Machiavelli once said ‘Because men are wretched creatures who would not keep their word to you, you need not keep your word to them’. Machiavelli is seen in history as one of the most influencing men of all time. Matter a fact, “the name Machiavelli was a synonym for the devil” (Barnett page 6). Machiavelli established a lot of this reputation from his work The Prince, it was written in 1513-1514. But, a lot people thought that he was misunderstood considering he wrote many books and people focus mostly on one. Second you must take the time period into thought and realize how the world was about 500 years ago.
of participating in a conspiracy to restore the republic, because of this he was sent to jail for three weeks, and tortured. He fled the city of Florence, and decided to settle down in a calm quiet town called Sant’Andrea. He also decided to continue his dream and career as a writer. In 1513 he started to write his Discourses, this book focused on states controlled by the prince and the citizens. It was not finished until 1521, because he interrupted his work on Discourses to write the very famous The Prince.
He was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer, who is recognized as the founder of modern political science and political ethics. He was for many years an official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language. He was secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his most renowned work The Prince (Il Principe) in 1513 after the Medici had recovered power and he no longer held a position of responsibility in Florence, the Art of War was first published in 1521 and was one of only two works by Machiavelli to appear in print before his death in 1527 and the Discourses on livy.
The main idea in The Prince is how a prince should properly govern people in the best ways and the qualities a prince should posses. I think that when Machiavelli wrote this he was being serious. He gave a lot of examples to back up what he believed a prince should entail.
“Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble and in choosing the lesser evil.”
The prince, written by Machiavelli is troubled with the issues of politics, ruling a state and how a ruler or a leader should be in regards to ruling a state. One of the most important topics touched on in the book, The Prince, is the effect moral value (virtue) has on the ruler and their good or bad chance (fortune) with regards to their effects on gaining and keeping power. A leader needs to be virtuous and have good fortune on his side in order to avoid failure, however being too virtuous can possibly hinder one’s ability to run a nation successfully.
The Prince, published in 1532, was written by a former Italian senior official Niccolo Machiavelli to Lorenzo de’ Medici, the governor of Florence, in the hopes that Lorenzo would take his advice to heart, and invite him back to public service. Seeing as Lorenzo died in 1519, and The Prince was published 5 years after Machiavelli’s death during the 1530’s, it is doubtful that the titular Prince ever saw this piece of work. It is a great question of history, though, how the politics of Italy would have changed if Lorenzo had seen and followed Machiavelli’s advice. Assuming Machiavelli was trying to provide purely good advice for the Prince, does he succeed? Or does he fail? That is what will be discussed today.
Machiavelli wrote The Prince in which he states “it is better for a new political ruler to be feared than loved”. Machiavelli stated that rulers should be loved and feared but at the end to remain safe it’s better to be feared than love. Being virtuous plays a major role in securing a state and gaining the support of the citizens but virtue or love doesn’t guarantee the safety of the ruler and or state. Therefore this essay will argue It is better for a new political leader to feared than loved, which would allow the leader to have the state secure or under control, also instilling fear in people would make them obey the rules and regulation and would allow The Prince to be safe and protected.
In the television series, House of Cards, a position in Congress is the basis of the show and the main character, Frank Underwood, thrives for his goals of personal achievement and working his devious plans into a profit for himself and ultimately achieving anything he wants no matter what it takes. Frank Underwood is an extremely intelligent congressman, who lives in Washington D.C. representing his home state of South Carolina, but has always put his self first. At the introduction of the show he states, “I see two different types of pain, useful pain, that helps you grow, and useless pain that does nothing but cause suffering”. These sorts of pain, but more importantly the meanings, explain a specific part of his distinctive morals that carry his actions along and show how he works with certain people or conflicts. His eminent colleagues of the U.S. legislative branch, specifically congress, perception of Frank is that he does whatever he can to make the government stronger while his intellectual perception is the contrary. While his colleagues trust him, it is hard for Frank Underwood to show a virtuous personality, enough to have full faith and trust especially regarding a huge decision he makes to murder a member of the Legislative branch. This internal situation, mirrors the philosophy (shown in the book, “The Prince”) of the political Philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli, who has provided many with the conflicting opinion of modern times political contemplation. The scene in the last few minutes of “House of Cards: Chapter 11” exemplifies Frank’s means for consequentialism by, the fact of achieving his ultimate maxim or intended end. There is no skepticism that Frank’s actions do not follow solitarily consequentialism but ther...
Successful emperors throughout history have shared a few characteristics that make the job of being emperor much easier. The demands of ruling an empire are different than the demands of ruling a nation, and a good emperor understands that. An emperor is the sole ruler of his territory, and he must have control over all his people. This means that he must have the characteristics of a good leader. He must be confident in his own abilities and in the people around him. He must be a complex thinker, not too trusting and completely committed to the success of his empire. He must demand the respect of his staff and his subjects, and he must inspire in them the desire to please him and to hold the empire together. A good emporer must also be one
In 1532 The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli was published in Florence. From there, even though it was put on the Popes Index librorum prohibitorum, 1it managed to reach a wide swath of the European population and influence countless heads of state. Even though not officially translated into English until the 1640's, many of the people around the Tudors at the time, and even the husband of Queen Mary I, King Phillip II, were in some way exposed to the absolutist ruling style of Machiavelli. With people like Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Cromwell and other close advisors to the King/ Queen, The Influence of The Prince reached the British Isles long before it was ever translated into English.
Machiavelli states in his book, The Prince, that to be a good prince, one must appear to be good to his people, when in reality, he is not. This is to help deal with the idea that a prince may not possess every trait admirable in a king. Machiavelli uses the statement, “no ruler can possess or fully practice” all the characteristics the people would like to see in their prince, and it is for this reason “a prince must be prudent that he escapes ill repute for such vices as might take his position away from him.” These vices Machiavelli refers to are characteristics such as mercy and the inability to appear moral.
The Prince is a book that teaches how to become a better ruler. To become a ruler, one might take paths that are not the ideal ones; it might be for the benefit of the long run objectives. Machiavelli shows many ethical disputes one might encounter such as to be feared, to be unclear, and to be exterminator.
The first duty of a prince is to maintain power and acquire more. What does this mean? What is duty and what is power? If the princes of Machiavelli’s time followed his advice and searched only for power, what does this mean for the people? The first priority of a prince or ruler should be to better the people and to protect them. Machiavelli stated that ones duty, as a prince is to be as powerful as can be, but as a ruler the first priority should be the people, and as a prince, to be selfless, good, and wise.
Niccolo Machiavelli is known for his book The Prince. He is from Florence Italy, was overthrown by the family of Medici in the government. He is also known as the “Father of Modern Political Philosophy” for he is the first modern political philosopher that viewed the reality as it is rather what it is ought to be and also, he points out that for you to be able a Prince, you have to be familiar with what is really happening. retainment of power is the most important that a Prince should possessed in order to to maintain its own interest regardless if the process is beyond the laws. But above all, his objective is to reunite Italy. He personally wrote The Prince to convinced the Medici family to get