The Machiavelli Program and the Dirty Hands Problem

Abstract

It is said that Machiavelli was the first author who clearly stated the dominance of politics over all facets and braches of human life. Economics seems to play just a minor role in his writings. In Chapter 21 of The Prince, he recommends that “a prince should...encourage his citizens quietly to pursue their vocations, whether of commerce, agriculture, or any other human industry; so that the one may not abstain from embellishing his possessions for fear of their being taken from him, nor the other from opening new sources of commerce for fear of taxes. But the prince should provide rewards for those who are willing to do these things, and for all who strive to enlarge his city or state” (Detmold p 76). Machiavelli repeatedly gives a warning of too high taxes, especially if high taxes are the consequence of excessive spending in order to appear “liberal.” If the prince desires “the reputation of being liberal,” he “must not stop at any degree of sumptuousness; so that a prince will in this way generally consume his entire substance, and may in the end, if he wishes to keep up his reputation for liberality, be obliged to subject his people to extraordinary burdens, and resort to taxation, and employ all sorts of measures that will enable him to procure money. This will soon make him odious with his people; and when he becomes poor, he will be contemned by everybody; so that having by his prodigality injured many and benefited few, he will be the first to suffer every inconvenience, and be exposed to every danger” (Detmold p 52).