Intellectuals and Masses: Agency and Knowledge in Gramsci

In his 'Dedication' to The Prince, Machiavelli presents a provocative and novel image of political reality and the nature of rule. He says: "I hope it will not be deemed presumptuous for a man of very low and humble condition to dare to discuss the government of princes, and to lay down rules about it. For those who draw landscapes place themselves in the plain to consider the nature of low places place themselves high atop mountains, so too, to know well the nature of peoples one needs to be prince, and to know well the nature of princes one needs to be the people." Machiavelli seems to say that if one wants to capture political reality, one need to use the methods of 'those who draw'. Machiavelli's subject matter, the 'rules of government', is best presented and represented in a manner not unlike the subject matter of pictorial art. What both forms of art have in common is the representation of reality. In Machiavelli the way one 'sees' or does not see, influences both the nature of politics and the ways and method of rule. at the same time, 'seeing' and 'not seeing' are closely connected to Machiavelli's understanding of 'the people' or the 'masses' and how the latter in turn affect and inform political reality.