Machiavelli's View Of Humanism

The humanist movement brought about the inspiration of both Niccolò Machiavelli and Baldassare Castiglione during the Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth century. Machiavelli and Castiglione shared their beliefs about society in their published writings. The most notorious of Machiavelli’s works was The Prince, a take on the political structure and successes of western civilization. Castiglione’s most known publication, The Courtier, was heavily influenced by the works of Plato and Cicero and contributed heavy sections of dialogue. The writings of these two writers was truly visionary for the time and expressed the various opinions on how a specific faction of people should behave during the time.

1. How does Machiavelli view human nature? Provide examples in your explanation. Throughout the book, M view human beings as deceitful, superficial, and fragile. M repeatedly mentions that humans are only concerned with upcoming situations and always fail to view the farther future.

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

The writings of Nicolo Machiavelli are the single most important example of this new humanist thought. Drawing from ancient Roman writers, Machiavelli developed a worldly concept of politics, and was one of the first in the modern period to discuss the virtues of republican government and a system of checks and balances. He is perhaps most famous for his rejection of Christian idealism in politics. Princes and other leaders, he argued, must view human affairs must as they really are, not as we hope ideally they should be. The rules of worldly power (best understood by the

"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 Prince Is not a good or bad example of humanism because all the traits the prince has are very valuable in humanism and the prince seemed like someone he believed in his people more than himself, but they wouldn't keep up their virtue and do dishonest thing but would justify it with “The ends justify the means”. The Prince Machiavelli wanted had to be strong and charismatic, he's going to have to make his people believe and hope when the times are bad, a leader should have a calm manner and concern for others. The leader should be charismatic because the people will agree with you. Everything is easier when you have people who'll support and back your ideas. The leader should have faith in their people like if they formed an army and they didn't look like they'd be successful he wouldn't

In general, Machiavelli believes people are fundamentally self-interested and unreliable. He writes “Men are quick to change ruler when they imagine they can improve their lot.” (The Prince) Machiavelli looks at all men as stupid and irrational, incapable of knowing what is actually best for them. He believes that men would opt for a diet that taste better and completely ignore the fact that there may be a hidden poison within the food because men are so accustom to taking care of their self interest over everything else they are blind to the actual deception of man’s evil intent. In his eye’s all men are greedy, yet gullible, so they are easily acceptable to manipulation and cons. Human nature is nothing more than men behaving as if there is no difference between the nature of man and animal. Just like animals, men possess both good and bad qualities that allow them to survive within the presence of a community. Because man is so anxious to avoid danger, he is able to keep his self interest at bay most of the time. Machiavelli suggests the reason this happens is because a lot of the time people’s self interest actually intertwine. (Erb) The difference between Augustine and Machiavelli is that while Machiavelli feels that all human behavior is conceptual from birth, Augustine believes that men choose to be

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,

While some other great political thinkers sat around and dreamed about their perfect little utopias in the clouds, notably Socrates and Plato, Machiavelli was analyzing the most powerful men of his day. He observed and recorded how men flocked the sheep to exactly where they were wanted by their shepherd. He watched as the wolves preyed on the sheep and noticed that there was no philosopher king around to prevent it. He accepted that we as humans are corrupt and that we can’t all be Marcus Aurelius, king of

Machiavelli's essay has some ideas that are very valid and others that can be seen as unjust or wrong. I believe that he was correct with his idea that being stingy was a

but it should not be a potent part of authority. The examples I presented all showed

Machiavelli has long been required reading for everyone intrested in politics and power. In The Prince Niccolo M

He does not follow the idea of virtue established by Petrarch, he disregards the limitless possibility of mankind set forth by Manetti and he refuses to acknowledge the “god-like” qualities established by Della Mirandola. Because of these issues, it is impossible to consider Niccolo Machiavelli a humanist, since these concepts are the foundation to every humanistic approach. While Machiavelli’s novel was one of the most prominent works of the 16th century and furthered a new idea for the ruling class, it hindered the notions that many humanists held dear during the

For centuries, periods of history have been defined by their distinct values, their tastes in art, music, literature, and politics. If you hear the term "Romantic Era" your mind is immediately transported to hear the soft music of Lizt, Schubert, or Chopin, and your eyes begin to see waves of the soft colours found in the paintings of Turner, Goya, and Blake. You might even begin reciting a line from a poem by Lord Byron or a quote from one of Jane Austen 's beloved novels. Even if we do not know specific names of people from that era, we will get a feeling, or a sense of what it must have been like, simply from the things we have heard about it. Sometimes, phrases we commonly use today are even named after periods of time in history, which characterize an aspect of this time periods values and ideals. An example of this is the modern term "Renaissance Man".

On the contrary, Machiavelli believes that man should look out for himself and no one else; he believes that men are only concerned with their own self-interest anyways. Human nature is a concept that Machiavelli really mocks in a sense in that he sets guidelines in exactly what a prince needs to be in order to be successful. He states that the prince should be the one and only sole authority, and he must be trustworthy and cause fear in order to have