Inside the political body, the senses of resistance: the texture of Machiavelli

Abstract

Even if Machiavelli is not in the scope of the political tradition of the thinkers who theorize about the right of resistance, it is possible to address the question of resistance as a constitutive element of political life in the thought of the Florentine author. That can be done based on two moments when the term resistance, in its verbal and nominal forms, occurs in the scope of argumentation in The Prince. Here it is not proposed a simple exercise of political vocabulary, being satisfied with the recognition and the location of the term. It is the conception of the Machiavelli’s political writing itself that allows us to think the importance of the term in the political reflection: question justified in the first part of this paper. Then, based on the nature of the political writing we discuss about the two moments when Machiavelli uses the term resistance as a mean of expression and comprehension of the relation between virtù and fortuna, as well as the opposition between the nobles and the people.