Jun 16, 2026 · 2h 8m
Historian Ada Palmer dismantles the myth of Machiavelli as a teacher of evil
Ada Palmer – Machiavelli is the most misunderstood thinker of all time
Understanding the true context behind Machiavelli's writings reveals how Renaissance geopolitics, book scarcity, and early printing shaped modern political philosophy.
- 1Machiavelli wrote his famous treatise as a highly specific, private manuscript for a single ruler while living in forced exile.
- 2The brutal tactics of Cesare Borgia and Italian political instability convinced Machiavelli that survival required radical pragmatism.
- 3Early print culture and censorship by the Inquisition distorted his reputation, turning a patriot into a caricature of deviousness.
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Ada Palmer describes how extreme book scarcity forced scholars like Machiavelli to hand-copy entire classical manuscripts, leading to a deep internalization of texts.
The brief
Historian Ada Palmer reframes Niccolo Machiavelli not as a cynical teacher of evil, but as a deeply patriotic Florentine diplomat whose pragmatic theories were forged in the brutal crucible of Renaissance geopolitics and personal exile.
Machiavelli observed ruthless figures like Cesare Borgia firsthand, realizing that the fragmented Italian city-states required extreme pragmatism to survive constant external threats and the destabilizing influence of the Papacy.
The Prince was never meant as a public handbook for tyranny; it was written as a bespoke, private manuscript for a single ruler, born out of Machiavelli's desperate isolation during his political exile from Florence.
Before the printing press, book scarcity forced scholars to deeply internalize texts. Machiavelli even hand-copied a manuscript of Lucretius, illustrating how limited access to literature fostered profound intellectual scholarship.
Ultimately, Machiavelli's legacy was distorted by early print culture, censorship from the Inquisition, and the rise of copyright monopolies, turning a dedicated civil servant into a synonym for deviousness.
What was said on this episode
24 statements · 7 positive · 3 negative · 5 mixed · 9 neutral
Regime overthrow weakens legitimacy and increases the likelihood of repeated subsequent overthrows.
“when you break that, when you overthrow the ruler, when you dissolve the republic, when you put in a new thing, it doesn't have that same staying power”
Listen at 0:54
A hereditary regional power could have constrained papal turnover and stabilized Italy.
“The only Thing that could stop the turnover of popes would be one person gaining enough power and ascendancy near this region who has staying power, who has sons at heredity”
Listen at 5:04
People control at most half of the factors determining outcomes; fortune determines the rest.
“we have power over maximum half of what causes outcomes. The other half is always going to be fortune”
Listen at 13:57
Machiavelli’s analysis implies that leaders should imitate the Borgias’ methods despite their eventual failure.
“And therefore we should imitate them, because everything they did was right.”
Listen at 15:05
Political deception can work when the ruler’s power base supports it, but not universally.
“it's not just that lying is okay, it's that lying is sometimes okay if you check these other boxes and it's not if you don't”
Listen at 18:34
Machiavelli first argued in European political thought that multiple parties could coexist within one state.
“Machiavelli is the first person that we have ever, in the European tradition to suggest that it could be viable for there to be more than one political party in a state at the same time”
Listen at 20:02
Geographic distance makes the pope seem more abstract and respectable to political communities.
“from the perspective of if you're far from Rome, right, when you're Denmark or Iceland, and the Pope is all the way over there”
Listen at 24:20
The papacy became progressively more corrupt over successive generations.
“the papacy becomes gradually more corrupted over time”
Listen at 32:13
Familial patronage and nepotism were fundamental mechanisms holding Renaissance society together.
“patronage, which was also familial and therefore entangled with nepotism, was so fundamental that”
Listen at 36:35
Patronage explains why medieval severe legal penalties usually produced lighter actual sentences.
“Patronage is the answer.”
Listen at 39:36
Cesare Borgia’s political outsiders could administer more neutral justice than local factions.
“he implements neutral justice because he and his cronies have no side in that city”
Listen at 50:30
Neutral justice made Cesare Borgia’s violent conquering regime popular among ordinary residents.
“this makes Valentino's conquering and violent regime incredibly popular with the everyday people of these cities”
Listen at 52:27
Machiavelli equates vulnerability to arbitrary execution with political slavery.
“If you live in a state of where there is an arbitrary power who can have you put to death, you are a slave.”
Listen at 53:54
Internal conquerors are more likely than outsiders to preserve a city’s institutions and cultural assets.
“there is a huge difference between when the conqueror is from your city, loves your city and wants to take care of your city, and when the conqueror is from the outside”
Listen at 56:21
Diplomacy produces more conflict avoidance per dollar than military spending.
“that dollar for dollar diplomacy is cheaper than war”
Listen at 59:47
Renaissance societies treated imitation of ancient Rome as technological advancement.
“for them, cutting edge technology is imitating the past”
Listen at 1:02:49
Machiavelli was exceptionally patriotic and primarily motivated by service to Florence.
“Machiavelli, fundamentally, is possibly one of the most patriotic patriots in Earth's history”
Listen at 1:19:50
Machiavelli intended The Prince as proprietary political knowledge for Florence, not broad public circulation.
“The prince's secret proprietary, the secret sauce of how to maintain power. And he will not let any other power have that right.”
Listen at 1:20:27
Works with radical ideas gain readership when later societies find them relevant to contemporary questions.
“It is often the case that a work which contains radically unusual ideas will drift along, being not particularly zoomed in on by society and not widely read until it hits a moment that the new questions being asked in that century or that decade are answered by something in that text.”
Listen at 1:28:29
Machiavelli evaluated religion primarily for its psychological effects on citizens and political behavior.
“Machiavelli is absolutely thinking about the psychological effects of a religion on the people”
Listen at 1:38:37
Renaissance scholars often presented original ideas as commentaries on ancient authorities to gain credibility.
“if you realize that what it is, is their style guide requires original thought to be presented in the form of a commentary on an ancient”
Listen at 1:49:11
Early copyright emerged from the Inquisition’s licensing and monopolization of printed books.
“the very first version of copyright is the Inquisition”
Listen at 1:53:42
The Inquisition was decentralized and constrained by slow communication with the Vatican.
“The Inquisition is overseen by a whole bunch of isolated guys who are in isolated towns. And it takes weeks or months to even communicate with the Vatican.”
Listen at 1:56:22
The Prince is primarily a manual for preserving governmental power, not acquiring it.
“it's a manual not of how to gain power, but of how to keep power”
Listen at 2:03:34
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