He announced that he focused on the power and power of reason. The Judeo-Christian and philosophical tradition attributed to Machiavelli the responsibility for this separation. Thus forming a vision, directed only at the ends. This conception became one of the main stigmas of Philosophy, since it is understood that Machiavelli was an anti-Christian and that his ideas were arbitrary, which would prevent an approximation of the sphere of ethics with the sphere of politics (CASSIRER, 2003, p.134-146 ). Other interpreters have identified in Machiavelli's thinking something different in the relations of ethics with politics, calling it immoral and amoral.

Machiavelli's theoretical rejection of the theological, philosophical, and classical humanist tradition took place mainly because he considered them illusory, since they did not participate in the experiences of concrete societies and men, but of idealized models. In taking this position, the Florentine ignored the concepts, categories, and foundations on which the famous thinkers and scholars of his time were accustomed to express themselves.

In The Prince, Machiavelli states that "it is necessary for a prince to maintain himself that he learns that he can be evil and that he avails himself of it or does not take advantage of it according to necessity" and that a prudent "prince can not and must not The word given when that makes it harmful and when the causes that determine it cease to exist. "

The action of the ruler according to necessity must also take into account that in Machiavelli the people evaluate the prince by the eyes; In this way, the practice of violence and cruelty, in the army of power, are enemies to its maintenance, because the people, in face of such practice, reacts with hatred of the ruler. The key to success lies in recognizing the force of circumstances, relating necessity with the demand of the new times, in a temporary way and if possible only once, and never in self-benefit, for certain reprehensible actions can be justified thanks to their Effects, and when the effect is good, action is always justified. "

In rejecting the traditional morality and the concept of virtue that is his own, Machiavelli appropriates only the appearance of this virtue, because the people are satisfied only with the simulacrum of virtue. In political action, when it is necessary to adopt a stance that runs away from traditional standards, the prince must practice cunning and disguise it, because the people are unable to understand the political good that lies behind the need to practice moral evil.

The qualities of goodness, of faith in God, of love of neighbor are very important to the life of every citizen, and cruelty and the sacrifice of innocents should not be practiced in private life. However, when the common good is at stake, this morality becomes incompatible, "for it is possible docility or the pursuit of spiritual salvation, with a strong, vigorous, stable, satisfying society on earth."

The assertion that "Christian morality made men weak, surrendering the world to the audacity of the impudent" expresses that the practice of Christian teaching has been to crush men's civic spirit and compel them to endure humiliations without complaining, Destroyers do not find resistance.

Machiavelli did not intend to make a classification of values, but to show an incompatibility of the values ​​of Christianity with civic political practice. Praise to courtesy, kindness, generosity, honor, and religion, present in his works, do not represent irony on the part of the author, for he recognizes that they are great virtues, but they are not always possible to be practiced in political life.

With Machiavelli there is no ethical nihilism, but a moral one, even if often due to human nature, is only apparent. This morality aims at the defense of freedom and the interests of the collectivity. The values ​​of politics in Machiavelli are not Christian moral values, but nonetheless they are values. Berlin asserts that, in The Prince, Machiavelli is not a "distant, morally neutral observer. His morality was social, not individual: but it is a morality and not an amoral religion, beyond good and evil".