Этика Макиавелли

Politicians, like other people, often say one thing and act differently. Everyone knows, for example, that it is wrong to take bribes, but corruption is rampant. Machiavelli is often perceived as the person who theoretically legitimized the principle “if not caught, no thief.” The author of two reprinted monographs shows that this idea is at least superficial; he also refutes the common assumption about the separation of politics and morality in Machiavelli. The starting point is the thesis that the Florentine secretary for the first time at the dawn of the New Age began to take into account the factor of human subjectivity, public opinion, discrepancies between the sphere of action and the sphere of assessment in politics and in life; within the framework of Renaissance ethical ideas, he rethought the phenomenon of power as both a moral and immoral institution.

The first part, entitled “Machiavelli's Ethics,” can serve as an introduction to reading the works of the Italian thinker; the key problems of his work are discussed here. The second part, “Machiavelli in Russia,” provides an overview of opinions about Machiavelli expressed in our country or related to its history, starting from the times of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great until the middle of the past decade.