Machiavelli's Discussion Of Virtue

Author: The speaker of the excerpt is Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli is considered to be the first political philosopher. Employed as a diplomat of the state, Machiavelli wrote Histories, a book about the decline of prestige of Italian city-states. The Medici family had a grudge against Machiavelli, and therefore exiled him from Florence. After the powerful Medici family exiled him to his house in the countryside, Machiavelli wrote The Prince in attempt to make his political ideology known, and in hope to be reemployed by the state.

Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513, yet it continues to be a loved and powerful piece today, so much so that it is portrayed in modern day media such as Gossip Girl. Through The Prince, Machiavelli teaches the prince how to rule. Machiavelli counsels the prince on affairs of generosity and miserliness, war, and how he will be perceived. He shows the prince that it is not possible to be good because, “a man who wishes to make a vocation of being good at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good” (“The Qualities of the Prince” para. 7). He elaborates on the idea that virtue often ends in destruction, emphasizing that it is more important to have a bad reputation that will result in safety, in opposition to goodness, which will end in

Virtù is the human energy or action that is contrary to the idea of luck. Although Machiavelli did not exclude the idea of goodness or virtuous behavior in the word, it does not necessarily include it, either. Virtù is the skill, talent, or ability administered toward the achievement of certain goals, and according to Machiavelli, the most significant quality for a prince. Even villains such as Agathocles or barbaric rulers like Severus can possess virtù. It can be inferred from Machiavelli’s work that virtù could defeat fortuna if it was done correctly. A prince would always be successful if he could modify his virtù to the current circumstances. But then again, his works imply that there is a connection between virtu and fortuna. He stated that virtù is wasted if there is no fortuna, and vice versa, which means that there is some sort of collaboration between the two forces. The two forces are dependent on each other.It is difficult and nearly impossible to completely avoid or change the effects of Fortuna, but it could be prepared for and decrease its negative effects.

Dante utilizes the possibility of contrapasso (requital) to give the reason to managing great and insidiousness activities amid life and discovering everyone's appropriate place in existence in the wake of death. Each human deed gets a discipline or reward that is in extent as well as typically in kind. For instance, the humble heathens in Purgatory stroll through flame to consume with extreme heat the natural fire of desire. Dante utilizes the picture of flame sparingly to keep it typically fitting and to abstain from glamorizing sin; he likes to demonstrate the bone-chilling coldness of malice. Salvation, as per Dante, can be accomplished just through awesome effortlessness. Human reason might be sufficient to have a highminded existence on earth (as on account of the purported ethical agnostics), however only it can't prompt salvation. Since people have choice, salvation begins with human reason yet relies on upon beauty. Beatrice, by rising above human love for perfect love, is a wellspring of disclosure for Dante, and by her demonstrations, she makes divine beauty open to him. Dante envisions God as moving everything in the

Parel, A.J. “ Machiavelli’s Notions of Justice: Text and Analysis” Political Theory vol. 18, no. 4

In the Republic of Plato, the philosopher Socrates lays out his notion of the good, and draws the conclusion that virtue must be attained before one can be good. For Socrates there are two kinds of virtue; collective and individual. Collective virtue is virtue as whole, or the virtues of the city. Individual virtue pertains to the individual himself, and concerns the acts that the individual does, and concerns the individual’s soul. For Socrates, the relationship between individual and collective virtue is that they are the same, as the virtues of the collective parallel those of the Individual. This conclusion can be reached as both the city and the soul deal with the four main virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

In addition, Machiavelli opposes the code of chivalry in The Prince as he encourages deception, breaking one's word of honour, and being a feared prince. Niccolo’s

In The Inferno, Dante descends through the nine circles of Hell, encountering increasingly serious sins, most of which are crimes. The levels of Hell can be interpreted as a gradation of crimes, with penalties in proportion to their relative gravity of sin. While crimes are transgressions against human law, Dante’s Christian orthodox ambitions translate the treatment of these seemingly earthly crimes as sins, transgressions against divine law. For the purposes of this paper, the two terms can be used interchangeably because Dante’s perception of crimes on Earth is in parallel to the punishment of those crimes as sins in Hell. For Dante, the most punishable sins are those of betrayal. With a lucid examination of Dante’s political

A humanist is defined as one who is concerned with the interests and welfare of humans. Niccolo’ Machiavelli can be thought of as a humanist. Although opinions on this differ greatly depending on whom you speak with. Machiavelli’s life consists of so many examples and lessons that he has learned throughout his life. Through my paper, I intend to examine his perception of morality based on his political writings and life experiences.

Nowadays, it is politically impossible to commit to paper a "training guide" for leaders. There are innumerable detractors to any possible stance or strategy a leader might adopt. As a result of this, all "training" must take place behind closed doors, far from the prying eyes and ears of the news media or the public. But this has not always been the case.

When reading Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, one can’t help but grasp Machiavelli’s argument that morality and politics can not exist in the same forum. However, when examining Machiavelli’s various concepts in depth, one can conclude that perhaps his suggested violence and evil is fueled by a moral end of sorts. First and foremost, one must have the understanding that this book is aimed solely at the Prince or Emperor with the express purpose of aiding him in maintaining power. Therefore, it is essential to grasp his concepts of fortune and virtue. These two contrary concepts reflect the manner in which a Prince should govern while minimizing all chance and uncertainty. This kind of governing demands violence to be taken, however this

Machiavelli in his work informs the prince that even if he does possess certain qualities he shall always appear to his followers as retaining all of these qualities as shown in the following quotation “A prince, therefore, need not necessarily have all the good qualities I mentioned above, but he should certainly appear to have them… He should appear to be compassionate, faithful to his word, kind guileless, and devout… He should not deviate from what is good, if that is possible, but he should know how to do evil, if that is necessary” (Machiavelli 57). Machiavelli highlights that image is extremely crucial for rulers and they must alter the perceptions of their people in regard to him in order to appear in control at all times for the purpose of maintaining and sustaining control. This idea is overturning

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".

Speaking of such qualities as ruthless and mercy, Machiavelli argues that every ruler would like to be regarded as merciful and not cruel. Another thing is that often in order to retain power the ruler has to show cruelty. If the state is threatened with chaos or mess, the task of the prince is to prevent this even if it is necessary to arrange some reprisals. After all, with respect to the rest of the citizens, these executions will become a noble deed since riots and chaos would bring suffering to them (Machiavelli 24). Machiavelli provides an example of Cesare Borgia whose cruelty led to peace in the state. In that way, the

Niccolo Machiavelli, a late 15th century political adviser and a theorist who argued that we shouldn’t think that politicians are immoral and are simply bad for lying, dissembling and maneuvering. A good politician in Machiavelli’s remarkable views isn’t the one who’s friendly, honest and kind. It’s someone, however is occasionally dark and who knows how to defend, enrich and bring honor to the state which is also an extremely important goal. Being pleasant and compassionate may well be a virtue in general but what citizens mostly need from their rulers is effectiveness, which may well be call upon some darker moves. Once we understand these basic requirements we tend to be clearer of what we want from our politicians.