The Relationship Between Machiavelli And Machiavelli 's The Prince

Socratic Justice is defined as the argumentative reasoning that relies on fairness and justice and ultimately doing what is best for your country. In this paper I will explain how Socratic Justice plays a big role in The Trial and Death of Socrates. I will also go into detail about the differences between Machiavelli’s views of government as opposed to Socrates’s.

In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses ways in which a ruler should obtain power and maintain power, emphasizing the concept of gaining power through virtue versus fortune. Virtue, or virtu in the original Italian, is defined as the masculine quality of power, and not necessarily tied to ideas of morality as it is in the English definition.

Socrates believed that a prince’s morality and ethics characterized a good leader whereas Machiavelli believed a ruler should use their power and fear to maintain control. Socrates would view Machiavelli’s concept of a prince as morally wrong and would not be supportive of a political system led by a Prince with a Machiavellian train of thought.

Socrates’ contradicting views are presented when he claims, “Not from money does virtue come, but from virtue comes money and all of the other good things for human beings both privately and publicly” (Apology, 30b). Socrates disputes that fortuna comes from virtue and presents a cause and effect relationship, contrary to the interconnected relationship as presented by Machiavelli. A prince should use philosophical thinking to question and explore many ideas in order to amass success. Just having money and luck, on the other hand, will not lead to more success because the prince is unable to think about how he can execute his rulings. Through his views, he connotes how the ruler cannot start his reign with both fortuna and virtue. This contradicts with Machiavelli’s prince because Socrates disputes the lack of emphasis on fortune.

1. The advice Machiavelli offers a prince advice on how he should act as a ruler. The first piece of advice Machiavelli offers is. that a price who wants to retain his power must know how to do wrong. The second piece of advice is that it is better to be feared than to be loved because your people will only love as long as you are giving them the things they desire, but will immediately turn on you once you cannot accommodate their wishes.

The debate on how people should rule has been going on since the dawn of time. Many agree and many disagree but they all agree that we should have a ruling force of some kind but what and how much has been very controversial. Niccolo Machiavelli and Socrates were two very important and revolutionary political philosophers for their time. Machiavelli’s “The Prince and the Discourses” outlines Machiavelli’s ideal prince and what a prince should do in power. Plato writes about the trial and death of Socrates and what he says about how people are supposed to act as well as how society should be changed. Socrates if he read Machiavelli’s concept of an

Machieavelli’s The Prince serves to demonstrate the relationship between virtue and fortune by which a prince gains and maintains his power. Though a prince may achieve power through fortune, either by luck or wealth, he will not be able to maintain his power without the execution of virtu, a characteristic indicating strength and skillfulness. Machiavelli demonstrates how the concept of virtu is inconsistent with the conventional denotation of moral excellence, such as charity, truthfulness, compassion, etc., for every action the prince makes must be taken into account in terms of its affect on the state. Though Machiavelli advises for the prince to inspire fear among his subjects rather than love, it is crucial for the prince to emanate

The idea of fear is usually given a negative connotation but this is not the case. Yes fear is not particularly healthy all the time but what people do not understand is that, that does not limit its meaning. Some parts of the world are led by treacherous, violent, feared, and hated people but what humans sometimes do not understand, is that fear and hatred have very different definitions. This is one of the concepts that the book ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli conveys. In the book, Machiavelli shares the characteristics that a good leader should possess.

Although Socrates and Niccolo Machiavelli lived in different time periods, the political climate that their philosophies were founded on were very similar. The trial of Socrates began after the Peloponnesian War when the new Spartan Tyranny took over the Athenian government. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth and disrespecting the gods by the Spartan government. In the eyes of the Spartan government Socrates is a gadfly because of his posing of upsetting questions directed at authorities. This posed a major threat to the new society they were trying to create in Athens after the war was over. Plato wrote The Apology and Crito from the perspective of Socrates after he was put on trial, found

1) Describe the political situation that prompted Machiavelli to write The Prince. A: Italy was not a unified country when Machiavelli had written this book. Italy had actually been multiple city-states. One of these city-states was Florence. Florence at the time was under the control of France so when France was taken over by Pope Julius II.

Throughout the course of history, political philosophy has been dominated by two great thinkers: Niccolo Machiavelli and Socrates. Although both highly influential, Socrates and Machiavelli may not see eye to eye. When it comes to the idea of how an “ideal prince” would act, Machiavelli believes that they should lead through fear and follow a thirst for power, no matter the cost. Socrates, on the other hand, believes that they should lead through morality and have a healthy thirst for knowledge. Overall, these two would not exactly agree on what the actions of a good leader would look like or how a political system should be run.

Socrates perspective of morality is very different to what Machiavelli views as important. Overall, Socrates would disagree with a lot of Machiavelli’s morals especially with the

There has been controversy between scholars about author Niccolo Machiavelli. His two famous works The Prince and The Discourses are two books which discuss monarchy and republic government and how both need to work to be efficient. The question asked is how can the author of The Prince also have written The Discourses? How can Machiavelli write about a republic with separation of power, then write about how a new established monarchy can work and survive? We will discuss the ideas set forth in both books and decide whether or not Machiavelli works are consistent or contradictory.

A strong difference in Socrates and Machiavelli’s ideal prince is the idea of taking criticisms from citizens. Socrates is a firm believer that people have a responsibility to constantly question the government and its rulers. The Socratic Method involves constantly asking questions to get answers. In Apology, Socrates likens himself to a gadfly which is stinging the horse (the city of Athens) awake. He was on trial for not recognizing the Gods (which the government required) and instilling that mindset into the youth. He said, “It seems to me that God has attached me to this city to perform the office of such a fly; and all day long I never cease to settle here, there, and everywhere, rousing, persuading, reproving every one of you.” (Apology, 30e). He compares Athens to a lazy horse that needs his stimulation.

I have always found great interest in the infamous Niccolo Machiavelli and his ways of thinking; my eye was drawn to him long before I knew I would be studying at Colorado State and even before I had any interest in politics. It was from young man know as Tupac Shakur, and let me tell you it is great to finally understand who Machiavelli is and the things he has done for the outlook on politics after hearing about how much respect and praise he got from the iconic rapper of the 1990s. In this paper I will be analyzing and contrasting Thomas More’s “Utopia” and Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and their ideas on subjects that include good governance and social orders, key reforms, and who should be held responsible for providing good governance and an orderly society.