Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince Essay

The writings of Nicolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes Although the ideal societies of Machiavelli and Hobbes may have been plausible solutions to political violence in their respective eras, neither man’s ideas translate particularly well to a creating a peaceful society in the present day. In The Leviathan, Hobbes outlines his rationale for creating a society that is ruled by a sovereign (or “Leviathan”) who is given complete power by the people. According to Hobbes, the existence of this…

Nicola Machiavelli’s book “The Prince” consists of theories and experiential advice on what are the true makings of an ideal prince and an effective government based on the life of Cesare Borgia. According to Machiavelli a good ruler should be ruthless and at times unethical in order to maintain power. In addition he stated that preparations for war should be the foremost occupation of a successful leader. Most importantly a successful prince should exhibit virtue. The first most emphasized…

Machiavelli, in The Prince, claims that “it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one has to lack one of the two.” Trump chose fear, but he disregarded being loved as a component. The fear was accompanied with hate, leading to an unsuccessful attempt of Machiavelli’s thought within his current presidency. Machiavelli believed that “since men love at their convenience and fear at the convenience of the prince, a wise prince should found himself on what is his.” The people will not rise up…

McCormick states that Machiavelli “was fully aware of the tension between leaderly initiative and popular rule…” McCormick points out the conflict in Machiavelli’s argument by stating “How can a single individual follow Machiavelli's advice about favoring the people over the few without becoming a tyrant in the process?” he goes on to argue that if a leader can achieve this then the next obstacle is how this same leader can avoid catering to the elite or the grandi as Machiavelli referred to…

The Prince 1.) Machiavelli wrote The Prince because he wanted to win the favor of Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici by dedicating him the book. He also just wanted to give general advice on leadership and power, as well as draw attention to his belief that a prince should be more successful over being good and honest. 2.) The major themes of The Prince are Love vs Fear; a prince should be loved to stay in power, but his people should also have a sense of fear from him so they obey him. Power;…

Machiavelli stated that he would choose fear when given the option of fear or love, and I have to agree with him. Fear is a strong emotion that when employed correctly against others can be a powerful tool to gain the power over a great number of people. Love can be lost readily; especially if not carefully monitored, nourished fittingly and/or taken by another. Fear can freely be applied and needs less monitoring and nourishing by the fear-instilling ruler of choice. Fear can be doled out by…

According to Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America, a democratic society has various characteristics such as individualism and a single-minded pursuit of material wealth. These two characteristics can cause certain dangers to a democratic society such as a despotic and absolute government and also unhappiness. Alexis de Tocqueville in his book Democracy in America presents a behavior that occurs in democratic America. This behavior is called individualism, which is a “reflective and…

Machiavelli wrote ‘The Prince’ to tell others how he sees a good prince. He says a prince “in order to hold his position, must acquire the power to be not good, and understand when to use it and when not to use it, in accord with necessity” (The Prince ch15). He didn’t believe that humans are perfect because “But because no ruler can possess or fully practice them, on account of human conditions that do not permit it, he needs to be so prudent that he escapes ill repute for such vices as might…

Accurate? Machiavelli is often criticised for his attitude toward human nature, being seen as overly cynical of humanity. However, is this portrayal of Machiavelli warranted, or are his viewpoints justified? By analyzing key points made in The Qualities of the Prince and comparing these arguments to real world examples, it is possible to determine whether Machiavelli’s beliefs regarding human nature are sound. There is one portion of his essay in particular where it is easy to accuse…

The advice that is given by Machiavelli is presented in a very unscrupulous manner. Many of his recommendations are extremely harsh and immoral. When it comes to whether a prince should be loved or feared Machiavelli states it is better to be feared. It is considered to be alright if a prince has the reputation of being loved, but better to be feared than loved. Fear will captivate the citizens of the nation to do what the prince wants. The actions will be done out of pure fear of the…