Political economy made ignorance, not wickedness, the prince’s cardinal vice

Evidence

What is at issue, what explains this, is precisely that when a government violates these laws of nature, it quite simply ignores them. It ignores them because it is unaware oftheir existence, mechanisms, and effects. In other words, governments can be mistaken. And the greatest evil of government, what ma1<:es it a bad government, is not that the prince is wicked, but that he is ignorant. Inshort, through political economy there is the simultaneous entry into the art of government of, first, the possibility of self-limitation, that is, of governmental action limiting itselfby reference to the nature ofwhat it does and of that on which it is brought to bear, [and second, the question of truth].* The possibility of limitation and the question of truth are both introduced into governmental reason through political economy. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 245

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the classical mirror-of-princes tradition (Machiavelli, Erasmus on princely virtue) by relocating the prince’s defect from morality to knowledge. — connects to: Reformers criticized the economy of power, not its cruelty. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 133

Broader Connections

• Reformers criticized the economy of power, not its cruelty. #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 133