In the Italian cities, there was much conflict and arguments amongst the Borgia family who were focused on trying to seize and maintain power. Machiavelli in response, devised a text, The Prince, which illustrates how to run an effectual government. In The Prince, he also describes how the good and effective rulers have to learn “not to be good,” and that they have to be prepared and willing to put aside ethical concerns of justice and kindness, in order to preserve the balance of the state. This logic was atrocious to peers around him, for they were used to the old medieval ideas of ruling where the king was chosen by God to serve as someone on earth, who manages the law. They also saw that the ruler/king was an all-powerful human being with…
Niccoló Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513 after witnessing Italy's political decline. In this book he highlights how a ruler can maintain his power and lead an effective government by any means necessary. Compared to Louis XI of France, Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, Henry VII is the most Machiavellian…
Niccolò Machiavelli and Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca went through different experiences that led them to have their own perspectives in human nature and create their ideals for good governance. The simple fact that Cabeza de Vaca was unfortunate enough to have a hard time throughout the expedition made him more open minded about human nature, while Machiavelli had a set idea of what human nature was and how it ties to good governance. Machiavelli's view on human nature is the same as what is a good governance a good leader and a good human being is someone who knows how to be respected and feared without being hated and how that leads to have the people the Prince governs happy and on his side. Cabeza de Vaca has a more down to earth view on human nature but that differs…
1 intro The prince is the most remembered of Machiavelli's works , it also caused/responsible for the creation of the the word "Machiavellian" and it inspired the creation of the English term "Old Nick" which is used to describe the devil. Machiavelli's work eventually is dedicated to Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, grandson of "Lorenzo the Magnificent", a member of the ruling Florentine Medici family. It was originally dedicated to Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici who died in 1516.It was written during 1513, the year after the Medici took over of Florence, and a few months after Machiavelli's arrest, torture, and exile .He was accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the Medici’s family. By writing the Prince he wanted to help his…
Around 1513, Niccoló Machiavelli wrote The Prince, analyzing political power and laying out advice on how to be an effective ruler. Focusing primarily on ways in which to obtain authority, gain an obedient following, and maintain power, Machiavelli forms an argument that it is better to be a leader that is feared than loved. In other words, Machiavelli stresses that effective political power is reduced to the manipulation of others and the preservation of a ruler’s individual power. By comparing the use of political power by leaders like Machiavelli and St. Catherine of Siena, through their egocentric versus altruistic attitudes, views on corruption, and understanding of control, the contrast between their collectivist and individualistic approaches highlight the long-term benefits of ruling for the…
Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 and died in 1527 and lived during the Italian Renaissance in Florence. He wrote The Prince, a specula principis or “mirror for princes,” when he was forty-four-years-old after being dismissed from being a diplomat because he was suspected of conspiring against the new government when there was a change of regime. He was found innocent and left town to live with his family in the countryside, where “he tramped the hills by day and, in the long, empty evenings, began to write down some considerations on how to win power and, above all, how to hold on to it, how not to be a victim of circumstance,” which resulted in The Prince (Parks VII). Machiavelli’s own reversal of fortune was not the only example of the…
This radical idea was to some extent shocking to equals, who had taken up primitive ideas on divine kingship, in which the king was chosen by God for the express tenacity of serving as a sort of heavenly deputy on earth, maintaining law, order and justice. Machiavelli suggests that if the prince wants to maintain his rule, then he must pick up and not to be so virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need this he relates to God who he says "God does not want to do everything Himself, and take away from us our free will and our share of glory which belongs us." In this he says the prince will be able to serve the people and maintain his rule. Machiavelli in his book The Prince also uses a quote that “The ends justify the means.” This was Machiavelli's line in which he used to refer to people’s existing life patterns.…
Throughout history, there has been an enormous amount of leadership figures—both good and bad. One of the most famous is Martin Luther King Jr.--the leader of the African-American civil rights movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent disobedience. Although there have been a significant amount of honest leaders who care for the well being of his/her people, there never ceases to be an evil commander who is self-absorbent, selfish, and corrupt. One prime example is Vlad Dracula.…
The Prince starts off with an address to Lorenzo de’Medici. I believe attempting to impart his wisdom on the matter of rulers in exchange for favor. In this book of The Prince, new states and monarchies in particular, opting not to pay attention to Republics, as he has…
Although Machiavelli and Socrates both lived during times of uncertainty, political fragmentation and violence, their philosophies about how the state should conduct itself are in direct contrast with one another. Machiavelli’s the Prince is founded on the principal that if a ruler wishes to maintain power, he should embody the ideology of pragmatism, while Socrates believes the state should follow him in his commitment to moral purity and justice. The inherent dissonance between these philosophies would lead Socrates to be unsupportive of Machiavelli’s concept of a prince, and consequently the political system Machiavelli would recommend he install, despite his apparent change in rhetoric from the Apology to the Crito. Throughout Plato’s interpretation…
Machiavelli’s Prince seeks to recruit and educate a ruler in the art of ruling. His ideal rulers are founders, men who created a fatherland and were not afraid to sacrifice lives and their self-interests for the common good. Machiavelli stresses that a ruler needs to appear virtuous while using vices when necessary to achieve positive results. Machiavelli teaches the ruler to divide his self. “It is essential, therefore, for a Prince […] to have learned how to be other than good, and to use or not use his goodness as necessity requires” (Machiavelli, 40).…
An explanation that is potentially one of the more conventional validations of the relationship between Machiavelli’s The Prince and the Discourses is reading The Prince as a manual for the founder of what would eventually emerge as a republic. Once the prince has established a foundation of the state, the republic that Machiavelli advocates for in the Discourses will become achievable and desirable. The Prince was written to establish a unified state; the republic in the Discourses will maintain that stable and unified state. Academic Leo Strauss explains that Machiavelli wrote the Discourses to promote the imitation of ancient republics. Machiavelli longed for the rebirth of ancient republicanism .…
“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” Machiavelli uses this analogy as an attempt to teach the masses how to embrace their human significance. Machiavelli wrote The Prince at a time where there was political unrest and confusion in Italy, which is why it can be interpreted in many different ways, such as a political satire or epilogue of his political views; however, while the content may be confusing the true meaning of The Prince is to be understood as a satire. Machiavelli is continuously sarcastic through out the course of the novel about the government standings and the changing world.…
At face value, The Prince and the Discourses seem to have a conflicting nature, but both texts focus on the administration of a state and present textual similarities. Much of what Machiavelli writes in The Prince reinforces the Discourses, echoing both stylistically and thematically. Machiavelli uses pragmatic methods in both and accentuates the importance of historical studies. In The Prince, there is a significant amount of reference to Cesare Borgia, a man that Machiavelli admires, and he states, “I shall never hesitate to cite Cesare Borgia and his actions,” and his views on virtue and fortune come out of Borgia’s narrative . For Machiavelli, Borgia is the superlative example of a man who can compel any individual to do the distasteful…
In The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli’s understanding of virtue and effective rule emphasizes the maintenance of political power and the disregard for morality, differing from the ideology of the classic political philosophers. Machiavelli’s concept of virtue is centered around the glorification of a ruler, facilitated by behavioural traits such as bravery, cleverness, deceptiveness, and ruthlessness. Effective rule requires these attributes, as the successful application of these characteristics towards the acquisition and maintenance of power will allow one to become a powerful leader. Machiavelli first explains the foundations of various principalities, such as hereditary and mixed principalities, as the maintenance of power differs…