Juilet Glazer - Machiavelli Essay 2011.docx

1 Juliet Glazer Year 1 Seminar Beta Machiavelli Essay Emotional Distance Between the Prince and the People In The Prince, Machiavelli draws a clear picture of the relationship a prince should have with his people. Inherent in the relationship he describes is the idea that the prince and the people must be emotionally and socially removed from one another. Emotional and social distance creates a lack of empathy . Isaiah Berlin‟s thesis that the political and individual moral realms are entirely separate from one another also describes a need for emotional distance bet ween the government and the people. Is this emotional distance between the government and the governed absolutely necessary? In modern democracies there seems to be less emotional distance than either Machiavelli or Berlin call for. Machiavelli does not explicitly discuss the idea of emotional distance between the prince and the people, but it is inherent in his claim about cunning. For Machiavelli, cunning is the virtú that conquers the river of fortuná, since cunning finds the best means to an end. For the prince, this makes cunning the essential virtú. Machiavelli writes, “…those princes have accomplished most who… knew how to manipulate the minds of men craftily” (Machiavelli 47). Manipulation requires emotional distance, since it relies on creating appearances and breaking promises. It would be difficult for the prince to cunningly deceive the people, or to sacrifice them for the desired end if he truly cared about them and empathized with them. The importance Machiavelli gives to cunning implies that emotional distance between the prince and the people is necessary. Despite the importance Machiavelli gives emotional distance, he stresses that princes must not be physically distanced from their people. Living amongst the people is

Juilet Glazer - Machiavelli Essay 2011.docx

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