Maquiavel e o domínio temporal: religião, política e a piedosa crueldade

Abstract

The thesis deals with religion as the main instrument of dominion in Machiavelli's political work. Our premise is that religion stands as the most important mechanism of power due to its ability to act in different spheres, whether in isolation, that is, just religion and its weapons considered spiritual, as well as, in the material framework at the time it is associated, for example, with another basic element of Machiavelli's time: violence. When religion acts within the political framework, it contributes directly to the ethical formation of individuals and even institutions through inspiration for laws, conduction of armies, among others, demonstrating its immense secular capacity. With that, religion produces elements, above all, rhetorical, that direct the population to a condition of civil obedience, transforming citizens into subjects educated in patriotism. In the relationship between political violence and religion, we can observe how these spheres are, in a way, complementary. With regard to the maintenance of dominion structures such as the State, when the use of religion is not sufficient to maintain subjects in communion and, consequently, the stability of forms of government such as the principality or the republic, having the Violence as a political technique becomes a limiting and vital condition. Thus, in a more specific aspect, religion makes possible, from the use of sacrifices considered “sacred”, a kind of plausible justification and ascends to a practical and superior condition to the other instruments of politics found in Machiavelli’s philosophy, making it if, a Pious Cruelty. That said, we will see, in particular, through the figure of armed prophets, historical characters recognized in Machiavelli's work for this practice, Pious Cruelty, configures the rise of concepts present in Machiavelli's theory, where this force, recognized as transcendental, able to promote, in a singular way, the temporal domain.