چکیده:
The interpretability of Machiavelli‘s political thought relates, in the most part, to the concept of virtue and its dimensions. In Western thought, this concept has had continuity and has reached the Renais-sance and Machiavelli‘s times. In the Roman and Medieval tradition, philosophical, verbal, religious and even literary and historical approaches were dominant in the clarification and explanation of this concept. However, with Machiavelli, we witness a break in the sense and status of this concept. By confining the concept of virtue in the realm of politics and releasing it from the bounds of the ancient thought, Machia-velli could delineate a novel but supported view backed by historical evidence and kingship experiences, and provide the prince and government with new operational possibilities. The present paper investigates the process of transformation and formation of the concept of virtue by Machiavelli based on a conceptual framework taken from his and his commentators‘ works. The results reveal that the new concept of virtue has a qualitative and a quantitative dimension each with certain aspects. Successful political act is actual-ized through simultaneous consideration of both dimensions of virtue
خلاصه ماشینی:
"By confining the concept of virtue in the realm of politics and releasing it from the bounds of the ancient thought, Machia- velli could delineate a novel but supported view backed by historical evidence and kingship experiences, and provide the prince and government with new operational possibilities.
On the orbit of historical studies, and based on his experience as a politician and a diplomatic mis- sioner, philosophical reflection, and literary and analytical discourse studies, while benefiting from historical repletion of this concept in the tradition of Western thought, Machiavelli brought up a to- tally distinct view of virtue and attempted to de- liver it to the level of political act.
Conceptual Framework Part of the reason of the high interpretability of Machiavelli‘s political thinking centers on the concept of virtue which includes several dimen- sions namely quantitative, qualitative, technical and instrumental competence, its skill and huma- nitarian aspects, the relation of virtue to brutality and cruelty, criticism and judgment, confidante and tendency to prodigies, balanced action, flex- ibility and change as necessary, and etc.
‖ Machiavelli as a Counselor to king‘ is the title of the second chapter of Skinner‘s book where he has stipulated a form of a new political exhortation based on real-life experiences rather than on a mere historical study.
Through a completely new analysis bro- ken from the medieval tradition, but at the same time supported with historical sources and actual governorship experiences, Machiavelli could give a determining centrality to virtue and find the modern political theory."