For four centuries scholars have debated whether Machiavelli was the theorist of evil, or just being realistic. ''The Prince'', made the word "Machiavellian" a byword for deceit, despotism and political manipulation. Some historians argue Machiavelli had a secret (or very subtle) message that explains away the ugly implications of the plain text, saying that Machiavelli really favored virtue after all and was just trying to trick princes into policies that would lead to their overthrow, not their triumph.<ref>John Langton and Mary G. Deitz, "Machiavelli's Paradox: Trapping or Teaching the Prince" ''The American Political Science Review,'' Vol. 81, No. 4 (Dec., 1987), pp. 1277-1288 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1962589 at JSTOR]</ref>
The [[atheist]] German-born American neoconservative [[Leo Strauss]], and founder of the American neo-conservative, Straussian School denounces him Machiavelli as a "teacher of evil," because he counsels the princes to avoid the values of justice, mercy, temperance, wisdom, and love of their people in preference to the use of cruelty, violence, fear, and deception.<ref>Leo Strauss, [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0226777022/ref=sib_dp_srch_bod?v=search-inside&keywords=teacher+of+evil&go.x=16&go.y=8 ''Thoughts on Machiavelli'' (1957), p 9 online]</ref> Italian anti-fascist philosopher Benedetto Croce (1925) concludes Machiavelli is simply a "realist" or "pragmatist" who accurately states that moral values in reality do not greatly affect the decisions that political leaders make.<ref>Benedetto Croce, [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1406739774/ref=sib_books_pg?ie=UTF8&keywords=Benedetto%20Croce%20machiavelli&p=S02H&checkSum=%252FombMxeAC6hIVUToYvbv9hivFP6U3vxoUdbCmtPQco4%253D ''My Philosophy'' (1949), p. 142 online]</ref> German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1946) held that Machiavelli simply adopts the stance of a political scientist—-a Galileo of politics—in distinguishing between the "facts" of political life and the "values" of moral judgment.<ref>Ernst Cassirer, [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0300000367/ref=sib_dp_srch_bod?v=search-inside&keywords=machiavelli+galileo ''The Myth of the State,'' (1946) p.136, online]</ref>
===Thoughts on the State===