Insight Paper- Political Realism

“The ends justify the means”, this was the particular phrase that automatically appears in my
consciousness when I hear the name Niccolo Machiavelli, a renaissance philosopher who is
known for his realistic approach toward politics. Initially, I thought that my knowledge of
Machiavelli was sufficient already just by familiarizing the phrase above which I thought
captures his whole political enterprise but I was wrong because Machiavelli’s political realism
cannot just be confined in such phrase (ends justify the means). It was naïve of me to conceive
sufficiency in my scanty knowledge. And with the surge of uncritical, hasty and out-of-context
interpretation of the Machiavellian principle by Filipino Netizens which is proliferated in the
social media platforms especially Facebook, I am all the more propelled to study adequately
Machiavelli’s philosophy. So, what motivated me to read and study Machiavellian text are these
two reasons: (1) my realization of my limited knowledge of Niccolo Machiavelli and his work,
and (2) my indignation toward those Filipinos who naively interpreted and contextualized the
Machiavellian principles.

Upon reading the translated work of Niccolo Machiavelli, the Prince, I learned the following:

(1) For Machiavelli, it is vital for a prince to learn how to be ‘lucky’ by suiting the time, by
abiding to the law of timing; knowing when to move and act by means of foresight and
by having the courage and audacity to make the move or to act.

(2) Machiavelli criticizes that the commonly held virtues by the populace are impractical
that; they only ruin or if not deteriorate the state’s condition. To illustrate, he favours
‘meanness’ over generosity for the latter results to lavishness which consequently leads to
the depletion of the state’s finances. Because depletion is undesirable, the state has to
accumulate sufficient amount of funds to sustain itself and its constituents and the means
of doing this is through taxations. However, this may present itself as burden among the
people and may spark hatred in them which is disadvantageous for the ruler or the prince.
Hence generosity in its extremity must be averted to ensure the stability of the state.

(3) Machiavelli favours that the ruler must strive to be feared than to be loved by his
subjects. In order to maintain peace and order in the state, the prince must exert force
through punishment to a selected few to serve as example for the entire populace and
more importantly to stir fear among them so that they may become more faithful to the
law promulgated and implemented by the state. Machiavelli believed that without the law
man is basically a beast. That is why, the prince must ensure to instil fear among his
subjects because on the contrary, if a ruler is too compassionate toward his subjects he
becomes reluctant to administer punishment to criminals and this inevitably leads to
further chaos within the state. Hence, it is more desirable to be feared by the people.

(4) Machiavelli advices his audience especially the prince not to maintain or keep his word /
promise. This is under the assumption that people likewise do not keep their promise
faithfully. So, the prince must play the game; he must learn to shape-shift as a beast; at
times a lion to drive off ravenous wolves that may devour him and at times a fox to detect
traps laid by cunning men.
 Insight Paper- Political Realism

Overall, these practical advices of Machiavelli though at first glance may appear to be horrid but
they prove to be realistic, practical and effective. Lastly, the most important element that I
learned about his principle of governance is that, force should not be use abusively, only when it
is necessary. His advises are not to be carried out needlessly and pointlessly but only when it is
necessary. Now I am more confident in my knowledge about Niccolo Machiavelli.