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Interpretations of the prince machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince
Interpretations of the prince machiavelli
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Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher from Florence Italy. He lived
during the Italian Renaissance from May 1469 to 1527. This period in time that
Machiavelli lived was the "rebirth" of art in Italy and rediscovery of ancient
philosophy, literature and science. During this time in the Renaissance, Italy
was also involved in intense political conflict with dominant city-states of Florence,
Milan, Venice, Naples, the Papacy, France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire.
Machiavelli was a man who lived his life for politics and patriotism. He created
many works such as The Prince, History of Florence, Art of War and Discourses on
the First Ten Books of Livy. Machiavelli is most famous for his political treatise,
The Prince which was written in 1513. After the writing of The Prince was exposed
to the public Machiavelli quickly grew a bad reputation, and was associated with
corruption and totalitarian government. Many views and opinions were formed of
Machiavelli, as well as attempt to understand him and his writing of The Prince.
From Machiavelli's writing it is impressed on people that he often professed a
preference for drastic methods and for a sweeping all- or- nothing solutions, along
with a contempt for delay and improvisation and compromise and has a set of
attitudes usually more characteristic of academic theorists than of practical men of
affairs.
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince for Lorenzo de' Medici who was ruling
Florence at that time. He thought by writing a book of what he thought were the
Medici's goals and dedicated it to them he would gain favor from the family and
they would give him his position in office back. Machiavelli also believed that his
writings would help make Medici a more effective ruler. One critic states that
Machiavelli advises the prince to read history and reflect on the actions of great
men. This meant to imitate great men and to take as a model of one's conduct; a
great historical figure who had achieve the highest praise and glory by constantly
holding him before himself the deeds and achievements of a predecessor.
Florence as pure and good but his life was still not spared. At this point Antonio’s view
Hartt, Frederick, and David G. Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance art . 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2006.
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.
Goldstein, C., Visual Fact over Verbal Fiction: A Study of the Carracci and the Criticism, Theory, and Practice of Painting in Renaissance and Baroque Italy, Cambridge, 1988.
Brucker, Gene A. & Co. Renaissance Florence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969. Mandelbaum, Allen. A.
the basis for much of the style and aims of the later High Renaissance. He was actively
During the late medieval and early renaissance, there are 83 manuscripts of this work. It was all written in Middle English, so it was clearly very difficult to
Possibly the most controversial book ever written, The Prince by Machiavelli, focuses on how a Prince or leader should rule. Many of the techniques that are stated in the text have caused many debates ever since it’s publication. When Machiavelli composed the Prince, his contemporaries were shocked at the ideas and themes presented. The Prince introduced a whole new way of thinking that was almost completely contrary to present beliefs. For that reason, in 1559 the Pope banned the printing of the Prince and the rest of Machiavelli’s writings.
Turner, A. Richard. Renaissance Florence; The Intvention of a New Art. New York, NY`: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997.
Shakespeare, William, Othello, the Moor of Venice, “First Folio,” Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1621.
The Medici Family was one of the most powerful families of Renaissance Florence. They were a banking family. The first Medici bank, started by Giovanni di Becci de’ Medici, was a small scale business run in the bathroom. The bank grew through Giovanni’s extraordinary salesmanship and financial caution (PBS: Godfathers of the Renaissance). He gave out loans to those who they believed would help the bank persevere and thrive. Known as patrons of the arts, the Medici family funded and encouraged art by Botticelli, Brunelleschi, and Michelangelo. Consequential members of the family such as Giovanni de’ Medici, Cosimo de’ Medici, Lorenzo de’ Medici, and Ferdinando I de’ Medici helped to increase the affluence of Florence during the Renaissance.
Ahimsa is a concept that was practiced by political and ideological leader Mohandas Gandhi; a concept that he used to promote the use of non-violent tactics and passive resistance against colonial rule in India. Mohandas Gandhi used Ahimsa as the means to an end and therefore, ultimately rejected Machiavelli's advice on the qualities a prince must possess to retain his title. Machiavelli advises that the leaders have military experience and, “In peace time he must train himself more than in times of war. This can be done in two ways: one by action, the other by the mind” (Jacobus 40). Ghandi does not have military experience and Ahimsa, loosely translated, means abstinence from violence either by thought, word, or deed. Ahimsa requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand (Maheshwari). The concept of Ahimsa and the actions of Mohandas Gandhi directly contradict the qualities and practices of a Machiavellian prince or leader.
In the beginning there was a man named Cesare Lombroso. Lombroso’s manuscript The Criminal Man is seen as the earliest and most famous piece
During the time 1469, a child by the name of Niccolo Di Bernardo Del Machiavelli was born .Some may know him as an Italian philosopher, humanist, or a evil minded fellow associated with the corruptness of totalitarian government. In Machiavelli’s home state Florence, he introduces the modern political theory. Hoping to gain influence with the ruling Medici family Niccolo wrote a pamphlet call The Prince (Prezzolini).