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How Did Machiavelli's Ideas Seen As Evil And Cynical

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Niccolò Machiavelli wrote during a period of a lot of change, during the Pre-enlightenment. He witnessed corruption of states with internal fighting between the powerful families. Machiavelli’s writing The Prince’s ideas were most appropriate for the time in which he was living in, and today this writing and Machiavelli himself is seen as cynical and evil. Although many of his ideas are seen as evil, it is great to still talk about his ideas in politics today. In the following essay, Machiavelli’s most important ideas presented in The Prince will be discussed as practical, but how they are now looked at as evil and cynical in today’s politics. One of the first ideas Machiavelli’s first ideas to be discussed is under “On Those Things for Which …show more content…

This idea is that cruelty may be required to maintain order and cruelty. Today this is good for political leaders to learn about the wrongs of leading. Cruelty should never be required to maintain the order under a leader. Machiavelli is wrong when he says that it is better to be feared than to be loved. No person today will want a person leading whom they fear, rather a person that they love and trust to not do them wrong. It is also almost impossible to be more feared than loved, without becoming hated by those he is leading. This idea is seemingly cynical, because of the laws and regulations that keep from cruelty ever having to be used. Hitler is a great example of using cruelty to control, and others around rebelling and Hitler ultimately failing in his attempts. Machiavelli writes that a prince should have two fears, Internal such as his follower and external such as foreign threats. He is wrong here, a prince or any other leader should never fear his subjects because then there would be no trust. If there were no trust between and leader and his followers, there is an ever so fearful thought of an internal fight between the subjects and the most loyal to the prince, thus creating a corrupt state. If a leader fears his subjects, he should not be leading them because there is no trust and no one can properly lead without

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According to Machiavelli, “when the prince is with his armies and has a multitude of soldiers under his government, then it is above all necessary not to care about a name for cruelty because without this name he never holds his army united or disposed to any action" (Machiavelli 67). Machiavelli promotes rulers practicing cruelty because it inspires fear in a ruler. Essentially, This fear makes his subjects easier to control because they fear the retribution the ruler may bring down upon them for disobeying one of his laws or

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Machiavelli argues the perfect prince will be both feared and loved by his people, and if unable to be both he will make himself feared and not hated. Machiavelli believes it is much safer to be feared than to be loved because people are less likely to offend and stand up against strong characters, also people are less concerned in offending a prince who has made himself loved. Accordingly, Machiavelli believes generosity is harmful to your reputation and the choice between being generous or stingy, merciful or cruel, honest or deceitful, should only be important if it aids the prince in political power. All in all, Machiavelli believes the ruler must be a great deceiver and do what is essential to uphold power over the

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Thesis:This essay will argue that Machiavelli supported secular humanism but not civic humanism. In particular, this essay will focus on how Machiavelli condoned immoral acts and believed that fear should be prioritised over love in politics. Furthermore, he thinks that it is more important to appear liberal than actually practice liberalism Throughout his book, The prince, Machiavelli stressed that it is not advised for a ruler to always be morally upright, at least not in the conventional sense (http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/machiavelli/). He even condones certain acts by individuals which would be considered conventionally immoral, such as Romulus murdering his own brother ( Machiavelli The discourses ex.132-133).

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Instead of following the traditional virtues of moral standards, this is deemed practical. By stating that being a “good man in all circumstances will bring about his own ruin” (48), Machiavelli suggests that it is virtuous and necessary to push morals aside to be effective leaders. Virtu is parallel to being skillful; using strategic techniques to reach one’s goals. In the same way, it is suggested politicians should overlook morals to act prudently, bringing stability to the state. Here, the notion of a manipulative and dishonest behavior becomes present, as it is suggested that princes should build crafty political orders to maintain stability.

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Machiavelli’s book also suggests that a ruler should be feared by everyone that dares to face him. At this time, one ruler appeared to be more daunting than a chain of command. Another major idea spread during this time period was the idea of a social contract, from “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes. He explains that if two people desire the same thing which they cannot both enjoy, they will end up destroying each other. Two people should be able to lay down their right to all things and be contempt with having as much as another person has, instead of trying to fight with them in order to gain more.

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This can cause people to get together and conspire to try to overthrow the government. Because a leader can have power by using fear, but in the end, the people of the country have the most power. Lao-Tzu believes it is far off better to have a relationship that is good for the people, which is. What Lao-Tzu says is “Next best is a leader who is loved, next one who is feared, the worst is one who is despised.” (Lao-Tzu 207).

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"Fear involves dread of punishment, from which they can never escape," Machiavelli states in his book The Prince. Although it is true that having a loved leader cuases people to want to stay in the city or country, in some ways it is better to have a feared leader because the citizens won't betray or disobey him. Reasons for this is because having a loved leader is more possible for things not to get done, and people would find ways to do a crime without getting caught. On the contrary, feared leaders are more responsible and he will make sure that no one does anything terrible. Though the feared leader punishes those who work against him, some still believe that they can make a difference and are highly respected.

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A good leader is able to have respect, loyalty, and an efficient workforce, which can all be easily obtained by a leader who is loved. A leader who has loyal subjects should have no fear of being overthrown. He may cause terror among the other kingdoms but within his walls, his subjects must oppose the idea of overthrowing him. As Machiavelli said, “A cruel leader could defend themselves from outside enemies but could not help being plotted against by their own citizens” so a feared leader should fear being overthrown (Machiavelli 333).

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