ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ ФОРМУВАННЯ ІДЕЙ І ПОГЛЯДІВ Н. МАКІАВЕЛЛІ

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to reveal the factors that influenced the formation of N. Machiavelli’s concept. The methodology is based on elements of structural and functional analysis. Using the ideas of E. Durkheim, A. Radcliffe-Brown, Merton, the author considered the Machiavellian system of views as an adaptive system in which all parts serve to satisfy the system’s needs as a whole, ensuring its existence in the external environment of conceptual fields. As a result, it was identified that the foundations of N. Machiavelli’s theoretical base were reflected in the dominance of the historical method and reliance on ancient authors. Machiavelli used this historical method uncritically. His examples are abstracted from the historical context and applied too crudely to his contemporaries. The sovereign was the first political pamphlet to reject transcendentalism as it was before Kant. This is understood as a refusal to have any single value reference. Another theoretical method was the historical method. For political reasons, N. Machiavelli could not point directly to his contemporaries. Therefore, with the help of ancient authors, he sought out convenient metaphorical stories to explain his position. The basis of Machiavelli's methodology was the postulate that power precedes law, custom and justice. Machiavelli argued that the malice of human nature, the recklessness of the population, and the tendency of societies to degenerate can to some extent be controlled or regulated by laws that, when established, cause initiative and tolerance in people. However, he believed that people do not do good things unnecessarily. Thus, one can see the attitude towards laws as a superstructure of customs. At the same time, there can be no good laws where there is no well-armed executive branch. Machiavelli believed that the security of all states is built on the basis of good military discipline, which, in turn, is based on good laws. At the same time, military security is primary, and without it, there can be nothing legal. This is a retelling of the ideas of Polybius, who also argued that before the letters of the law there must be some kind of coercive force to make people fulfill their duties.