Machiavelli's The Prince

History 's most prominent leaders have shown extreme congruence. These leaders almost always hold reality over ethics. How can we classify lying and manipulative leaders as immoral when their duplicity is the very reason a society can maintain stability? This idea has of "means justifying the ends" has been a staple in History 's most prosperous of societies. Machiavelli 's novel The Prince was the first stab at understanding this human tendency of what is now known as Machiavellian. Machiavelli grasped the sad reality of our world and did not fall prey to other 's idealistic propaganda. Great leaders understand what the endless potential they hold, they can manipulate their followers to make best of what is possible and above all they understand sacrifice. Modern day Machiavellians and successful leaders think realistically and communicate through idealism. No matter the extremes of your belief, utilizing Machiavellian tactics have the capability to bring anyone to power.

Machiavelli’s The Prince talks about many issues of modern political philosophy, it was written to help rulers stay in power. His common themes are ruling through fear, being as powerful as a lion and as intelligent as a fox, and to maintain the state at all costs. One of the common discussions about his writings is what he means by “one must learn how to not be good.” For what reason should a ruler learn to not be good? He claims that being good and continuing to be good could only make a ruler more weak. He continues to list good and bad qualities of a ruler and claiming that every ruler will have at least one of the bad qualities but the way he conquers his unpraised attribute is most important. A ruler should hide his flaws so that he only

In the sixteenth century, barbarians from France, Spain, and Germany constantly fought for power in Italy, a country already fractured into quarrelling city-states. During this time, the exiled diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a guide for Lorenzo di Piero De’ Medici, Italy’s chosen ‘deliverer,’ in the hopes of being welcomed back into society. Throughout his guide, Machiavelli created the image of an ideal leader, shaped by the defeats and accomplishments of previous rulers. To sustain one’s rule successfully, Machiavelli believed that a leader needed the wisdom and prudence to act appropriately in difficult situations, as well as harbor minimal dependence on others for strength; a leader, most of all, was capable of facing

Machiavelli’s work The Prince is, evidently, a bit dated. However, the points that it expresses maintain their significance, even when monarchies are no longer the primary form of government. The Prince is relevant to contemporary society in today’s age as it relates to contemporary elements such as North Korea, World War II, and more.

In Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics", the concept of knowledge is expressed by the author as truth of the soul which guides one to find the virtuous middle ground between excess and defect (Aristotle, Pg. 126-128). This aspiration to intellectual virtue is a political one because it is an attempt at doing the right thing and achieving the "good". Within Book VI, Aristotle identifies three different kinds of knowledge: scientific, craft and practical (Aristotle, Pg. 128). Scientific knowledge, as described by Aristotle, is comprised of necessarily eternal truths which are "ungenerated and imperishable" (Aristotle, Pg. 129). Knowledge of science, therefore, must be concerned with the unchanging truths of the natural world. Craft or the intellectual

From describing world leaders to political antiheroes in television dramas, characterizing someone as a “Machiavellian figure” is perceived more as derisive description than an accurate representation of that person’s philosophical views of power. This popular depiction is due to Niccolo Machiavelli’s harsh portrayal of the interlaced relationship between power and politics in his treatise, The Prince. Machiavelli begins his work by contending that it is “more effective” to reveal the “practical truth of a subject” rather than “depend on [his] fancies for it”(Machiavelli 2524). His rejection of idealism and focus on realism impels him to claim that a ruler has to be acquainted with and effectively use both virtue and vice to wield power over his subjects. However, Machiavelli’s philosophical justifications which allow him to arrive at such a conclusion are based on three problematic beliefs which are that the public is easily gratified with a fulfillment of their most basic desires, the ruler has to develop a narcissistic personality to understand how to wield power and the ruler, as a man, must beat the woman Fortune to have dominion (Machiavelli 2531). These assumptions are what gives the term “Machiavellian” such a negative connotation; more importantly, they reveal that Machiavelli’s understanding of power is problematic since it is not based on realism but on an idealized view of the general public and masculinity.

The prince was written at a time when Italy was in chaos, in the Prince Machiavelli offers advice on how to an effective and successful ruler. in Machiavelli’s the prince he assumes that all men are bad egotistical, motivated by greed, and cowardly and can’t be trusted. Doing the righteous thing as a ruler according to moral codes, puts you at a disadvantage, people’s moral concerns are easily changed to suit their own needs. According to Machiavelli on the Prince, man will forgive you for killing his father, but do not touch his property, this is sacred “and above all others he must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony”. REF HERE. FOR MACHIAVELLI

Machiavelli gives much advice to people in rising power, which can also be applied to businesses, in his classic the Prince. Specifically, Machiavelli lays down a set of guidelines for soon-to-be-kings in order to prepare them and ensure their success while in power. The Prince is sectioned into various short, easy-to-follow chapters all pertaining to one specific topic. The organization, as well as diction, of the Prince creates effortless readability, as well as it allows the reader to easily pick out statements of advice pertaining to different subjects. Though Machiavelli directs this advice towards princes, the generalness of the reading means it can be easily applied to most situations; businesses being the easiest to relate to the reading. In general, E.L.F.’s avoidance of some aspects of the chapter titled “How the strength of every principality should be measured” has

Humans are born with the tendency to look out for one another and care for each other. A person can learn otherwise through their life experiences, but it is there at the beginning of life—it comes naturally. Although Machiavelli suggests otherwise in “The Prince”, justice is present in life in the same way. To put it simply, justice exists by nature.

During Niccolo Machiavelli’s time, Italy was the epitome of political conflict. Machiavelli witnessed an array political change from the expulsion of the Medici family to the rise of Girolamo Savanorola. He even served as a diplomat to Pope Julius, but when the Medici family regained control of Florence, Machiavelli was dismissed from office and accused of participating in a conspiracy. As a result, he was held in jail for three weeks and was tortured brutally. After his release, Machiavelli began writing The Prince, a book that outlines in a very straightforward and logical manner how a prince should procure and maintain his princedom. Though he is seemingly expressing his thoughts about how men should approach their journey to princedom in his book, The Prince, there is an underlying cynical discernment about the dark shadow of human nature, perhaps a perception that stemmed from Machiavelli’s excruciating time in prison. To Machiavelli, the real truth is that men are simply selfish individuals who are almost animal-like in their actions and will spare no humanity if it means becoming a prince and successfully keeping their princedom. He accepts this truth and proceeds by writing a very systematic and binary how-to manual that describes every decision a prince can make and its outcome. In every chapter, Machiavelli outlines another aspect of ruling a princedom and in every chapter, Machiavelli expresses another cynical attitude toward human nature.

Niccolò Machiavelli wrote “The Prince” as an essential guideline for how to obtain a kingdom and even furthermore ensure the continuance of the kingdom. In doing so, he put forth his ideas that would earn a ban from the Catholic church due it challenging their ideals and often seen as tyranny. While the work is written as a basic guideline for the many aspiring rulers, Machiavelli discusses his wishes for the unity of Italy which somewhat contradicts his ideas in the way a person would be able to obtain a kingdom. Instead of believing in the possibility of the popular utopian society, Machiavelli believed that we should instead treat and govern people for how they really are which can stray far from the utopian mold. Machiavelli was one of the first to publicize the

Niccolo Machiavelli, was an Italian diplomat and writer, born on May 3rd, 1469 in Florence, Italy. In his younger years, Niccolo became a diplomat after the downfall of the Medici family in 1494. Machiavelli earned the reputation of vicious since he enjoyed tormenting his associates. In 1512, the Medici family came to power once again and Machiavelli was accused of conspiracy thus was tortured, jailed and nonetheless banished from getting involved in politics and from Florence (Niccolo Machiavelli Bio). After he was exiled to his father’s small property he wrote one of his major works, The Prince. The book emphasizes on the description of how a leader ought to lead his country effectively.

Machiavelli described that as Princes who must keep his faith in the front of their people by showing their best side for those people, such as the embodiment of mercy, good faith, integrity, humanity, and religion. Yet, in fact, Princes in order to get their authority did some of violation of faith thing to keep their image of the surface.

Jurdjevic, Mark. "Virtue, Fortune, and Blame in Machiavelli's Life and The Prince." Social Research 81, no. 1 (Spring2014 2014): 1-30. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 13, 2016).

During the Italian Renaissance, two prominent themes emerged which separated it from the Middle Ages: individualism and humanism. Individualism drove many to want to become recognized as unique, whereas humanism fueled a critical attitude, caused people to question everything around them and focus on the corporeal versus the spiritual. Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian Renaissance writer, demonstrated a spirit of individualism and humanism through his handbook, The Prince. His views on how to gain and maintain political power became well known, as his ruthless and realistic views mirrored the actions of famous ruling families such as the Medicis. The ideology of his book exemplified the Renaissance movement as seen through Machiavelli’s