The Problem of Gratitude and the Conditions of Liberty in Machiavelli’s Political Thought

Political scientists and theorists are increasingly concerned with the rise of personalist leaders in democracies. But they have neglected to study one of personalism’s crucial psychological foundations: gratitude. This paper examines the relationship between gratitude and liberty in the political thought of Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavelli argues that human beings naturally hate ingratitude and admire gratitude, and thus republics must prevent and punish ingratitude among their citizens and leaders to prevent the formation of politically destabilizing grievances. But gratitude also endangers liberty. For the experience of gratitude depends on an ignorance of the motives of politicians, whose apparent beneficence is truly the product of necessity or prudent self-interest. Popular gratitude is therefore easily manipulated by would-be tyrants. It further undermines the foundations of freedom—the rule of law and civic equality—by encouraging excessive leniency for the present crimes of past benefactors and by fostering excessive devotion to outstanding citizens. Republics must therefore balance the need to be both grateful and ungrateful to maintain their freedom. This paper therefore demonstrates the centrality of Machiavelli’s reflections on gratitude to his republicanism and reveals how these reflections illuminate the causes of and remedies for the rise of personalism in democracies.