Machiavelli's Mentality

Niccolò Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance. He was born into nobility so his childhood was quiet; he received the standard humanistic education popular during the Renaissance, but he always desired to obtain political office. Going into his young adult life, he witnessed the removal of the Medici family and the political conflict that was to follow. At this time, Italy was in political chaos; a number of city-states including Florence, Milan, Venice, and Naples all fought for control of Italy, along with Spain, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. Each one attempted to manipulate one another as to get the upper hand, they resorted to malicious practices such as blackmail and crude violence. These acts heavily influenced Machiavelli’s attitudes toward government, creating the foundation for The Prince.

Anywhere you go, there will be a community ruled by a leader. The qualities of leaders play a vital role in the success or failure of a society; if these qualities are effective, it allows the country to be successful and the ruler’s to fulfill the country’s needs. However, the absence of effective leadership qualities result in severe effects towards the country. When comparing the thoughts of Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli, it becomes obvious these two authors have different beliefs on how to be an effective leader. Machiavelli was a historian in Italy, a diplomat, a philosopher, a politician, and a writer during the era of the Renaissance. Lao-Tzu, during the 6th century, was an ancient Chinese philosopher. These two authors approach at almost entirely different positions. For this reason, it is a natural progression to collocate the two in an effort to better understand the qualities a leader should possess. To prove their philosophies, Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli have sought to reach a more complete understanding of each other’s thoughts on the subjects of war and weapons, qualities of leaders and the people, and how to govern.

Lao-Tzu’s “Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching” and Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince” both have the ultimate goal of making better leaders. The tactics that each writer chooses to present as a guide for the leader are almost opposite of each other.

There are many different ways on how a prince or ruler could come into power and how they choose to rule once in power. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote the book The Prince based on his own personal opinions on how a prince should rule. Machiavelli writes all of his beliefs based on princes and the monarchy in England/France in the fourteenth century. The principalities that Machiavelli wrote about can be compared to many European leaders. One European leader that has some differences to what Machiavelli wrote is Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union. As said before many leaders come into power in different ways and the way Stalin came into power and what he did with that power is different from a Machiavellian ruler.

Niccolo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence. Machiavelli was considered one of the most controversial political philosophers of his time. Machiavelli began working in the Florence government at a young age, employed as a clerk and later as an ambassador to the “Holy Roman Emperor Maximilan, the King of France and Pope Julius II.” Throughout his employment with the government of Florence, Machiavelli began noticing the effects that one person had over an entire country. In 1513 Machiavelli wrote what would be one of his most renowned works “The Prince,” in which Machiavelli expresses his political ideas of ruling a

The most obvious difference between Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli are their moral perspectives and beliefs. Lao-Tzu is very mellow and easygoing person. He believes that the best government is one that runs itself, in the sense that the government should have very little control. Lao-Tzu is very passive. In his section titled Thoughts of the Tao-te Ching, Lao-Tzu says, “The world is sacred. It can’t be improved. If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it” (208). This quote strengthens the claim that Lao-Tzu believes in a government with little control. This is most accredited to his religion. He is a person of the Tao, and he is very reliant on the ‘Master’, or the god of Taoism. He believes that the Master controls everything, yet does nothing in the sense that people hardly are aware that the Master exists. Because of his knowledge of the Tao and the expectations of the Master, Lao-Tzu

Throughout history, it can be argued that at the core of the majority of successful societies has stood an effective allocation of leadership. Accordingly, in their respective works “The Tao-te Ching” and “The Prince”, Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli have sought to reach a more complete understanding of this relationship. The theme of political leaders and their intricate relationship with society indeed manifests itself within both texts, however, both Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli approach this issue from almost entirely opposite positions. Lao-Tzu appears to focus the majority of his attention on letting problems or situations take their course and allowing good to prevail. On the

Throughout history, each and every leader has different ways of leading their people. Many thoughts are expressed how to lead a country wisely, however, thoughts change as time grows on and a new era emerges. When comparing The Qualities of the Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching by Lao-Tzu, both men have very different opinions and strategies to lead their people. Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli have dissimilar opinions on war and military matters, the good qualities of a leader, and the nature of their people. When Lao-Tzu approaches a problem or an issue, he allows the majority of the problem to take its course and fix itself and let the good come out on top. Machiavelli’s methods promote the necessity for a good and successful prince to take control of his issues and the skills necessary to maintain power at any cost. However, both Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli were both philosophers who cared about how their people viewed them.

"The term Machiavellian refers to someone who is unscrupulous, cunning, cynical, and unprincipled"(Goods 1998). Many scholars agree that this particular adjective would have dismayed Niccolo Machiavelli, the man from whom the term is derived. In reality he has been attributed as being one of the brightest lights of the Italian Renaissance through his works as not only a writer, but also as an influential philosopher of history and political thought. His most famous work The Prince has been misunderstood due to the motives discussed and the blatantly honest language used. Many of his critics have condemned him for his pessimistic outlook of man as a whole and in doing so try to negate the bulk of his work. Yet even after over 470

The Church accused Niccolo Machiavelli of being Satan for writing his book The Prince. Machiavelli completed The Prince in 1513. He wrote it as a gift to Lorenzo Medici, called the Magnificent, ruler of Florence. The political views Machiavelli expressed in his book went against the theology of the Church, specifically the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.

Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy in 1469 to a middleclass family. The time in which Machiavelli lived Italy as a country

In The Morals of the Prince Machiavelli expresses his presumption on how a prince should act. He expresses that a prince should be feared, merciful, stingy, etc. He is right because if a prince is loved and too generous then people will take advantage of him and that will lead to his down fall. A prince must act appropriately to remain in power. Machiavelli gives his best ideas to keep a prince in power.

Niccolo’ Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 and died in 1527. Although we do not know much about his early life, we know that he was educated according to the humanist ideals of the Renaissance. He was trained at an early age by a latin teacher named Paolo da Ronciglione. He spent his youth in the

Relying on the needs of the society of that time, Machiavelli comes to the conclusion that the most important task is the formation of a single Italian state (Machiavelli 15). Developing his thoughts, the author comes to the following inference: only a prince can become a leader capable of leading people and building a unified state. It is not a concrete historical personality but someone abstract, symbolic, possessing such qualities that in the aggregate are inaccessible to any living ruler. That is why Machiavelli devotes most of his research to the issue of what qualities should the prince possess to fulfill the historical task of developing a new state. The written work is constructed strictly logically and objectively. Even though the image of an ideal prince is abstract, Machiavelli argues that he should be ruthless, deceiving, and selfish.

Niccoló Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy. This was during the golden ages of Florence, a powerful point in its history. His parents were Bernardo