Machiavelli's Argument Essay

Niccolo Machiavelli knows the importance of deceit to the ruling class too. Machiavelli says “It is not essential, then, that a Prince should have all the good qualities which I have enumerated above, but it is most essential that he should seem to have them,” (page 46 The Prince) because “men in general judge rather by the eye than the hand.” (page 47 The Prince) To Marx, money allows this type of transformative deception; however, to Machiavelli this ability seems to be more of a character trait. Machiavelli says this can be achieved by appearing to be the “embodiment of mercy, good faith, integrity, humanity, and religion.” (page 47 The Prince) The first four characteristics, he says are the least important when compared to the last. Appearing religious is achievable by being complacent to the Catholic Church and wearing the “cloak of religion”, according to Machiavelli. This “cloak of religion” allows “pious cruelty”, and with his cloak a prince appears justified in his actions, no matter how cruel. (page 59 The Prince). Marx also knows the power of religion to quell the lower class, as the cliché goes, “Religion is the opium of the people.” (Lecture Notes 3/6/13) Religion keeps the poor pacified because they are living for a better afterlife. They are also willing to blindly follow

Machiavelli’s interpretation of human nature was greatly shaped by his belief in God. In his writings, Machiavelli conceives that humans were given free will by God, and the choices made with such freedom established the innate flaws in humans. Based on that, he attributes the successes and failure of princes to their intrinsic weaknesses, and directs his writing towards those faults. His works are rooted in how personal attributes tend to affect the decisions one makes and focuses on the singular commanding force of power. Fixating on how the prince needs to draw people’s support, Machiavelli emphasizes the importance of doing what is best for the greater good. He proposed that working toward a selfish goal, instead of striving towards a better state, should warrant punishment. Machiavelli is a practical person and always thought of pragmatic ways to approach situations, applying to his notions regarding politics and

Niccolò Machiavelli was an activist of analyzing power. He believed firmly in his theories and he wanted to persuade everyone else of them as well. To comment on the common relationship that was seen between moral goodness and legitimate authority of those who held power, Machiavelli said that authority and power were essentially coequal.9 He believed that whomever had power obtained the right to command; but goodness does not ensure power. This implied that the only genuine apprehension of the administrative power was the attainment and preservation of powers which indirectly guided the maintenance of the state. That, to him, should have been the objective of all leaders. Machiavelli believed that one should do whatever it took, during the given circumstance, to keep his people in favor of him and to maintain the state. Thus, all leaders should have both a sly fox and ravenous wolf inside of him prepared to release when necessary.10

Machiavelli was one of the first “modern” political thinkers in the late 1400s and early 1500s. He addresses to a government with principalities, in which the power is either inherited or the power is attained through wickedness.

Machiavelli’s views were drastically different from other humanists at his time. He strongly promoted a secular society and felt morality was not necessary but stood in the way of a successfully governed state. He stated that people generally tended to work for their own best interests and gave little thought to the well being of the state. He distrusted citizens saying, “In time of adversity,

From an outside perspective, Machiavelli’s leadership tactics emphasize the pursuit of idolization over reason due to his inability to make unpopular decisions, which allows for one to remain in power. In fact, without the proper balance of power, violence, morality, fear, and deception, a successful leader will never establish longevity among his secular society. Power: Machiavelli’s most paramount quality a leader must have stems from the concept of power and the ability to appear invincible. When talking about guiding one’s people through times of pandemonium, Machiavelli states, “A wise prince must devise ways by which his citizens are always and in all circumstances dependent on him and his authority; and then they will always be faithful to him” (Machiavelli, The Prince, 35).

In his famous works, The Prince and Discourse on Livy, Machiavelli meticulously discusses the importance of religion in the formation and maintaining a political order. Machiavelli regards religion as a political tool used by political elites for political purposes. He argues that the appearance of religion is good while the practice of it is harmful. One of the memorable passage from the Prince that supports Machiavelli’s claim is when he advices the prince to not to be good, and the prince should cultivate the appearance of the religion if he wants to maintain his state. The prince, he writes, “should appear all mercy, all faith, all honesty, all human, all religion” he adds “and nothing is more necessary to have than this last quality” (The Prince, 70). Here, Machiavelli argues, in order for the prince to maintain his state, it is necessary for the prince to go to the source of morality and by this he means religion. Thus, Machiavelli view on religion is nothing but a necessary tool for maintaining a political authority.

People are unlikely to overthrow a ruler that they fear, for they dread the punishments of failure. If the ruler is not feared by the people, he will eventually upset enough of them that they will rise up against him. They will overthrow him because of his perceived weakness, and his name and image will be shamed in the eyes of both his government and his people. Machiavelli believes that the state is completely separate from the ruler’s private life. No matter how immoral or heartless the ruler may be in private, only his public image is important. A ruler can be a terrible, sleazy person on their own time, and when not involved with matters of the state, but at any time when the leader is involved in politics and the state, you cannot afford to injure the image of the ruler or else anarchy will develop. With this kind of rebellion can come revolution, war, and many other tragedies that could be otherwise avoided.

Machiavelli is most famous for his statement that morals and ethics have absolutely no association to the process of gaining, expanding, and retaining power. In the Machiavellian concept, “Power is the end of politics, goodness thus coincides with efficiency; and inefficient means bad (Ebenstein, 2000: 286).” This film is filled to the brim with this kind of philosophy. Let’s take for example

were gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power. (Machiavelli,5). His understanding of human nature was a

The importance of the people in governing the state cannot be overstated since they allow the leaders to take control. The importance of fundamental virtues and models are significant in leading since they ensure that the people also have similar qualities and attributes. Since Augustine was a staunch Christian, he does not delve into military action and cruelty in the approaches taken by the leaders. However, Machiavelli believed on the importance of the military and the models that were employed by the leaders. Augustine believes a state draws power from God and Machiavelli from the people. The big question, therefore, is who controls power in the society? Is it God, people, or the

Machiavelli says that Moses was successful because he was an “armed prophet” (24). Specifically, Machiavelli says that Moses would not have been able to make the Israelites observe his “constitution” in he was unarmed (24). The Israelites “trembled with fear” in God’s presence, leading Moses to realize that “the fear of God” would keep them from sinning (Exodus 20:18-20). Furthermore, Moses uses political manipulation to deceive the people. For example, when he finds the Israelites to be out of control and a “laughingstock to their enemies,” he tricks the Levites into killing three thousand of their own (Exodus 32:25-28). Machiavelli concisely summarizes the idea that plagues and genocide, rather than rescue from centuries of slavery, bound the Israelites to God with “it is much safer to be feared than loved” (66). This assessment on the ruler’s relation to the people is in the sentence before Machiavelli’s reflection on human nature, displaying the extent to which they are connected. Love is fickle but fear is

Niccolò Di Bernardo Dei Machiavelli was one of the first major philosophers to pull away from the religious side of reason. Breaking away from traditional views and values he became a modern thinker by looking at power through naturalistic and realistic senses. Unlike the views of Hobbes, Machiavelli had a contrasting view on the idea of a sovereign. Where Hobbes would explain a ruler to be fair and never unjust towards his people, Machiavelli would suggest a Prince must be ruthless, but not hated. Machiavelli also believed “A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rule.” The art of war was something Machiavelli believed a prince should always have in mind at all times. He believed that it was through war that one

     Machiavelli’s argument also focuses on the topic of integrity and generosity and on how a political leader should keep his word. On one hand, he states that it is commendable for a political leader to live by integrity and to be considered generous; however the leaders who have accomplished great deeds throughout history hardly cared about keeping their word and were men that were known to be able to manipulate every situation by clever and shrewd means. Since it is impossible to always maintain all the qualities that man consider good and also maintain a state in his view, a great leader would know when to break those qualities when it is needed for the preservation of the state. However, he warns of excess generosity and the burdens it brings because in order for a leader to maintain his reputation as generous, he has to continuously tax his people in order to raise his funds. This process in turn makes those who employ excessive generosity appear to be the most miserly of all since they tax everyone in order to appear generous to a few.

This brings my analysis to the subject of religion and its relationship with political authority. Machiavelli feels religion is a double edged sword where an excess of it in government is harmful but the appearance that it is part of government is not only beneficiary, but necessary. Machiavelli writes that a political leader, "…should appear, upon seeing and hearing him, to be all mercy, all faithfulness, all integrity, all religion. And there is nothing more necessary than to seem to possess this last quality." (The Prince Chapter XVIII) Machiavelli's argument centers around his assertion that having all these qualities and employing them at all times is harmful because a leader often has to resort to contradictory measures in order to