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Today it is often spoken in tone of admiration but Machiavelli's Florentine contemporaries were shocked by his views,<ref name="Guinness"/> some in fact to such degree that they regarded his works to be inspired by [[devil]].<ref name="BriefIdeas">{{cite book |author=William Raeper, Linda Edwards|title=Brief guide to ideas|publisher=Lion Hudson |year=1997 |pages=175–181|isbn=9780310227748|url=http://books.google.sk/books?id=EMidlIvMw0cC&dq=editions:PaSJTIVMIEsC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8UypUKe4F4bysgbAvoDoCw&redir_esc=y}}</ref> We don't know if Machiavelli wrote ''the Prince'' as a satire on the way the princes of his day behaved or as serious advice. We do know that more than a few leaders have taken his advice seriously.<!--Fcf{{#tag:ref|Florentine Catherine de' Medici, Queen consort of French king Henry II and regent for Charles IX, has traditionally been blamed by historians to be the one of the first who adopted Machiavellian principles in what was later coined as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 2425, 1572). Whatever his objectives were, Machiavelli made his position clear: leaders are essentially selfish, self-interested, and self-protected; they view other people simply as objects to be [[Psychological manipulation|manipulated]]. That's why from their perspective, ''virtuous character'' is not just irrelevant but also even obstructive and foolish. This is in sharp contrast to [[Plato]] who wrote in his ''Republic'' that characters of leaders{{#tag:ref|cf.-->''"we compel them to have some care and responsibility for others"'' from Plato:''The Parable of the Cave''are extremely important for public welfare: ''"the States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters".''<ref name="Guinness">{{cite book|first=Os |last=Guinness|editor= Virginia Mooney Withrow|title=When no one sees: Character and leadership in an age of Image|publisher=[http://www.ttf.org/ TheTrinityForum.org]|location=McLean, Virginia|year=2007|pages=59–65,305|isbn= 1-57683-159-0}}</ref> The contemporary society of Machiavelli's period based its morale on conviction that evil acts in temporal life will cause punishment in [[eternal life]]. He turned this perception upside down and refrained from mentioning [[Bible]] or [[Christianity]] in his writings. His ostentatious avoidance of addressing the question of the [[Last Judgement]] in this respect excited resentment.<ref name="BriefIdeas"/>{{#tag:ref|cf."Marx called religion 'the opium of the people'. However, the Nobel Prize winner Czeslav Milosz argued: 'A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.'"<ref>{{cite web |title=What is life about? |publisher=EVS and JPK |url=http://www.ilife101.com/ |accessdate=2012-11-18}}</ref>}}

Today it is often spoken in tone of admiration but Machiavelli's Florentine contemporaries were shocked by his views,<ref name="Guinness"/> some in fact to such degree that they regarded his works to be inspired by [[devil]].<ref name="BriefIdeas">{{cite book |author=William Raeper, Linda Edwards|title=Brief guide to ideas|publisher=Lion Hudson |year=1997 |pages=175–181|isbn=9780310227748|url=http://books.google.sk/books?id=EMidlIvMw0cC&dq=editions:PaSJTIVMIEsC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8UypUKe4F4bysgbAvoDoCw&redir_esc=y}}</ref> We don't know if Machiavelli wrote ''the Prince'' as a satire on the way the princes of his day behaved or as serious advice. We do know that more than a few leaders have taken his advice seriously.<!--Fcf{{#tag:ref|Florentine Catherine de' Medici, Queen consort of French king Henry II and regent for Charles IX, has traditionally been blamed by historians to be the one of the first who adopted Machiavellian principles in what was later coined as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 2425, 1572). Whatever his objectives were, Machiavelli made his position clear: leaders are essentially selfish, self-interested, and self-protected; they view other people simply as objects to be [[Psychological manipulation|manipulated]]. That's why from their perspective, ''virtuous character'' is not just irrelevant but also even obstructive and foolish. This is in sharp contrast to [[Plato]] who wrote in his ''Republic'' that characters of leaders{{#tag:ref|cf.-->''"we compel them to have some care and responsibility for others"'' from Plato:''The Parable of the Cave''are extremely important for public welfare: ''"the States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters".''<ref name="Guinness">{{cite book|first=Os |last=Guinness|editor= Virginia Mooney Withrow|title=When no one sees: Character and leadership in an age of Image|publisher=[http://www.ttf.org/ TheTrinityForum.org]|location=McLean, Virginia|year=2007|pages=59–65,305|isbn= 1-57683-159-0}}</ref> The contemporary society of Machiavelli's period based its morale on conviction that evil acts in temporal life will cause punishment in [[eternal life]]. He turned this perception upside down and refrained from mentioning [[Bible]] or [[Christianity]] in his writings. His ostentatious avoidance of addressing the question of the [[Last Judgement]] in this respect excited resentment.<ref name="BriefIdeas"/>{{#tag:ref|cf."Marx called religion 'the opium of the people'. However, the Nobel Prize winner Czeslav Milosz argued: 'A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.'"<ref>{{cite web |title=What is life about? |publisher=EVS and JPK |url=http://www.ilife101.com/ |accessdate=2012-11-18}}</ref>}}

== Machiavellism and psychology ==

== "Machiavellism" in the field of psychology ==

''See also:'' [[Machiavellianism (Psychology)]]

''See also:'' [[Machiavellianism (Psychology)]]