To be Feared or to be Loved?

One of the difficulties I faced in criticising Machiavellianism regarding how a ruler should rule, was doing so from a pragmatic point of view. Especially, since A) I am not a ruler (Machiavelli’s concerned audience) and B) I do not live in the 16th century. Yet I shall attempt to do so, hopefully, in a fashion that goes beyond moral absolutism. 

In The Prince, Machiavelli states: “It is better to be feared than loved.” Machiavelli follows that by adding that the feeling of fear outlasts that of love, since the physical threat of punishment is a more immediate danger. He links this idea to the loyalty of armies. But from the objectivist point of view that Machiavelli espouses, stating that subjects seek their own benefit and would tear a ruler apart if given a whiff of weakness, it can be inferred that people’s loyalties can shift based on the greatest danger in the vicinity. Therefore, it is not a smart idea to rule by fear knowing that you can be outdone by the next invader and eventual conquerer. 

But to engage this idea of fear being the finest trick of the trade in How to Rule 101, concerning the analogy of an army’s loyalty to its commander, it is possible to rebuke it also. This is illustrated in examples from history. Alexander the Great and Roman legion commanders earned legendary loyalty from their soldiers. Was this because they had set strict punishments against disloyalty like  in every other army that has ever existed? Or was it because they took care of their soldiers, giving them their wages on time, being concerned with their conditions and being a part of their training? I believe it was the latter. But to be fair, they did have punishments against desertion and dissent, but it was nothing unique. Not anything that other banal commanders did not have. 

At this point, I have to admit a slight disingenuousness on my part. The entire quote by Machiavelli is: “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” Clearly it is possible to be both. One loves his/her parents but fears them as well. One fears getting caught by mom and dad smoking a cigarette with one hand and reaching for the cookie jar with the other. Therefore, this either-or relationship established in the aforementioned quote is a flimsy assumption.

So to conclude, I do not believe that it is better to be feared than loved but, furthermore, state that both states can exist since people are more nuanced than Machiavelli would give them credit for. That is the case in the real world; it is the more pragmatic view.