Niccolò Machiavelli
1469-1527 · Renaissance Humanism · Household name
Machiavelli served Florence as a diplomat and studied what rulers do rather than what they should. A prince who insists on being good among so many who are not will be destroyed, he wrote in The Prince. You need the fox's cunning and the lion's force. He prized virtu, the nerve to act with decision against fortuna, luck that shifts without warning. His Discourses on Livy makes the case for republican liberty.
Signature
The position Machiavelli is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Ethics
- strongly leans Ends
- Highest Good
- Freedom / Honor
Positions on the 3 axes the sources answer
- Polity
- leans Illiberalism (25 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
- Ethics
- strongly leans Ends (10 on a 0–100 scale from Ends to Means)
- War
- strongly leans Militarism (90 on a 0–100 scale from Pacifism to Militarism)
17 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Machiavelli refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Agnosticism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Direct Democracy / Polis Model
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Freedom / Honor
What is the highest good? - Knowledge
- Pragmatic Test
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Non-Utilitarian Consequentialism
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Agency
- Libertarian Free Will / Compatibilism
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Authority
- Consent of the Governed / Sacred Tradition
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Law
- Common Law
What is the ultimate source of legitimate law? - Human Nature
- Irredeemably Corrupted
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- Nation
What is your primary bond and loyalty?