Editing Niccolò Machiavelli (section)

=== Fortune ===
Machiavelli is generally seen as being critical of [[Christianity]] as it existed in his time, specifically its effect upon politics and humanity in general.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Machiavelli |first=Niccolò |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Km5itjMehYUC&q=machiavelli |title=Discourses on Livy |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0226500331 |page=131 |language=en-us}}</ref> In his opinion, the Christianity that the Church had come to accept allowed practical decisions to be guided too much by imaginary ideals and encouraged people to lazily leave events up to providence or, as he would put it, chance, luck or fortune. Machiavelli took a radically different view, and opined that the pagan religion, given it's faults, was preferable to Christianity as it championed martial warfare.<ref>Discourses on Livy, Book II chap. 2</ref> Machiavelli's own concept of virtue, which he calls "virtù", is original and is usually seen by scholars as different from the traditional viewpoints of other political philosophers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4EULB2IM50C&q=machiavelli's+virtue+mansfield|title=Machiavelli's Virtue|last=Mansfield|first=Harvey C.|date=1998-02-25|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226503721|language=en}}</ref> Virtù can consist of any quality at the moment that helps a ruler maintain his state, even being ready to engage in necessary evil when it is advantageous.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCsxDwAAQBAJ&q=citizen+machiavelli|title=Citizen Machiavelli|last=Hulliung|first=Mark|date=2017-07-05|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351528481|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GF6X2ow__MgC&dq=virt%C3%B9%20in%20a%20prince.%20Hitherto%2C%20as%20we%20have%20seen%2C%20it%20had%20generally%20been%20assumed%20that%20the%20possession%20of%20virt%C3%B9%20could%20be%20equated%20with%20the%20possession%20of%20all%20the%20major%20virtues.%20With%20Machiavelli%2C%20by%20contrast%2C%20the%20concept%20of%20virt%C3%B9%20is%20simply%20.&pg=PA138 | title=The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: Volume 1, the Renaissance | isbn=978-0-521-29337-2 | last1=Skinner | first1=Quentin | date=30 November 1978 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref><ref>Skinner, Q. (2017). Machiavelli and the misunderstanding of princely virtù. Machiavelli on Liberty and Conflict, 139-163.</ref> Harvey {{Harvtxt|Mansfield|1995|p=74}} wrote of Machiavelli's followers that: "In attempting other, more regular and scientific modes of overcoming fortune, Machiavelli's successors formalized and emasculated his notion of virtue." Mansfield describes Machiavelli's usage of ''virtù'' as a "compromise with evil".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mansfield |first=Harvey C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4EULB2IM50C&dq=machiavelli's%20virtue&pg=PA233 |title=Machiavelli's Virtue |date=1998-02-25 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-50372-1 |pages=233 |language=en-us}}</ref> Mansfield however argues that Machiavelli's own aims have not been shared by those he influenced. Machiavelli argued against seeing mere peace and economic growth as worthy aims on their own if they would lead to what Mansfield calls the "taming of the prince".<ref>{{Harvtxt|Mansfield|1993}}</ref>

Najemy has argued that this same approach can be found in Machiavelli's approach to love and desire, as seen in his comedies and correspondence. Najemy shows how Machiavelli's friend Vettori argued against Machiavelli and cited a more traditional understanding of fortune.{{sfn|Najemy|1993|p=203-204}}

Cary Nederman says of Machiavelli's use of ''fortuna'' that: "Machiavelli’s remarks point toward several salient conclusions about Fortuna and her place in his intellectual universe. Throughout his corpus, Fortuna is depicted as a primal source of violence (especially as directed against humanity) and as antithetical to reason. Thus, Machiavelli realizes that only preparation to pose an extreme response to the vicissitudes of Fortuna will ensure victory against her. This is what virtù provides: the ability to respond to fortune at any time and in any way that is necessary."<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/ | title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | chapter=Niccolò Machiavelli | date=2025 | publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University }}</ref>

Strauss concludes his 1958 book ''[[Thoughts on Machiavelli]]'' by proposing that "The difficulty implied in the admission that inventions pertaining to the art of war must be encouraged is the only one which supplies a basis for Machiavelli’s criticism of classical political philosophy." and that this shows that classical-minded men "had to admit in other words that in an important respect the good city has to take its bearings by the practice of bad cities or that the bad impose their law on the good".{{Harvtxt|Strauss|1958|pp=298–299}}