Niccolò Machiavelli

Machiavelli is a man of many labels, but perhaps the most accurate is that he was a main of calculation. For all the talk of evil, cruelty and virtues, he could really be seen as the father of the cost-benefit analysis. In that same light, Machiavelli’s virtù and traditional virtues should not be seen as at odds, but rather as tools that work in tandem. To view them as wholly incompatible by nature is a narrow view at best, and woefully idealistic at worst. Indeed, they appear incompatible only…

The book talked about the expectations of a prince, how to rule and shared his belief on military stands. Machiavelli said that the princes main concern had to be to protect the sovereignty of the state. He wrote that whether a state was old or new the two most important things to the foundation of the state were sound laws and good military forces. In order to…

“Get your shoes on, Niccolo. Get a spoon and pour the stew into a pot, we need to go NOW.” Wrinkling my nose at the stench, I tied the laces on my leather shoes and did as she asked. I suppose it being my birthday on October 27, 1791 didn’t excuse me from our family tradition of getting up early and visiting the church before I started my violin studies for the day. However, visiting church was not all that bad, thanks to one of my friends who was also named Niccolo. Niccolo Paganini. We were…

Ferdinand II, King of Aragon plays a large role in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Although Machiavelli utilizes Cesare Borgia as the central example figure, Ferdinand II is the ultimate example of Machiavelli’s teachings and message. Ferdinand is ruthless, his mind is always preoccupied with war, he acts on his ambitions swiftly and before others can, and has achieved a balance of being both pious and cruel. In the text he’s described as “an almost new prince,” one whose example you can find none…

creates in Prince contradicts with the republic he creates supports in Discourses. The Renaissance era, acknowledged for its confinement of numerous significant philosophers, such as Machiavelli, who believed to be the father of political science and a political philosopher (Potter, Barzun). Originally, Machiavelli wrote The Prince to aspire of obtaining the approval of the Medici family, and he intentionally constructed its assertions provoking…

Intro After reading The Leviathan by Hobbes and the Machiavelli’s The Prince and the Discourses I would argue that the two authors have a similar view on how fear is politically relevant. What makes fear relevant to Machiavelli and Hobbes is that they believe that fear is necessary for a sovereign or a prince to stay in power. The two authors also believe that it is needed to keep the subjects in check and to keep them complacent. Today however there are people who question if fear is…

In my essay I will first sate the traits of an ideal knight and then discuss the characteristics of an ideal knight as represented in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight while comparing and contrasting them to the characteristics of ideal knights in traditional texts. Quoting examples from the text, I will then discuss, analyze and come to a conclusion if Sir Gawain has been represented as an ideal knight in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. During the Middle Ages and in many…

paper The Renaissance was started by the creation of humanism. Leonardo Bruni, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Baldassare Castiglione were all humanists but Leonardo Bruni was the chancellor of Florence. Niccolò Machiavelli and Baldassare Castiglione were authors that were famous for writing The Prince and The Book of Courtier, respectively. Machiavelli later became the “father of modern political theory.” Bruni, Machiavelli, and Castiglione helped shape today’s countries by each contributing their…

excerpt from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. I believe it represents everything Machiavelli believed in as a political leader. He truly believed that a ruler should be feared by the people. Niccolò Machiavelli was an important figure during the Renaissance Era in Italy. One of his books, The Prince, which is also known as a political treatise, changed the political structure of Italy and influenced many political leaders in history. Even today, Niccolò Machiavelli is still known as the…

There are various ways to understand and explain reality depending on the ontological and epistemological positions of each author. The opus magnum of Niccolo Machiavelli could be a perfect example to illustrate these positions. In this sense, and as David Marsh and Paul Furlong (2002) argue, “ontological questions are prior because they deal with the very nature of being; literally an ontology is a theory of being”. In an attempt to identify an ontological position in The Prince and in any…