Morality and Necessity: What Makes a Prince Just?
Whether using the Machiavellian terminology (i.e. the prince) or the Socratic nouns (i.e. citizen, philosopher, or civil servant), the three literary works, “The Apology”, “Crito”, and “The Prince”, address the same topic: what should a leader be. Socrates valued individual characteristics considered to be moral and just more than anything. He was not afraid to place leaders to the same standard as the ordinary citizen and in fact encouraged this as a sign of healthy government. Machiavelli valued the characteristics that he categorized under the adjective “virtu”, characteristics which were meant to create leaders who yield concrete results. Often however, “virtu” shows disregard for human …show more content…
To defend the latter requisite of “living justly” he explains the nature of the relationship between citizens and the law. He summarizes that the law births a citizen, raises the citizen, and then takes an oath from that citizen to be obedient, thus requiring all people to follow the laws in order to live justly (Crito 92e). Following the Socratic definition of what is a “just life”, he then explicitly states the consequences of living unjustly: “Whatever the popular view is, and whether the consequence is pleasanter than this [death] or even tougher, the fact remains that to commit injustice is in every case bad and dishonourable for the person who does it… in no circumstances must one do wrong” (Crito 88b). In adding, “in no circumstances must one do wrong,” Socrates applies his rule to princes and ordinary citizens alike. Despite the power and importance of the prince and the disproportionate weight of his actions as compared to anyone else, Socrates believes that under no circumstances may he act …show more content…
Machiavelli believes that the prince is the absolute sovereign and that he/she derives power from both the citizenry and his/her individual virtue and fortune. However, he does not see the importance of a prince as a role model for the citizens because it is good enough for a prince to simply appear as a role model as a means to control and satisfy the populace (The Prince 57). The prince achieves this by feigning to emulate the desired characteristics of the model
Whether using the Machiavellian terminology (i.e. the prince) or the Socratic nouns (i.e. citizen, philosopher, or civil servant), the three literary works, “The Apology”, “Crito”, and “The Prince”, address the same topic: what should a leader be. Socrates valued individual characteristics considered to be moral and just more than anything. He was not afraid to place leaders to the same standard as the ordinary citizen and in fact encouraged this as a sign of healthy government. Machiavelli valued the characteristics that he categorized under the adjective “virtu”, characteristics which were meant to create leaders who yield concrete results. Often however, “virtu” shows disregard for human …show more content…
To defend the latter requisite of “living justly” he explains the nature of the relationship between citizens and the law. He summarizes that the law births a citizen, raises the citizen, and then takes an oath from that citizen to be obedient, thus requiring all people to follow the laws in order to live justly (Crito 92e). Following the Socratic definition of what is a “just life”, he then explicitly states the consequences of living unjustly: “Whatever the popular view is, and whether the consequence is pleasanter than this [death] or even tougher, the fact remains that to commit injustice is in every case bad and dishonourable for the person who does it… in no circumstances must one do wrong” (Crito 88b). In adding, “in no circumstances must one do wrong,” Socrates applies his rule to princes and ordinary citizens alike. Despite the power and importance of the prince and the disproportionate weight of his actions as compared to anyone else, Socrates believes that under no circumstances may he act …show more content…
Machiavelli believes that the prince is the absolute sovereign and that he/she derives power from both the citizenry and his/her individual virtue and fortune. However, he does not see the importance of a prince as a role model for the citizens because it is good enough for a prince to simply appear as a role model as a means to control and satisfy the populace (The Prince 57). The prince achieves this by feigning to emulate the desired characteristics of the model