Do Machiavellianism and Moral Relativism Go Hand-in-Hand?

In a recent discussion Jack Camwell claimed that he is Machiavellian but most adamantly denied being a relativist. I have consistently claimed that he is a moral relativist because of his positions on abortion and gay "marriage".  Let's take a look at the definitions of Machiavellian and moral relativism.


Machiavellian -- Definition from Collins English Dictionary 

adjective

1. of or relating to the alleged political principles of Machiavelli; cunning, amoral, and opportunist

noun

2. a cunning, amoral, and opportunist person, esp a politician

Definition of Machiavellianism from Wikipedia: 

Machiavellianism is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct", deriving from the Italian Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote Il Principe (The Prince) and other works. The word has a similar use in modern psychology where it describes one of the dark triad personalities, characterised by a duplicitous interpersonal style associated with cynical beliefs and pragmatic morality.^[1] "Machiavellian" (and variants) as a word became very popular in the late 16th century in English, though "Machiavellianism" itself is first cited by theOxford English Dictionary from 1626.

Definition of Moral Relativism from Wikipedia: 

Moral relativism may be any of several philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures. Descriptive moral relativism holds only that some people do in fact disagree about what is moral; meta-ethical moral relativism holds that in such disagreements, nobody is objectively right or wrong; and normative moral relativism holds that because nobody is right or wrong, we ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when we disagree about the morality of it.

Definition of Moral Relativism from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

 Most often it {moral relativism} is associated with an empirical thesis that there are deep and widespread moral disagreements and a metaethical thesis that the truth or justification of moral judgments is not absolute, but relative to some group of persons. Sometimes ‘moral relativism’ is connected with a normative position about how we ought to think about or act towards those with whom we morally disagree, most commonly that we should tolerate them.

As you'll notice above the definition of Machiavellianism is more applicable to politics and government policy while Moral Relativism applies to issues of morality.  


In Peter Kreeft's article (1) The Pillars of Unbelief  he calls Machiavelli "the inventor of 'the new morality.'”  Kreeft shows how Machiavelli expounded upon moral relativism and explains how Machiavellianism is a political form of moral relativism. 

For all previous social thinkers, the goal of political life was virtue. A good society was conceived as one in which people are good. There was no “double standard” between individual and social goodness — until Machiavelli. With him, politics became no longer the art of the good but the art of the possible. His influence on this point was enormous. All major social and political philosophers (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Dewey) subsequently rejected the goal of virtue, just as Machiavelli lowered the standard and nearly everyone began to salute the newly masted flag. 

Machiavelli's argument was that traditional morals were like the stars; beautiful but too distant to cast any useful light on our earthly path. We need instead man-made lanterns; in other words, attainable goals. We must take our bearings from the earth, not from the heavens; from what men and societies actually do, not from what they ought to do. 

The essence of Machiavelli's revolution was to judge the ideal by the actual rather than the actual by the ideal. An ideal is good for him, only if it is practical; thus, Machiavelli is the father of pragmatism. Not only does “the end justify the means” — any means that work — but the means even justify the end, in the sense that an end is worth pursuing only if there are practical means to attain it. In other words, the new summum bonum, or greatest good is success. (Machiavelli sounds like not only the first pragmatist but the first American pragmatist!) 

Machiavelli didn't just lower the moral standards; he abolished them. More than a pragmatist, he was an anti-moralist. The only relevance he saw morality having to success was to stand in its way. He taught that it was necessary for a successful prince “to learn how not to be good (“The Prince, ch. 15), how to break promises, to lie and cheat and steal (ch. 18). 

Machiavelli ascribed to either realism or neorealism, political theories which advanced a political cause "to explicitly disavow absolute moral and ethical considerations in international politics in favor of a focus on self-interest, political survival, and power politics, which they hold to be more accurate in explaining a world they view as explicitly amoral and dangerous." In his work The Prince Machiavelli wrote "...there will be traits considered good that, if followed, will lead to ruin, while other traits, considered vices which if practiced achieve security and well being for the Prince."  


Machiavelli completely disavowed, tossed aside absolute moral and ethical considerations when dealing with international politics.  Plato believed that political leaders should follow a virtuous path but Machiavelli had no problem with employing vices in the political arena.  


It is evident that a follower of the Machiavellian philosophy, when trying to apply it to ethics or morality, can range in belief from moral relativism to amoralism since to follow Machiavellianism in a strict sense would mean to disavow absolute moral and ethical standards in favor of whatever means necessary to attain power while following him loosely could mean the belief that every political idea is equally legitimate no matter how unethical or amoral the methods used to attain power are.  Machiavellianism is a term which is applied to political philosophy, government foreign relations policy, and leaders who use any means necessary to attain more power but is not used when discussing issues of morality such as abortion, euthanasia, and gay "marriage".  Jack Camwell may be a Machiavellian in his political philosophy but when he justifies abortion in the name of prudence that is considered moral relativism in the ethical realm.