Don MacDonald

The Separation of Thinking from Doing

Matthew Crawford’s excellent Shop Class as Soulcraft¹ is an impassioned defense of the value of manual work and the particular rewards of work that one is personally invested in. Although his focus is on the trades, his overall inquiry into the value of various kinds of work has a lot of relevance for the artist as well. He investigates the alienation of the “knowledge worker” from the results of their labor and argues that the greater the autonomy of the worker, the more intellectually stimulating the work is. He also argues that working with one’s hands provides a mental stimulation, a way of literally “getting in touch with the world” that layers of management and an over-reliance on process have removed from the office worker. This concept of literally thinking better by working with one’s hands has a particular resonance for an artist working in traditional materials.

Crawford traces “the separation of thinking from doing” to the beginning of the 20th century and the movement to systematically observe and study work. Originally called “Scientific Management”, the stated goal was that “all possible brain work should be removed from the shop and centered in the planning or laying-out department.” The most influentual proponent of scrientific management is Frederick Winslow Taylor, who writes: “It is only through enforced standardization of methods, enforced adoption of the best implements and working conditions, and enforced cooperation that this faster work can be assured. And the duty of enforcing the adoption of standards and enforcing this cooperation rests with management alone.”² The principle of scientific management finds its first triumph in the assembly line. Ford discovered that the assembly line “provoked a natural revulsion” when it was first introduced: craftsmen simple walked off the job. He found it was necessary to hire 963 men just to retain 100 of them. He found a solution by doubling wages. Paradoxically, this enabled Ford to triple its output because the workers were now so anxious to keep their jobs: “anxious workers were more productive.” In other words, although the workers still didn’t like it, the prospect of getting twice what any other carriage maker was paying was too much to pass up. Thus, keeping workers in a state of anxiety increased efficiency. Good for Ford, and good for the workers’ wallet, but not so great for their state of mind.

He then draws a line to a similar degradation of white-collar work in the present day. The intention is still to transfer knowledge, skill, and decision making from employee to employer. He makes an excellent observation when he notes that the modern corporation’s enthusiasm for process has it’s roots in the same desire to separate thinking from doing and to create efficiencies by taking unpredictable individual decision-making out of the equation and making sure that everyone’s job is very specifically delineated. Just as in the assembly line, each knowledge worker has his or her assigned role and one is expected not to deviate from that by too much.

The White-Collar Assembly Line

This creates much of the cognitive dissonance familiar to anyone who has worked in an office setting. Companies want employees productive and they want processes streamlined and set down in charts. But they also want their employees to show a certain amount of individual initiative. These motives are at odds with one another and create many of the philosophical absurdities that characterize office culture. Unfortunately, Crawford doesn’t make this connection, as he veers off instead at the shibboleth of multiculturalism (perhaps a vestige of his days at the think tank.) The reason that companies place so much value on teamwork is not because they have been infiltrated by liberals, but because in the office, the assembly line is made of people. Unlike Ford’s assembly line where the conveyor belt did the work of moving the project along, in the office any significant project is passed from one person to the next, and it’s important that people are able to communicate and get along to insure that the hand-off goes smoothly. In a human conveyer belt, if the workers are at odds with one another, the work goes more slowly; the conveyor belt breaks down and the knowledge worker assembly line becomes unproductive. It has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with productivity.

Self Esteem? Kind of Irrelevant, Actually

He gets it right when he writes on page 149 that “workers must…exhibit a high level of ‘buy-in’ to ‘the mission’” and that this is important to the corporation’s goals for the reasons of productivity stated above. But he fails to draw that conclusion, instead going off on a tangent about the evils of self-esteem. Although he draws on some real-life examples of new-agey team-building coaches and seminars, he doesn’t realize that such activities occupy a miniscule amount of the knowledge worker’s time: perhaps 3 weeks in a decade? (I would actually say less, but I am being charitable. Perhaps it depends on the company.) The corporation does not promote team-building and self-esteem out of some sense of squishy altruism. They do it because they don’t want their workers to slow productivity with disagreements.

Mastery is a By-product of Creativity Cultivated through Long Practice

He writes “creativity is a by-product of mastery of the sort that is cultivated through long practice.” I happen to think that he has it slightly backward: I would say that mastery is a by-product of creativity cultivated through long practice. But it is really a disagreement over semantics, we are essentially in agreement that mastery requires a lot of hard work and master craftsmen and artists do not spring fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus. But why do you start? Because you have to. Because you are compelled. So it begins, not ends, with creativity. But this is coming from a sketcher and painter of pictures—a person whose work is by its very nature useless (although human beings seem to need art for unknown reasons…eh, perhaps there is some use after all.) We are arriving at the same place by different directions: for the master, both creativity and mastery are needful. Perhaps the craftsman must master his craft before he can become creative, whereas the artist begins with the creative impulse and masters his materials to enable that impulse to manifest itself in the way he desires.

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1. The book is based on an essay published in The New Atlantis in 2006. The essay gives a good overview of the book’s thesis and is well worth the read.
2. Frederick Winslow Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management, 1911.

The posters page doesn’t seem to be getting any visitors. Maybe nobody realizes it’s there. Perhaps this reminder will rectify that situation: there is a whole page of letter-size posters for you to print and proudly display (suitable for framing!) Here’s one based on the famous “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters. The linked page is hi-res for printing:

If you like this, I’ve made a few more. Check out the Machiavelli posters page.

In 1937, researchers at Harvard began a remarkable psychological study of Harvard sophomores that has continued up to the present day. Unlike most other clinical studies which focus on illnesses, the goal of the Grant Study was to examine health and well-being. The Atlantic has published a fascinating article—What Makes Us Happy?—about the Study and Doctor George Vaillant, who has been its director for the past 42 years. The depth of it is just staggering.

One quote in particular jumped out at me. In the video interview accompanying the article, Dr. Vaillant says:

Its alright that young people can do the things that they can do. I mean the youth that the old envy is accompanied by the miserable process of getting from 25 to 35 where you’ve got all this health and all this youth and you’re scared stiff that when it’s all said and done you’re not going to amount to a hill of beans. And if you just wait virtually all of them by the time they were 45 or 50 amounted to something. And knowing that is such a relief. You just don’t know it at 30.

I must admit I hadn’t really thought of it this way before. Being in the (upper end) of that age group myself, I really hadn’t considered that the anxieties of the past decade are, in fact, typical for people our age. “And knowing that is such a relief. You just don’t know it at 30.” Yes it is, and no I didn’t. But I feel a bit better about it now.

A book launch is a scary thing. Even though I am serializing Machiavelli and publishing on the Web, it is still structurally a book: it has a narrative arc, chapters, pages, and other elements associated with books. And yet I’m adding hypertext commentary beneath the pages, footnotes and links that wouldn’t be included in a paper edition—or would only as endnotes that don’t interact with the artwork in the same way that this post does with the artwork that you see just above it. As I move from the prologue—which is intended to set a mood—into Chapter One, in which Machiavelli takes his place at center stage, I’ll be using footnotes in the form of blog posts to shed light on historical details which may be relevant but not central to the story I’m trying to tell. I may also link to sites which I feel will be interesting to my readers, or have some relevance to Renaissance studies. I will avoid linking to or posting about topics that have no connection to Machiavelli or the project. I hope not to do too many “meta” posts like this one. The web site is the book. And it will continue into the second book (not Machiavelli, but…I’m getting ahead of myself.)

But I digress. A book launch is a scary thing. What has struck me the most in the past week is how much support I’ve gotten from unexpected places and it’s caused me to reevaluate, seriously, the way I look at people. People who you think are critical to your success may not be, and it’s the people who stand by you when no-one is watching who count.
So thanks to you guys who have Twittered about Machiavelli, submitted it to BoingBoing, joined my Facebook “fan” page (we few, we happy few), or set up LiveJournal feeds. You’ve placed a trust in me and I will do my best to earn that.

1469 (May 3) – Niccolò Machiavelli is born

1475 – Bernardo Machiavelli receives Livy’s History of Rome from the printer Niccolò Tedesco o Alamanno as compensation for creating the index for the volume.

1478 – Pazzi conspiracy. An attempt by the Pazzi family to kill Lorenzo and Guiliano di Medici and usurp power fails as Lorenzo (later called il Magnifico) survives.

1486 – Bernardo puts Niccolò in charge of binding a number of his books, among them the Livy volume.

1489 – Poliziano publishes the first century of the Miscellanea.

1492 – (April 8 ) Lorenzo il Magnifico dies

(aug 11) Rodrigo Borgia is elected pope, becoming Alexander VI.

(Oct 12) Columbus lands on San Salvador.

1494 – Charles VIII of France marches into Italy

Piero di Medici gives up Pisa and Livorno, among other territories, to Charles in order to spare Florence.

Popular resentment boils over against the Medici because of this action. The Medici flee the city.

The Florence forms a republican government, in which Savonarola is influential.

The new government negotiates new terms with Charles, giving him safe passage through the city, but not giving up territory

Charles’ troops enter Florence.

1495 – Charles VIII enters Naples. An anti-French league is formed (Ludovico il Moro, the pope, Venice, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire); after fighting the league’s forces at the Battle of Fornavo, King Charles barely manages to take his troops back to France.

1497 – Five Florentines, sympathetic to the Medici, are accused of conspiring to bring down the Republic and condemned to die. Although the new constitution specifies the right to appeal, Savonarola recommends that they be put to death (as they are political rivals). They are put to death without appeal and popular opinion begins to turn agains Savonarola. Charles VIII dies.

(Dec 2) In the name of the “Maclavellana familia” Niccolò writes to the Cardinal Giovanni Lopez, bishop of Perugia.

1498 – (Feb. 13) Marcello Virgilio Adriani succeeds Bartolomeo Scala as the Secretary of the First Chancery of the Florentine Republic.

(Apr. 7) Louis XII succeeds Charles VIII as kink of France.

(May 23) Without the backing of the Florentine people, Savonarola is vulnerable to the Church in Rome. He is excommunicated and burned at the stake.

(June 15) Niccolò enters public life. He becomes Chief of the Second Chancery, in part due to the support of Marcello Virgilio Adriani, Secretary of the First Chancery. As chief of the Second Chancery, Niccolò is Secretary to the Ten of Liberty and Peace, the commission which oversees military matters and foreign affairs. Niccolò is entrusted with keeping the Signoria and the Ten informed in military and political problems so they can make apprpriate and timely decisions.

1499 – Mar. – Niccolò’s first mission for the Ten: to Jacopo IV d’Appiano, lord of Piombino. July – Niccolò travels to Forlí, to the court of Caterina Sforza Riario. Cesare Borgia, Son of the Pope, Alexander VI, begins to build his dominion with conquests in Romagna. He also takes Forlí—and Florence does nothing to help Caterina Sforza. Florence attempts to retake Pisa. Mercenary troops, however, refuse to enter a breach in the Pisan walls. The condottieri, professional captains, are put to death for treason.

1500 – (May) Death of Bernardo Machiavelli.

(Jul) Niccolò & Francesco della Casa travel to the court of Louis XII. It is his first foreign commission, Florence seeks redress for the poor showing of French troops in the seige of Pisa.

(Oct) Cesare Borgia’s campaign: takes Pesaro, Rimini, Faenza (resists), Piombino

1501 – (Aug) Marries Marieta Corsini, with whom he will have seven children: Primerana, Bernardo, Lodovico, Piero, Guido, Bartolomeo, Baccina, and Totto.

(Sep.) Mission to Siena

1502 -

(May) Primerana born.

Jun – Borgia takes Urbino.

Jun. – Niccolò is dispatched to the court of Cesare Borgia for the first time.

Sept – In Florence, the office of gonfalonier for life is established-Piero Soderini.

Oct 9 – Borgia’s lieutenants, fearing his ambition, rebel against him.

Oct 11?- Niccolò is dispatched to Borgia a second time.

Dec – Borgia kills Orsini, Vitelli, et al. at Senigallia.

1503 -

Jan – Niccolò returns to Florence.

Oct. – Julius II becomes pope.

Nov. – Bernardo born.

Dec. – Without his father as Pope, and with Julius hostile to him, Cesare’s power base collapses. He is broght to Rome as a prisoner and disappears. Rumor has it that he has been killed by the Pope. He is never seen again.

1504 – First Decennial ( A chronicle in verse of the events in Florence in the decade 1494 to 1504)

1506 – Florence’s first militia is mustered, with Niccolò playing a significant role.

1512 – Return of the Medici to Florence.

Nov. – Niccolò is removed from government, barred from the Palazzo and forbidden to leave Florence for one year. MiH 32

1513 – From 12 Feb. to 13 Mar. Machiavelli is imprisoned in the Bargello and tortured on suspicion of being a supporter of a plot to assassinate Giovanni de’ Medici. 11 Mar. – Giovanni de’ Medici becomes Pope Leo X and grants an amnesty to those in jail under such suspicion, including our author.

1514 – Second Decennial (A successive chronicle covering the years 1505 to 1509; unfinished)

1513–c.1515 – The Prince

1513–1517 – Discourses

1517–1520 – Niccolò holds court in the walled gardens (the Orti Orcellari) of the Rucellai family. MiH pp 112–113, 367

1520 – The Mandragola
“Discursus” a proposal for a new constitution, presented to Giulio de’Madici (future pope Clement VII)

1521 May – The government and wool guild of Florence sends Niccolò to a meeting of the Chapter General of Minorite Friars at Carpi

Art of War

1522 – Younger brother Totto (a priest) dies.

1525 – Florentine Histories, begun in 1520, presented to Clement VII. Niccolò has brought it up to the death of Lorenzo de’Medici. It is well received by the Pope, who grants him a subsidy for its continuation. Further, Clement sends him to Romagna to advise Francesco Guicciardini, the Pope’s representative there, on raising papal troops in the region.

Clizia - Affair with Barbera.

1526–1527 – During the fight between the League of Cognac and the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor, The Pope, the Florentine Government, and the leutenant-general of the pontifical army all use Niccolò with their military forces for various missions of advice, reporting, and evaluation. He also is called upon to inspect the fortifications of Florence. He is appointed a new commission, the “Five Administrations of the [City] Walls,” his last official post.

1527 – May – second expulsion of the Medici from Florence. A new government

June 22 – Death of Niccolò Machiavelli