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Immanuel Kant, Essay
Cesare borgia nicollo machiavelli
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Today, everyone is subject to criticism and that is because we are being scrutinized in everything that we do. However, the one that takes most of the heat are the ones that are in charge. In the reading selections by Niccolo Machiavelli and Immanuel Kant, these two details on how an ideal ruler should lead and behave. To begin with, Machiavelli explains that all men, especially princes have different qualities and that these characteristics are how the outsiders judge them. “Some, for example, are held to be generous, and others miserly…some are held to be benefactors, others are called grasping; some cruel, some compassionate; one man faithless, another faithful; one man effeminate and cowardly, another fierce and courageous… and so forth” (Trials of Modernity, 9). In addition to that, Machiavelli says that as much as everyone desires a prince or any man to have these qualities, he cannot have these characteristics or observe them completely. Although he points out that the criticisms that the prince …show more content…
Machiavelli then goes on to compare if the prince should either be feared or loved or vice versa. He starts out by giving an introduction saying that a prince may want to have an image of compassion rather than for cruelty; none the less, he must be careful that he does not make a bad use of compassion. Which turns to this point, if someone goes down a path, he must not put in too much effort that will tip the scale. Machiavelli then states that even though one wants to have both,
Machiavelli believes that a government should be very structured, controlled, and powerful. He makes it known that the only priorities of a prince are war, the institutions, and discipline. His writings describes how it is more important for a prince to be practical than moral. This is shown where he writes, "in order to maintain the state he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity, and against religion" (47). In addition, Machiavelli argues that a prince may have to be cunning and deceitful in order to maintain political power. He takes the stance that it is better for the prince to be feared than loved. His view of how a government should run and his unethical conduct are both early signs of dictatorship.
Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect.
He says “For everyone can see but few can feel” (Machiavelli 24), meaning that people can see the “good” but not know that it is really an appearance. People are easily accepting of what they are shown and believe these things to be truths. Machiavelli’s point of view is; if people are easily fooled into believing things, then why must a leader truly be good if he can simply appear to be good. Machiavelli says in verse 24 of The Prince, “Ordinary people are always deceived by appearances and by the outcome of anything.” According to Machiavelli, it is very important to not be hated by the people, it is much better to be feared than hated. He gives three points of instruction to avoid being hated and prevent conspiracy against him: “You do not deprive them of their property or their honor,” do not be considered “ changeable, frivolous, effeminate, cowardly, or irresolute,” and “he should maintain himself in such a way that no man could imagine that he can deceive or cheat him” (Machiavelli
(652) and those who do realize what the Prince is, dare not tell, for the Prince has the power of the masses to protect him. Machiavelli, in a sense, describes how to live, successfully and prosperously, by dealing with the human?s nature. He details how one is to manipulate
Although Machiavelli gives numerous points on what it takes to excel as a prince, he also shows some raw examples of how he feels a prince should act in order to achieve maximum supremacy. First, when he says, "ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern" proves Machiavelli feels mighty adamant about his view that being mean will help a prince achieve success (332). It is absurd to imagine the meanest prince as the most successful. Also, when Machiavelli states, "our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft" revealing his attitude to manipulate people into fearing and respecting the prince (335). Also, Machiavelli shows that for a prince to be successful, he must not think about good faith.
“Once upon a time in a far away land” in every imagination, is the start of how a prince and a princess live happily ever after. The fairy tales come to mind when thinking about princes, how charming, intelligent admiring, and many more characteristics that the “idyllic” prince has in many minds like my own. The question is simply asked, “What makes the idyllic prince?” most of us think of someone who has high quality and very first class. Niccolo Machiavelli describes an ideal prince as someone who is in control and dominant. The ideal prince should understand warfare and statecraft. Machiavelli was born in Florence Italy in 1496. He served as an administrator and a diplomat in the Florence Republic, and was imprisoned at various points of his career. One of his notable positions was serving as a political advisor to the Borgia family. He knew many political leaders of Italy, particularly Cesare Borgia, who he wrote The Prince about. Machiavelli judges Gilgamesh as a prince based on his behavior, qualities, and characteristics that Machiavelli describes in The Prince and the behavio...
The most astounding aspect of The Prince is Machiavelli’s view that princes may indeed, be cruel and dishonest if their ultimate aim is for the good of the state. It is not only acceptable but necessary to lie, to use torture, and to walk over other states and cities. Machiavellianism is defined as “A political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power (Def.)” This implies that in the conquest for power, the ends justify the means. This is the basis of Machiavellianism. The priority for the power holder is to keep the security of the state regardless of the morality of the means. He accepts that these things are in and of themselves morally wrong, but he points out that the consequences of failure, the ruin of states and the destruction of cities, can be far worse. Machiavelli strongly emphasizes that princes should not hesitate to use immoral methods to achieve power, if power is necessary for security and survival.
Machiavelli believed that, ethics and morality were considered in other categories than those generally known. He does not deny the existence of, but did not see how they can be useful in its traditional sense as in politics and in the government of the people. According to Machiavelli, a man is by nature a political angry and fearful. Machiavelli had no high opinion of the people. It is assumed that a person is forced to be good and can get into the number of positive features, such as prudence and courage. The prince can only proceed gently and with love, because that would undermine the naivety of his rule, and hence and the well-being of the state. He thought that, the Lord must act morally as far as possible, immorally to the extent to
Machiavelli’s advice to princes directly correlated to his view on human nature. He believed that every common man was born evil and selfish. That did not stop him, however, from saying that humans many show instances when they exhibit generosity and wholeheartedness. He does tell princes, however, not to count on the few occurrences that may happen, and he says, “It is necessary to be a prince to know thoroughly the nature of the people, and one of the populace to know the nature of princes”. He is saying is that it is imperative that a prince knows the natural human nature, that each and every human will become more self-interested than interested in the good of the state. If he is ignorant to that fact, his kingdom/area of rule will deteriorate simply because he believes in the citizens that occupy it. He does believe, however, that with the right training, a human being can be molded (with the help of the state, of course) and he says, “Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.” Although he believes that people cannot change themselves for the good, he does think that the state and military can shape humans for the better, but there will always be
In The Prince, Machiavelli attempts to completely decouple the actions of a good ruler from personal ethics. Machiavelli begins to do this by first establishing what he believes human nature to be Machiavelli argues that numerous traits that are innate among humans. Among these, Machiavelli argues that people are generally self-interested, but that their affections for others can be won and lost. They tend to remain happy so long they avoid affliction or oppression. He also argues that they might be trustworthy in prosperous times, but they can turn selfish, deceitful, and profit-driven in adverse times. They admire honor, generosity, courage, and piety in others, but most do not pursue these virtues in their own life. Finally, Machiavelli argues that ambition is found in those who have achieved some power, but most common people are satisfied with the way things are and therefore do not yearn to improve on the status quo. People will naturally feel obligated after receiving a favor or service, and this bond is usually not broken capriciously. Nevertheless, loyalties are won and lost, and goodwil...
Through his many years of experience with Italian politics Machiavelli wrote “The Prince”; a how-to guide for new rulers. We are given descriptions of what a leader should do to effectively lead his country. A leader should be the only authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect a policy to serve his best interests. These interests are gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power. Machiavelli’s idea is that a ruler should use a variety of strategies (virtues) to secure his power. Machiavelli lists five virtues that a ruler should appear to have; being compassionate, trustworthy, generous, honest and religious. A ruler should possess all the qualities considered good by other people.
This movement was influenced by increased literacy and scientific revolution. During that time scientist developed the scientific method, this new technique helped them make improvements in testing new scientific theories. The enlightenment era introduced reason, social sciences, and natural sciences in the world. The enlightenment thinkers’ belief in progress, human behavior can improve through the ability of educating their minds, people can change from immaturity, uneducated begins to mature, open minded, and knowledge begins. In addition, to their beliefs they have hope that people will understand universal truths about human nature that we can progress and improve. The thinkers goal is to challenge our minds to rebel against the norm, and question authority, in the church, and in the military. Last but not least, these thinkers aimed to make the country’s secular from religion, meaning separating the church and the government. Their outlook was very different from the rest of the population. Martin Luther, a rebel of his time said,” Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God,”(Luther). In other words, he is trying to express his feelings towards
Living in a tumultuous era, filled with political and religious conflicts, warring city-states, and a continent ruled by a government who used the church to control and conquer, an exiled Machiavelli wrote the book The Prince to give politicians a basis on how to rule a nation and as a way to continue to make a statement in Florence’s politics. The book itself was unlike the regular “mirrors for princes”, in a sense that instead of telling the prince how to be morally sound it told him how to be effective as a ruler. Within the book there were three characteristics that were expressed that can be considered of high importance for every prince/ruler. These three were every prince should rather be feared than to be loved, study war and always be ready for it, and that in the case of two states in war always pick a side and never stray away from it. These characteristics were present in a strong and merciless ruler who used the three features above to govern over an entire country. Joseph Stalin might be seen as a mass murder, but his achievements and contributions to Russia proved that by being feared rather than loved, studying war and perfecting it, and his ability to choose his allies in war, would ultimately lead to the prosperity of his nation.
According to Nicolo Machiavelli,"The choice of ministers is of no little importance to a prince." However, the features and characters of the ministers are based on the prince's intelligence and wisdom. Machiavelli points out that the first opinion that someone can form and understand a prince is to know and evaluate the men who are around the prince. If these men are loyal and capable, it means the prince can be seen as a wise person because the prince has the ability to know and recognize capable and faithful men. But, if these men are not good and skilled enough, no one can give a positive opinion about the prince because the prince made a mistake during selection time.
Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince examines the ideas of morality and virtue, as well as how they interact with politics. Although this work is often reduced to sayings such as “the ends justify the means,” and “ it is far better to be feared than loved,” such phrases are often taken out of context. Machiavelli presents an intricate examination of what morality and virtue mean in the scope of princes, as well as how they ought to conduct themselves in order to be deemed “virtuous.” In this context, a virtuous prince is a successful and self-reliant one.