Philip Habib Nov.1, 2003
Block D
Machiavelli
Bibliography
James Burnham
The Machiavellians : Defenders of Freedom
Gateway Editions, Washington D.C., 1987
A political theorist named James Burnham states that in order to be scientific, its method and goals must not be transcendentally based, and its outcome must be realistic. Dante de Monarchia and Machiavelli were considered two of the best political theorists in the time of the renaissance; however, they both had a different way in writing and stating their political theories. For Machiavelli’s way of writing consisted of stating the truth of what was going around, the reality and the exact description of politics, unlike Dante, who was using imagination in writing his political theories, and for that he was criticized by Machiavelli, where Machiavelli stated that a true political theorist should not be transcendentally based, and his methods, goals, and overall should be based on reality. One of Machiavelli’s was to unify Italy. He did not accomplish his goal, although he tried to in his writings, specifically in one of his books called “The Prince”. In this book, Machiavelli tried to call for a hero who could save Italy and unify it. But Italy, back then, was facing problems. Italy had to do a wise decision, whether to unify or to remain in the political structure it was in. If Italy remained in the same political structure then it would suffer from a huge economic and cultural loss, but if Italy decided to unify and become a whole country, then it would become the most important country in the modern world. Machiavelli was surely aware of the situation, and gave Italy his ideas for the unification, but Italy refused it. Later on, Italy regretted not accepting Machiavelli’s ideas, but by then it was too late, and Italy paid the consequences of being ignorant to a wise idea that could have changed history. Machiavelli’s writings were so important and wise during the renaissance. He was the first person who separated politics from ethics, as well as, science from ethics, considering that politics and science are based on facts and reality. Machiavelli always had a way to look for the truth, and this influenced many people, and in fact, looking for the truth is moral that he taught to every person who knew him, not even personally. In conclusion, Machiavelli was considered the best political theorist during the renaissance times, as important as he is today, and his way of writing was way much better than Dante’s.
“At much earlier times, people suffering from schizophrenia were viewed as either cursed by the gods or blessed by them” (Saks 169). Nobody can deny that Elyn Saks lived an amazing life. She grew up with a very misunderstood mental illness, schizophrenia, and overcame it to become a very well known and respected professor and mentor to others. Although Saks triumphed over her mental illness, does her life story fit the mold of Joseph John Campbell’s archetypal hero in his book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces? Campbell was an American mythologist, writer, and teacher whose work covers many different parts of the complex human experience. Campbell’s magnum opus, or finest work, was a book known as The Hero With A Thousand Faces. In this book,
By the turn of the sixteenth century, the Italian Renaissance had produced writers such as Danté, Petrarch, Boccaccio and Castiglione, each with ideas rooted in the revival of Greek and Roman Classics, localization of the Christian traditions, idealistic opinions of women and individualism. From these authors spread the growth of the humanistic movement which encompassed the entirety of the Italian rebirth of arts and literature. One among many skeptics, including Lorenzo Valla, who had challenged the Catholic Church fifty years earlier in proving the falsity of the Donation of Constantine, Niccolò Machiavelli projected his ideas of fraudulence into sixteenth century Italian society by suggesting that rulers could only maintain power through propaganda, as seen with the success of Ferdinand of Aragon in Spain circa 1490. Today, the coined term Machiavellian refers to duplicity in either politics or self-advancement. Unlike most philosophers of the sixteenth century, Machiavelli wrote from the perspective of an anti-Humanist; he criticized not only the Classics and the Catholic Church, but also encouraged the deceitful use of religion and hated the humanist concepts of liberty, peace and individualism.1
Niccolo Machiavelli lived in Florence, Italy in the 1400’s. The country of Italy was divided into city-states that had their own leaders, but all pledged alliance to their king. In time in which great leaders were needed in order to help the development of a city-state and country, Machiavelli had a theory that man needed a leader to control them. In his book The Prince, he speaks of the perfect leader.
Given all the stereotypes of an African American woman since she was a child, Maya Angelou told the world that, “I believe all things are possible for a human being and I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do” (“Encyclopedia”). Angelou makes it clear that her race would not hold her back from pursuing her dreams of becoming a successful woman. In Maya Angelou’s autobiographical novel, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, the hardships of growing up as an African American in Stamps, Arkansas are described through her personal experiences. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4th, 1928, her parents, Vivian Baxter and Bailey Johnson Sr., sent her and her brother, Bailey Johnson Jr., to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie “Momma” Henderson
She references works by John Lok, who in 1561, described Africans as “beasts who have no houses…people without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts” and Rudyard Kipling who described them as “half devil, half child” (Adichie, 2009). She mentions these quotes to illustrate the point to her audience that Africans have been depicted in a certain negative image in literature for centuries. The single stories heard in present day are not newly constructed but mere variations of stereotypes that already
There are many reasons as to why people procrastinate. A lot of times, people procrastinate because they are wanting to do things perfectly. It is important to use accountability to move forward from procrastination. There are steps you can take that will help you achieve the success you desire in over-coming this unhealthy habit.
In act 1 scene 5 Lady Macbeth is reading a letter, which she received from her husband, the letter contains information about Macbeth becoming Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth knows that her husband “is too full o ' th ' milk of human kindness ” this quotation is a metaphor which suggests that Macbeth
Consequences related to procrastination often outweighed its proposed benefits for it is frequently associated with self-defeating behavior, the ineffective weighing of short term and long term benefits, (Tice & Baumeister) and poor mental health (Ferrari, Johnson, McCown); in addition to internal subjective discomfort such as irritation, self-blame and regret (Solomon, Rothblum & Murakami) procrastination is also linked to “weak impulse control, lack of persistence, lack of work discipline, lack of time management skill, and the inability to work methodically.” (Ferrari & Diaz-Morales) Other complications which may arise from overall procrastination may be related to sleep deficiency, often when one procrastinates with a specific item one may take up useful time which may be spent on something other than that. Procrastination with academic assignment will need to be competed at a certain point and the time spent on recovering lost time will be taken away from one’s sleep time. Not only does academic procrastination lead to sleep deprivation, but this is a whole new problem in itself; the tendency to delay the action
The perspective countering previously stated information is biological. Procrastination links to physical disorders and lesions in the brain, particularly in the frontal lobe - specifically the bilateral hemisphere in globus pallidus (Strub, 1989). Research on the physiological roots of procrastination mostly surrounds the role of the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) (Evans, 2007) . Consistent with the notion that procrastination is strongly related to impulsiveness, this area of the brain is responsible for executive brain functions such as planning, impulse control, and acts as a filter by decreasing distracting stimuli from other brain. Given the importance of the PFC, a dysfunction in this area can reduce an individual's ability to filter out distracting stimuli, ultimately resulting in poorer organization, a loss of attention and increased procrastination.The PFC sends signals to the limbic and sensory parts of the brain. When a person needs to focus, the PFC decreases the distracting input from the other brain areas (Damasio, 1994). Therefore, if there is a problem with the PFC, there is no filter mechanism at work. . This is similar to the prefrontal lobe's role in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), where under activation is common (Strub,
Machiavelli’s Judgement of the People “Knowledge is power”. Power to do evil.or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil” (Veronica Roth). Machiavelli provides all of his knowledge that is useful for aspiring or current rulers.
I believe we all procrastinate. We have all put something off at one point in our lives, no matter how big or small. We’ve done it. I think that’s just part of being human especially if we have a lot of other things on our plates. Some people might ask: If it’s natural then why do some people do it and others don’t? In his TedTalk, Urban then goes on to explain a second type of procrastination, where there is no deadlines. For example: hanging out with family, exercise, health management. He then says that everyone procrastinates and states some of you may have a healthy relationship with deadlines, but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick is when the deadlines aren't
Napoleon Hill said procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday. A lot of people today will actually experience procrastination in their everyday life, and is not looked at as a problem until it interferes with peoples’ ability to work and if it creates psychological and physical discomfort. Students often procrastinate and most research is observing the college students likeliness to procrastinate. To look at only college students would be bias however since it affects everyone, almost every day. To find out why people procrastinate, looking at personality and motivation can be where the answer lies. One of the leading researchers in procrastination is Joseph Ferrari. He looks at the definition of procrastination, many reasons procrastinations occurs, and the personality types it occurs in.
A. H. C. Chu and J. N. Choi, psychologists, distinguished two types of protracting, they discovered that active procrastination has attainable characteristics that lead to positive personal outcomes (Choi and Moran). These positive personal outcomes are a result of waiting at its finest. People with these adequate dilatory skills have probably learned from their deficient habits in the past that may help everyone know that the view of holding off can change. Writing this essay has changed my view on procrastination slightly, as I can see how it can be good for you. With my siblings, free time is limited. So taking time to do something more entertaining helps me take a break from stressful work. Then when I get back to it I feel more confident that I can focus and finish it. That’s an example of active procrastination for me. Frank Partnoy shows historical views on procrastination, in an article about his book, such as how “The Greeks and Romans generally regarded procrastination highly. The wisest leaders embraced procrastination and would basically sit around and think and not do anything unless they absolutely had to” (Gambino 2012). Those Romans and Greeks were able to enjoy their time of relaxation, using procrastination as a healthy tool rather than a bad habit. Even wise leaders used it! What an amazing realization that we get procrastination from
Most humans have habits, habits in which they do simply because if they do not do them they feel uncomfortable. Procrastination is one of those habits that not all, but most people suffer from. Procrastination means to put off key things to do less important things that could possibly wait. It has been proving that all most everyone procrastinates, but procrastination does not determine what type of person one is. Procrastination is like a virus or a bad cold that does not want to go away. If one does not stop the problem it will get bigger; therefore, if people do not control their procrastinating they will start to do it more. However, the worst time to procrastinate is in college. College students often forget hoe important time is. Being a procrastinator can lead to several different outcomes. Procrastination can led to either good or bad outcomes. It all depends on the person doing the procrastinating. Procrastination is not always meant to happen; sometimes it simply happens because a person is too busy. Procrastination has both good and bad causes and effects, can cause failure, and bad decisions.
Procrastination is simply a bad habit. That means that it can be changed, but won’t be changed overnight, it is possible to quit. However, habits only stop being hab...