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2025
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17757358 |
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| author | Matta, David (Daoud) |
| author_facet | Matta, David (Daoud) |
| contents | <p>This paper offers a critical reinterpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli's theory of political founding, challenging his provocative conflation of the biblical prophet Moses with violent rulers like Cesare Borgia. It argues that Machiavelli's framework commits a "moral flattening" by reducing leadership to a single dimension—effectiveness—and erasing essential distinctions in intention, moral vision, and legitimacy.</p> <p>Moving beyond Leo Strauss's theological critique, this study develops a novel, multi-dimensional framework termed "the makeup of a leader." This model integrates:</p> <ol> <li> <p><strong>Intention</strong> (Egoistic, Partial, Universal)</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Moral Horizon</strong> (Narrow, Expanding, Universal)</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Means of Confrontation</strong> (Cruel, Necessary, Nonviolent)</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Legitimacy</strong></p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Confrontation as Moral Courage</strong></p> </li> </ol> <p>The framework is grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship, drawing from James MacGregor Burns's transformational leadership, Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, and concepts from moral psychology. It is operationalized through a five-dimensional analytical table, providing a practical tool for leadership evaluation.</p> <p>To demonstrate its robustness, the framework is applied not only to correct Machiavelli's Moses-Borgia analogy but also to produce nuanced assessments of historically contested leaders, Oliver Cromwell and Lee Kuan Yew, revealing complexities that Machiavellian analysis cannot capture.</p> <p>This work contributes to political theory, leadership studies, and political ethics by restoring intention and moral phenomenology as central categories for understanding leadership, arguing that a leader's greatness is measured not by their power alone, but by the moral purpose that animates their confrontation with the world.</p> <p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Machiavelli, Moses, Political Leadership, Moral Intention, Moral Horizon, Transformational Leadership, Political Ethics, Leadership Evaluation, Oliver Cromwell, Lee Kuan Yew, Leo Strauss</p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_17757358 |
| institution | Zenodo |
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| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | The Makeup of a Leader: A Critical Reinterpretation of Machiavelli Through Moses and Moral Intention Matta, David (Daoud) <p>This paper offers a critical reinterpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli's theory of political founding, challenging his provocative conflation of the biblical prophet Moses with violent rulers like Cesare Borgia. It argues that Machiavelli's framework commits a "moral flattening" by reducing leadership to a single dimension—effectiveness—and erasing essential distinctions in intention, moral vision, and legitimacy.</p> <p>Moving beyond Leo Strauss's theological critique, this study develops a novel, multi-dimensional framework termed "the makeup of a leader." This model integrates:</p> <ol> <li> <p><strong>Intention</strong> (Egoistic, Partial, Universal)</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Moral Horizon</strong> (Narrow, Expanding, Universal)</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Means of Confrontation</strong> (Cruel, Necessary, Nonviolent)</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Legitimacy</strong></p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Confrontation as Moral Courage</strong></p> </li> </ol> <p>The framework is grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship, drawing from James MacGregor Burns's transformational leadership, Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, and concepts from moral psychology. It is operationalized through a five-dimensional analytical table, providing a practical tool for leadership evaluation.</p> <p>To demonstrate its robustness, the framework is applied not only to correct Machiavelli's Moses-Borgia analogy but also to produce nuanced assessments of historically contested leaders, Oliver Cromwell and Lee Kuan Yew, revealing complexities that Machiavellian analysis cannot capture.</p> <p>This work contributes to political theory, leadership studies, and political ethics by restoring intention and moral phenomenology as central categories for understanding leadership, arguing that a leader's greatness is measured not by their power alone, but by the moral purpose that animates their confrontation with the world.</p> <p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Machiavelli, Moses, Political Leadership, Moral Intention, Moral Horizon, Transformational Leadership, Political Ethics, Leadership Evaluation, Oliver Cromwell, Lee Kuan Yew, Leo Strauss</p> |
| title | The Makeup of a Leader: A Critical Reinterpretation of Machiavelli Through Moses and Moral Intention |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17757358 |