Liberty is not the default state for a society. Looking at 16th century Italy in The Prince and the early years of the Roman Republic in Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli amply demonstrates liberty was indeed a very tenuous thing. Regardless of whether authority in a country is nominally lodged in a prince or the people, liberty is always at risk. How, then, can a society achieve liberty? Having achieved it, how can liberty be preserved? Enter Machiavelli, who explains that since liberty does … [Read more...] about Is Liberty a Means or an End?
Discourses on Livy review
The Nice Machiavelli
“Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonym for the Devil.” Macaulay wrote that about Niccolo Machiavelli. You’ve heard of Maciavelli, of course. He wrote The Prince, that manual for back-room, double-crossing, amoral, evil, self-serving, repulsive, despicable people. Not people like you, obviously. Those awful, terrible, no good, very bad people. Indeed imagine an interview for a leadership position. One of those inane questions … [Read more...] about The Nice Machiavelli