Can the way that justice is depicted in popular culture affect the views of those that consume it? Many people form their notions of justice based on the messages that get portrayed in the media. Justice is often depicted in a way that is ambiguous. It is up to the observer to interpret what they are presented with. The injustice that is shown may have the potential to threaten the way people understand justice in the real world. News outlets depict crime is a sensational way that cause people to develop a negative view of the world. They depict procedural justice as slow and often times inefficient. Popular culture becomes a medium for people to escape from the inadequacies of justice in their real lives. Although these shows are fictitious, they subconsciously affect people’s notions of justice. The Japanese manga and anime, DeathNote, is a form of popular culture that has influenced that way that …show more content…
In the prince, Machiavelli portrays a form of justice that is amoral. He believed that any method necessary regardless of moral implications is fine as long as it benefits the “prince. There is no concern for procedural justice because there is only one person who deems what is right. He meant that if the outcome is beneficial enough, then it should be attained by any means even if it is an immoral one. Machiavelli claims that the Prince should do everything he can do to maintain his position of power. There may come a time where a prince may have to commit evil to ensure that his power is safe. This could be considered a necessary evil to retain power. In his eyes, power is always celebrated and is the ultimate end, so that once power is achieved, then the means that were used to gain it do not matter (Prince Chapter XVIII pg. 140). Niccolo Machiavelli gave us a unique insight into the amorality of justice and blurs the line of good and evil to attain the most favorable
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.
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 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.
In The Prince, Machiavelli separates ethics from politics. His approach to politics, as outlined in The Prince, is strictly practical. Machiavelli is less concerned with what is right and just, and instead with what will lead to the fortification of the government and the sustainment of power. Machiavelli believed that a ruler should use any means necessary to obtain and sustain power. He says, “…people judge by outcome. So if a ruler wins wars and holds onto power, the means he has employed will always be judged honorable, and everyone will praise them” (Machiavelli, 55). According to Machiavelli, the ends of an action justify the means (Machiavelli, 55). His motivation for these views in The Prince was the reunification of the Italian city-states (Machiavelli, 78-79). Machiavelli wanted Italy to return to its glory of the Roman Empire (Machiavelli 78-79). Some of the beliefs of Machiavelli could be perceived as evil and cruel, but he found them necessary. Machiavelli was not concerned with making people happy. His purpose was outcome and success, and in his opinion, the only way to be successful was to be realistic. These views of Machiavelli could classify him as one of the earliest modern
Additionally, The Prince states that secular forms of government are more realistic than pious ones because a pious government would be bound by morals. In the Prince, Machiavelli tries to convey that the end justifies the means, which means any thing goes. He claims that it would be ideal for a prince to possess all the qualities that are deemed good by other men, but states that no leader can accomplish that. He also states that the security of the state should be the prince’s first priority and it must be protected by any means necessary. Although, this can be true in certain cases, Machiavelli uses it as an excuse to use evil and cruel tactics.
Many empirical things can often still be debated and refuted by experts, but there is a general admittance to the idea that power is the root of many evil things. In all fairness, we must admit that a many evil things can in their essence, be great. And that is one of the many theories advanced by Niccolo Machiavelli in his well-known work, The Prince. The Prince serves a dual purpose of both teaching a person how to attain power, but also how to retain it. Incredibly enough, history has proven most of Machiavelli’s findings and theories to work well, while some have failed to effectively secure power for the rulers who did, in fact try them. His work, does obviously highlight one main fact, which is, that power is a well sought-after attribute, and most who attain are willing to do whatever is necessary to keep it.
‘The Prince’ was the most largely known of Machiavelli’s bodies of work. The tome was so controversial that it was placed on the Papal index of banned books in 1559. The adjective “Machiavellian” is commonly used as a synonym for a rapacious, shrewd and ruthless power seeker and Machiavelli was infamous for being ‘evil’. However he wasn't actually evil, he was advocating good virtuous behaviour as a general rule. He just recognized that in reality not every situation can be solved by virtuous means.
Machiavelli states, “From this the prince may secure himself sufficiently if he avoids being hated or despised and keeps the people satisfied with him; this is necessary to achieve, […]” (73). It is necessary for the prince not to be hated by his subjects, and keep them satisfied to keep one’s rule. Thus Machiavelli, does not care about the standings of right and wrong, he leaves this to the people and he tries to put on the façade of giving them what they would like, but also being able to run the
As he begins to conclude, Machiavelli states that the prince: “should think about avoiding those things which make him hated and despised.” (Mach 48) Although these lack any withstanding moral values, they are effective in the sense that they better serve their purpose. Machiavelli was seeking to display a way to hold political power by any means possible not a utopian state. This may mean malicious acts, imprisonment, and torture, or it may mean the utilization of power to achieve a common good. Machiavelli doesn’t elaborate on this. He concentrates on a realistic approach towards government, as he remains concerned with the establishment and protection of power.
Machiavelli’s book The Prince could be considered a guideline for anyone, who possesses both “virtue” and “fortune”, interested in becoming a ruler over a group of civilians. The Prince acts as guideline by providing both the do’s and don’ts one should act on. If such are executed correctly one will not only gain power over a group of people but also maintain power for as long as one wishes. Machiavelli not only provides a list of steps one must follow in order to successfully maintain power but also same provides examples of those who didn’t do such things and as a result lost their power. In chapter 26 Machiavelli takes a moment to reference Italian princes and why they lost their principalities, something very important since Machiavelli
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
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.
Prince teaches leaders how best to acquire and maintain power. Opinion is divided regarding Machiavelli’s real intent. When Machiavelli mentioned "fancies", he was referring to the theories set prior to his own. Theories which recognized men as good, thus able to be controlled by good. But in this quote Machiavelli points out that men do not live in such a fashion. Therefore, those acts which are "other than good" are necessary for acquisition and preservation of power in society. Machiavelli set the precedent for the cold and calculated regardless of the century they live in. He discusses frankly, the necessity of cruel actions to keep power. He was in the business of power preservation not piety. Those who desire power in any situation may
To be “Machiavellian” is typically understood to mean clever or dishonest; generally unlikable traits in a general member of society. When asked to evaluate the current state of affairs in America today and look for the conceptions of liberty and corruption, the most accurate answer to this evaluation is through history. Looking at America and taking the previously studied writings of Machiavelli, is there any hope for the liberty America prides itself on or at least is there any way to stave off corruption? If we are to look through our American society through Machiavelli’s perspective, our perspective will be a lot more well-grounded if we first take a look at those who influenced Machiavelli before he in turn influenced our understanding as well. Starting off politics thousands of years before our time that we still study and attempt to imitate today are the Romans.
Machiavelli has long been required reading for everyone intrested in politics and power. In The Prince Niccolo M