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Virt
Virt is a concept theorized by Niccol Machiavelli, centered on the martial spirit and ability of a population or leader,[1] but also encompassing a broader collection of traits necessary for maintenance of the state and "the achievement of great things."
Florentines
Florentine republicans at the turn of the 16th Century like Francesco Guicciardini rediscovered the classical concept of the virtue of the active citizen, and looked to it for an answer to the problems of preserving their city-state's independence.[4] Machiavelli extended the study of classical virtue in the sense of skill, valor and leadership, to encompass the individual prince or war-leader as well.[5] Virt, for Machiavelli, was not equivalent to moral virtue, but was instead linked to the raison d'tat. Indeed, what was good for the state and for the leader may be contradictory to that which is morally good in the Christian sense.
Influence
Both the positive Machiavellian idealisation of the virtues of ancient Roman republicanism, and the negative image of virt as realpolitik passed into the wider European consciousness over the centuries that followed.[6]
References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Machiavelli and the politics of virtue (http:/ / docs. lib. purdue. edu/ dissertations/ AAI3113789/ ) Aristotle, The Politics (1992) p. 179 Walter Ullmann, A History of Political Thought: The Middle Ages (1965) p. 176 J. H. Hexter, On Historians (1979) p. 276-9 Jack Donnelly, Realism and International Relations (2000) p. 175-7 J. G. A. Pocock ed., The Varieties of British Political Thought, 1500-1800 (1996) p. 58 and p. 68
Virt
Further reading
J. G. A Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment (1977)
External links
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/#3 http://www.emachiavelli.com/Mach%20and%20Plato.htm
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/