The Great Emancipator

No not honest Abe, but Niccolo Machiavelli. He could be considered one of the most influential people ever. His influence has expanded for more than 450 years. His name has become a popular adjective and Tupac, even informally changed his name to Makeveli in honor the philosopher. Machiavelli did much more than influence Tupac, he also inspired some of the most influential philosophers of the ensuing centuries, such as Locke, Rousseau, Marx and Nietzsche.

Although many consider Machiavelli a teacher of evil, I consider him the founder of political science. It is true that The Prince, did promote many controversial ideas, but he was simply approaching politics scientifically. Machiavelli wrote in a time that did not allow free expression of ideas. He invited change, dismissed limitations, advocated for the protection of property, created an historical analysis of maintaining power and even exposed the limitations of Christian morals.

Machiavelli lived in the 15th and 16th century two hundred years before the enlightenment. In these centuries, Aristotle was dogma and the church used force to suppress knowledge. He did not have the freedom to speak freely in the way that Locke, Rousseau, Marx and Nietzsche did. He was required to veil the true meaning behind his words while they could freely expand on every concept. It would have been suicide for Machiavelli to attempt to expand on the ideas promoted in The Prince. Yet he was able to emancipate politics from the philosophical good, which Socrates and Plato had imposed.