Politics, Society, and Morality, Essay Example

Discuss Machiavelli’s ideal prince, who is essentially an amoral pragmatist, in terms of Dante’s morality. Would the sort of behaviors Machiavelli advises be hell-worthy in Dante’s worldview? Be sure to support your response with passages from both works.

Although Machiavelli’s political philosophy as described in his famous work The Prince is obviously based in a form of pragmatism, the ideas forwarded in the book stand in moral opposition to the ideas expressed by Dante in his epic work The Divine Comedy, and most notably in The Inferno. A comparison of these two works shows a progression from a medieval conception of morality, as expressed by Dante, which is rooted in religious idealism and the realist vision of morality as expressed by Machiavelli that is rooted in intellectualism. Obviously, the philosophical ideas that are espoused by Machiavelli in The Prince are hell-worthy in regard to Dante’s worldview. The irony is that Dante’s metaphysical conceptions reveal a degree of “Machiavellianism” in regard to the nature of power and punishment.

Francesco De Sanctis, in his study Machiavelli: Cynic, Patriot, or Political Scientist? (1960) indicates the central divide between the philosophies of Dante and Machiavelli. De Sanctis writes that “The soul of Dante’s world is the heart: the soul of Machiavelli’s world is the brain. The former is essentially mystical and ethical; the latter is primarily human and logical” (Sanctis 25). This perspective of the two writers is one which basically divides the idealist and the pragmatist. Such a division is a desirable notion for examining the way in which morality is represented in The Inferno and The Prince. To begin with, the idea of love is central to the theme of redemption in Dante’s Divine Comedy and also in The Inferno. However, for Machiavelli, love is only a secondary consideration in regard to morality.

In a famous passage from The Prince Machiavelli considers whether it is better for a ruler to be feared or love and he concludes that “it is much safer to be feared than loved” (Machiavelli, 836) . Of course, the reason that Machiavelli gives for this conclusion is based on a two cynical premises: first, that concentration of personal power is the ultimate goal for any ruler, and second, that the mass majority of people are followers who will follow someone whom they feel is successful. Even more telling is Machiavelli’s insistence that fear based on punishment is the most effective way of leading. Obviously, this perspective is “sinful” in contrast to Dante’s metaphysical ideal. In The Inferno, those who committed violence and worked to amass personal power are punished by being consigned to the lower circles of hell. The eighth circle, for example, is populated by leaders who used their power for personal gain rather than to divulge Divine truth and love.

In Canto twelve, Dante offers a direct condemnation of violence “The river of blood, within which boiling is / Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.” (Dante, Canto 12). This offers an interesting contrast with Machiavelli’s insistence that only fear backed by violence can be counted on to ensure the respect that is desired by world leaders. The idea that violence is a sin rather than a virtue stands as one of the most obvious divisions between the two thinkers and indicates the way in which philosophical thought evolved dramatically in the period between the publication of The Divine Comedy and Machiavelli’s The Prince.  In actuality, Machiavelli’s political ideals are the very ideals that bring about the metaphysical reason for the existence of Hell in Dante’s worldview. The basic contention between the two is based in a metaphysical viewpoint as well as an ethical viewpoint. For Dante, God’s Law is the ultimate arbiter of what is morally right or wrong. For Machiavelli, man defines morality for himself, based on his innate selfishness and personal ambition.

The irony in comparing the two authors is that each of them to some extent accepts two basic propositions: that man is innately flawed to some extent and that punishment and fear are essentially necessary to condition human beings to function in a desired way. What is desired by Dante is that they accept Divine Law; what is desired by Machiavelli is that human-beings recognize that the world is essentially an amoral place. Taken without any attribution, the following quote could be seen as being part of either work: “fear preserves you by a dread of punishment” (Machiavelli, 836).  The quote from Machiavelli relates to the way that a human ruler controls other people. The same quote could be applied to Dante in regard to the way that Hell serves as a deterrent to immoral behavior.

The fact that both Machiavelli and Dante are able to articulate a fear-based philosophy of human morality shows that each writer believes that human-beings are basically flawed or that, at the very least, they exhibit a tendency toward amoral behavior that must be confronted and dealt with at some level. When Dante writes in Canto 6 that “Envy and Arrogance and Avarice /

Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled” (Inferno, Canto 6) his fundamental position about human nature is not so distant from Machiavelli’s own insistence that people by and large “are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous,” (Machiavelli, 836). The staggering difference betwen the two is that Dante retains a conviction in spiritual redemption and spiritual guidance whereas Machiavelli views human nature as something to be manipulated for the purpose of personal ambition and power.

In other words, Dante believes that the innate “sinfulness” exhibited by humanity can be overcome through spiritual wisdom, while Machiavelli is convinced that the innate weaknesses of humanity are simply unalterable realities that must be exploited by those who wish to rise to power and retain power.  For this reason, Machiavelli’s morality is a morality that Dante would view as being “hellworthy.”  The fact is that Machiavelli’s worldview is one that clashes at every level with the view presented by Dante. For Machiavelli there is no God, no spiritual light, and no such thing as redemption. Machiavelli, left to fend for himself in Dante’s metaphysical paradigm would, no doubt, land in one of the lower circles of Hell.

Works Cited

Overton, William. World Literature Anthology Through the Renaissance Vol.3 Apus Epress, 2011.

Sanctis, Francesco De. “Long Live Italian Unity: Glory to Machiavelli!” Machiavelli: Cynic, Patriot, or Political Scientist? Ed. De Lamar Jensen. Boston: D. C. Heath, 1960. 22-26.