History · Ch 5 — Changing Cultural Traditions
A New Concept of Human Beings
A New Concept of Human Beings
The deepest break with the medieval past lay in how people thought about human beings themselves. For centuries, feudal society had divided people into three fixed orders — those who prayed, those who fought, and those who worked. The humanists rejected this rigid scheme. They insisted that human nature was many-sided, that no single label could capture a person, and that individuals had the power to shape their own lives through more than just the pursuit of power and money.
This new outlook grew out of a visible slackening of religion's grip on daily life. Italians of the period were strongly drawn to material wealth, power, and glory — yet this did not make them irreligious. The humanist Francesco Barbaro (1390–1454), a Venetian, wrote a pamphlet defending the acquisition of wealth as a virtue. Lorenzo Valla (1406–1457) went further. In On Pleasure, he criticised the Christian injunction against pleasure itself, arguing that the study of history leads man to strive for a life of perfection. These were not attacks on faith, but on the idea that worldly enjoyment and ambition were sinful.
Alongside this came a new concern with good manners. People began to ask how one should speak politely, how one should dress correctly, and what skills a person of culture ought to master. Culture was no longer the preserve of the clergy; it became a mark of the refined individual, something to be learned and displayed.
The most striking statement of this new view of human nature comes from Niccolo Machiavelli in the fifteenth chapter of The Prince (1513).
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote about human nature in the fifteenth chapter of his book, The Prince (1513).
'So, leaving aside imaginary things, and referring only to those which truly exist, I say that whenever men are discussed (and especially princes, who are more exposed to view), they are noted for various qualities which earn them either praise or condemnation. Some, for example, are held to be generous, and others miserly. Some are held to be benefactors, others are called grasping; some cruel, some compassionate; one man faithless, another faithful; one man effeminate and cowardly, another fierce and courageous; one man courteous, another proud; one man lascivious, another pure; one guileless, another crafty; one stubborn, another flexible; one grave, another frivolous; one religious, another sceptical; and so forth.'
— Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513
Machiavelli believed that 'all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature partly because of the fact that human desires are insatiable'. The most powerful motive Machiavelli saw as the incentive for every human action is self-interest. …
He set aside imaginary ideals and described men as they truly are. People, he observed, are noted for qualities that earn them either praise or condemnation — some are generous, others miserly; some benefactors, others grasping; some cruel, some compassionate; one man faithless, another faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, another fierce and courageous; one courteous, another proud; one lascivious, another pure; one guileless, another crafty; one stubborn, another flexible; one grave, another frivolous; one religious, another sceptical. The list runs on because human character, in Machiavelli's eyes, is endlessly varied. …