Reflections on the Political Thought of Niccolo Machiavelli

As articulated in The Prince and The Discourses, Machiavelli’s political thought can be said to constitute a particular philosophy of Politics. What we find in them (and especially in The Prince) goes beyond a particular programme for a particular situation. For the concepts and postulations employed are not just universals, but man in particular as, the most basic unit of analysis, is a product of time, society, condition and circumstances. In this paper, an attempt is made, through the use of qualitative method, to examine, evaluate and interpret the political thought of our author by conceiving its birth in his personal trouble and the way in which this cripple and skews his ontological and epistemological conceptions. The implication of his assumptions and postulations on the practice of politics, and in particular their connection with, and susceptibility to production of violence is explored.