The Machiavellian liberty: Niccolò Machiavelli on the moral significance of political conflicts

Since the 16th century, Niccolò Machiavelli has often been misinterpreted as an amoral or immoral thinker who views politics as a brutal struggle for power in which morality plays no role. For Frederick the Great and Leo Strauss, Machiavelli is regarded as the “teacher of evil," advising political leaders to act contrary to pagan and Christian moral values in order to succeed in power struggles. Conversely, for Benedetto Croce and Friedrich Meinecke, Machiavelli is seen as the “technician of power," limiting politics to a rational, empirical investigation of conflict that lacks moral considerations. Both interpretations highlight the significance of political conflicts in Machiavelli’s works but overlook their moral implications for this Renaissance thinker. Therefore, by examining key works by Machiavelli, including Discourses on Livy, The Prince, and Florentine Histories, this study aims to reveal the moral significance of political conflicts in Machiavelli’s political thought. It demonstrates that Machiavelli is neither a “teacher of evil” nor a “technician of power," but rather a moral thinker who sought to defend political liberty through enduring political struggles.

This article argues that political conflicts are morally significant for Machiavelli because they are necessary for preserving civil liberty in both republics and principalities. By telling political leaders “not to be good”, he is not telling them to be indifferent to morality but to recognise the complexity of moral questions. That is, absolute virtue and vice are ultimately unknowable. Virtue and vice are observed in political life, but they are the appearance of virtue and vice. However, such appearance is all we can resort to when we make moral judgments, which makes them inevitably misguided and, to some degree, incorrect. Thus, for Machiavelli, political life is not about making correct moral judgements but about preserving our freedom to make moral judgements, which can only be realised by conflicts. We must tolerate domestic and foreign enemies as checks on our misguided moral judgements and prevent them from imposing their biased judgments on us. For Machiavelli, the moral purpose of political life lies in maintaining a stato where political conflicts preserve everyone’s freedom to choose “not to be good”, which is the unifying theme of Discourses on Livy and The Prince. In the 21st century, we still live in a Machiavellian world, one filled with endless political conflicts resulting from contending moral values. This article hopes to help contemporary decision-makers and political students understand the complexity of moral issues in political life and acknowledge the bondage between conflict and freedom.