A Critical Analysis Of Machiavellis The Prince Philosophy Essay

A Critical Analysis Of Machiavellis The Prince Philosophy Essay You have got to be cruel to be kind. Would this be an adequate summary of Machiavellis advice on cruelty? If so, why? If not, why? How does his advice on cruelty reflect his beliefs about politics? In the Prince, Machiavelli explores the world of governments and rulers and comes up with revolutionary ideas for a prince to acquire the leading position in the government and maintain his authority and leadership. However, the philosopher does not teach the ruler to be good and just; he aim is to provide the governor with practical applications of being a great prince but not a good one. Machiavelli focuses on evil features more because they would help to advance the power of the prince. In his book, it does not seem that an evil or cruel behavior is an unacceptable one, as he alters the moral vocabulary about vice and good. In the book, Machiavelli starts with his dedication to Lorenzo de Medici and finishes it with an assertion that Italy must revive and gain considerable power. Therefore, it is hard for me to judge if the philosopher was concerned with acquiring a better vocation or with genuine patriotic feelings that were expressed in his attempt to call for dramatic action. Y et, I will argue that in terms of Machiavelli a potential ruler has to pretend to be an old prince-the one that is familiar with the experiences of his predecessors-and act as if he is kind. This pretence makes a cruel prince a kind one and preserves his glory and prosperity of a state, which are supposed to be the aims of the ruler. In chapter fifteen, Machiavelli states that Many have imagined republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to exist in truth. For it is far from how one lives to how one should live. That he who lets go of what is done for what should be done learns his ruin rather than his preservation (p. 54). The passage hints to the Platos Republic, in which the he reports that the philosopher kings should govern society. The governors have to be good and just and they must help their subjects to maintain the purity of their souls and also be good. In the Prince, a ruler should read historical works, especielly for the light they shed on the actions of eminent men to imitate some eminent man, worthy of praise and glory (p. 51). However, Machiavelli is interested an actual truth of the matter and not the utopia of it. He compares a prince to a prophet, which does not necessarily mean that the he has divine knowledge; instead it gives them exceptional responsibilities like law m aking and shaping opinions that govern our lives. Thereby, Machiavellis prophetic prince has philosophers features as he tries to reform human opinion over the justice and evil; he acts as if he is good, but does not have to be good. To back up his conclusions, Machiavelli comes up with extreme examples such as Romulus and Cains murders of Remus and Abel respectfully. These murders were the fundaments of the societies and, therefore, the philosopher asserts that no good is possible without evil. Thus he redefines Platos ideas of the philosopher kings who approach pure reason to be good and just; instead, Machiavelli gives examples of extraordinary situations and draws the morality that would perfectly fit the situation. Also, he reforms the meaning of the word virtà ¹: a prince can act in an evil fashion, as fortune and circumstances [would] dictate (p. 23) in the chapter thirteen, he gives an example of the biblical story of David and Goliath. In the initial story, David is armed with a sling only; but, the philosopher also gives him a knife. This detail hints that the Gods promise is not enough and David would be safer with an additional secret weapon. This additional detail is a metaphor, which implies that the prince has to propagandize proper religious views; on the other hand, he has to use a certain extent of cruelty and be utterly self-reliant to achieve desirable outcomes. Self-realization, courage, and ruthlessness are the qualities that contribute to the effective exercise of power, which is a touchstone of political success. As Machiavelli puts it all the armed prophets conquered and the unarmed were ruined (p. 20). To describe the genuine prince, Machiavelli comes up with a metaphor of a beast. In chapter eighteen, he writes that there are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the secondà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man (p.62) Since in the Machiavellian theory the princes goal is to seek glory, the ruler has to be lucky. The luck or Fortuna is opposite to reason; it favors those who act or the brave. The Fortuna has to be mastered and, therefore, it requires a reservoir of force to master. Also, the deceit is, as Machiavelli puts it, a good quality. He exemplifies this with an Italian proverb Alexander never did what he said, Cesare never said what he did (p. 35). Following the winds of fortune, power, and deception, one would be conferred with glory. The p hilosopher is a pure consequentialist, as he justifies anything that is necessary to preserve the glory of his state and his own fame. The Machiavellian virtue is not the same with the Christian values. Thus, the duplicity of the prince and his behaviors are praised throughout the book and are perfectly excusable for the eventual purposes. To underline an exemplary behavior of the prince, Machiavelli gives an example of Cesares policies in chapter seven. When the duke had taken over the Romana, he found it had been commanded by impotent lords who had been readier to despoil their subjects than to correct them and had given their subjects matter for disunion, not union (p. 23). Cesare sends a lieutenant to that area who reduced it to peace and unity with the very greatest reputation for himself (p.23 ). However, Cesare did not want to have strong local government. Thus he set up court with wise civil authority that would judge and advocate each citizen from the lawlessness of his minister. And having seized this opportunity, he had emplaced one morning in the piazza in two pieces, with a piece of wood and a bloody knife beside him. He had him cut in two; the bloody knife and piece of wood beside him. Machiavelli concludes that the ferocity of this spectacle left the people at once satisfied and stupefied (p.23). The pri ncely virtà ¹ leaves people content and fooled. In chapter fifteen on the things for which man, and especially rulers, are praised or blamed, Machiavelli reflects on the very basic assertions of morality and virtues. He states that a ruler who wishes to maintain his power must be prepared to act immorally when this becomes necessary (p. 55). Thus the prince has to do what is generally done and not what he ought to do (p. 54). In other words, the chapter teaches the ways of not being good (in Platos meaning of the word). To affects the norms of everyday life, the prince had to learn how to manipulate the religion skillfully. In chapter eighteen, the philosopher states that the ruler has to be utterly religious. The prince should appear all mercy, all faith, all honesty, all humanity and all religion (p. 62) the pretence to be a genuine Christian is helpful for creating an appropriate public image; however, the actual practice of its values is evidently dangerous. In the Republic, Socrates states that it is better to be just then to seem just. The princes morale goes against the passage in the book, which teaches how to be good, as one cannot be good without being just. Considering the metaphor of the prince who reconciles a man and a beast, the man is a humble and submissive Christian, the beast in its turn is capable of performing courageous and bold actions. In Machiavellian opinion, Christianity should not constrain any political activity. The matters of government should be solely secular. The philosopher strives to create a new type of republic, which would deal only with practical issues and without asserting any transcendental moral law. As a scholar Steven Smith asserts, not only did Machiavelli bring a new worldliness to politics, he also introduced a new kind of populismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as Plato and Aristotle imagined aristocratic republics that would invest power in an aristocracy of education and virtue, Machiavelli deliberately seeks to enlist the power of the people against aristocracies of education and virtue. To maintain this kind of state, the republic has to have imperialistic ambitions and consequently be aggressive. Interestingly, the Machiavellian republic concerns only with practical worldly affairs; however, its the philosophers imaginary project or theoretical suggestion of his form of government. The new type of morality is a foundation for this reign. Thus, Machiavellian prince always has to pretend to be a man, but be a beast if needed. Altering the hypostasis, the brave ruler masters the fortune and gains glory for himself and his state. The philosophers morality asserts that the prince does not have to be good; instead he has to manage to be religious and pure on the public eye, but reasonably cruel and not always trustful in the reality. He justifies the actions of the ruler with the privileges one gets from the princes constant actions to maintain the prosperous state and peaceful sleep of the citizens. Thus the prince mixes his love for the good with the skillful cruelty. Machiavellian morale highlights that the good is only possible in the context of moral evil. This a clear break w ith Plato and the Christian values and, moreover, the philosopher seeks to set free the real politics from the ecclesiastical patronage. Thereby the prince uses religion for his benefit but does not allow himself to be used by it. One can see that Machiavellian authority is self-bestowed and not granted by ethereal forces. Machiavelli grants the rule with the knife he gives to David in one of his passages, signifying that the prince has to be more self-reliant then hoping for the otherworldliness help. In the Prince, a reader can access information that used to be not available to everyone. The philosopher gives the reader a chance to come to terms with the idea that the good in politics cannot exist without a certain extend of cruelty. Moreover, when this cruelty is adequately used, it becomes a virtue that sustains the well being of the state and makes the ruler glorious. Work cited: Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Print Plato. Republic. New York: Oxford Press, 1994. Print Smith, Steven. Machiavelli, the Prince:. Yale University.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2006. Open Yale Courses. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  political-science/introduction-to-political-philosophy/content/sessions/   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  lecture10.html>.

Knowledge and the sources provided Essay

Evacuation was both successful and unsuccessful. The Government did manage to secure its objectives of keeping children safe and keeping the war machine going without the threat of children being killed which was a successful aspect of evacuation. Although the conditions on the train were cramped and there was a lack of facilities, a vast amount of children were transported out of the cities quickly and efficiently. Most of the children who were evacuated also benefited from it although some did have bad experiences. However a major problem with evacuation was that a significant number of children either did not go or returned back to the danger-zones. Despite the government propaganda for instance the ‘How and Why’ pamphlet, which contributed to the efficient way in which children were evacuated many parents refused to allow their children to leave. In ‘Hope and Glory’ a mother agrees to evacuate her children but then becomes overcome with emotion and unable to part with her children. This was quite a common occurrence and some parents did not even consider evacuating their children due to preconceived ideas. Source E highlights this; the man being interviewed would not send his child away as he thought that † they can’t be looked after where they’re sending them†. This man, like many other citizens had preconceptions of the countryside such as â€Å"they’ve nothing there; they were starving there before the war† Many children who were evacuated returned home, some because they were unhappy and some because their parents did not see the need for them to remain there because of the ‘phoney war’ in which no bombs were dropped on cities. This meant that they would be back in danger zones, which was not a success from the government’s point of view. The actual transportation of the children was very well organised; the children were all registered in advance and were put onto the trains efficiently. Source A depicts evacuees walking to the station in London. This suggests that evacuation was well-ordered as all the children are walking in an orderly fashion; they are all smiling and a few are waving. This shows that the children were content in being evacuated. However one must take into account the fact that the source is a photograph hence it could have been staged. Source B contradicts this and suggests that evacuation was a nerve-racking experience for the children involved as they were â€Å"too afraid to talk†. The source also states that the children didn’t know where they were going; this is a negative factor as it would cause angst amongst the children and suggests disorganisation. As well as simply the organisation and official objectives behind evacuation; there are other aspects which one must consider. Many children gained a lot of new experiences and there were many long-term benefits. Some long-term benefits include broadened horizons of the children, increased understanding between classes and a raised awareness of urban poverty. Many country dwellers did not know how city children lived and evacuation was an opportunity for them to find out. Source C, an extract from ‘Carrie’s War’ by Nina Bowden highlights a misconception about evacuees as the child in the novel says † she thinks we’re poor children, too poor to afford slippers†. However this source is not really a primary source, as although it is based on reality, it is a fictitious novel. A lot of evacuees had positive experiences such as enjoying healthier, safer surroundings than the cities as well as developing a life-long love of the countryside. On the other hand some children were just treated like servants by their foster families or made to feel very unwelcome. These children experienced some of the negative factors of country life. Many of the foster families had negative experiences such as bad-mannered children or children with poor personal hygiene. These experiences are both positive and negative; although they were unpleasant, they resulted in raised awareness of urban children’s welfare. This raised awareness of poverty resulted in the introduction of the Welfare State Shortly after W. W. II. Many foster families and evacuees enjoyed the experience of evacuation and treasured memories of it for many years. The evacuees were predominantly grateful, Source D, a government advertisement suggests that the foster families were â€Å"doing a real service for the nation†; this evokes patriotism and causes people to come together and help each other, which is another positive outcome of evacuation. This advertisement encouraged people to take in evacuees thus making the arrangements easier and more orderly, increasing the successfulness of evacuation. When looking at all the evidence available to us it is clear that although evacuation was not a â€Å"great† success as there were a great deal of setbacks, such as the children who did not go and children who returned home it was quite successful as the government did secure the objective of reducing civilian casualties. Many other benefits were as a result of evacuation and it was an enlightening experience for all those concerned. There were a few negative effects for certain individuals but as a whole, this nation benefited from evacuation.

How Technology Has Changed Our Society - 1297 Words

Introduction When we look at our history, power has always been determined by those who are able to take it through physical strength. However, technology has changed that idea. It is those that have knowledge of technology that are now able to gain power. There has been a lot of debate about what technology is really doing to our society, but with power there is always responsibility. Technology is not to blame, but the ethics of those with power. Power and Control History and the evolution of human beings will tell us that we as a species have always determined power and control based on physical attributes. Charles Darwin demonstrated a theory of our evolution called â€Å"The Survival of the Fittest†, also called â€Å"The Natural Selection†, in which an animal that was equipped with the best physical attribute for that particular environment would be able to survive the conditions and pass on that physical advantage onto their off spring (O’Neil 1998). Evolution was based on this theory that our human physical condition allowed us to thrive and become superior to whose that were not as physically capable. Beyond our evolution, civilisations continued to base physical strength as a basis for power and dominance. In Greek history, even as an infant, physical strength was praised in the Spartan culture while physical weakness was condemned. Wars and battles were won by those that were stronger. The strongest of warriors were promoted to higher commands and only a strong,Show MoreRelatedHow Technology Has Changed Our Society869 Words   |  4 PagesDigital media, smart phones, computers and technology is the fastest growing concepts in our World today. They have changed the way our society does everything. Technology has made a considerable transformation in how we communicate, pay bills, check the weather and much more. Technology has made such an impact on our society today that most people won t leave home without their cell phone. 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