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Qualities Of A Good Man In Machiavelli's The Prince

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In Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, he maintains a harsh perspective on reality. His advice on how to maintain power leaves no room for compassion or generousity. While some may believe that these are qualities of a good person, Machiavelli believes these qualities lead to the downfall of rulers. He acknowledges that, in reality, it is impossible for someone to have qualities of a good person and simultaneously a good ruler. Machiavelli’s realistic outlook causes him to emphasize that it is better to maintain power through fear, rather than compassion. Despite this, he notes that a ruler must avoid his people hating him. A hated ruler possesses no power since the people hold the power. Therefore, a ruler can be miserly, unfaithful, and ruthless, but they must appear to be the opposite. Machiavelli concludes that it is important for a ruler to balance his reputation and his actions, which I agree with, however others may argue that a ruler can posses both qualities. Machiavelli’s first suggests that a powerful ruler cannot be a good person. A good person, someone who is “merciful, faithful, kind, religious, upright”, cannot be a good ruler(Machiavelli, 55). He claims that “anyone who wants to act the part of a good man … will bring about his own ruin”(48). Acting as a good man will not bring a …show more content…

A leader’s cruelty enables him to make the decisions necessary for the kingdom, while also being miserly to keep the people happy. I think that Machiavelli’s advice provides a sound basis on how leaders today can lead. On other hand, others may argue that Machiavelli’s advice leads rulers astray and rather rulers should be kind and generous because morally that is the right thing to do. No matter the interpretation of how a ruler should lead, Machiavelli's analyst of a leaders provides insight into everyday life and causes leaders today to think about how they

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The Prince: A Decidedly unMedieval Piece of Work The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli, was a secular handbook that dealt with modern statecraft and leadership. In fact, this was the first modern book that discussed political science. This book has influenced many well-known leaders, such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. This essay will discuss the past behaviours of Machiavelli to prove that this book, The Prince, is a decidedly unMedieval piece of work which does not follow the idea of living life so that it is worthy of respect and honour, as stated in the Medieval Code of Chivalry.

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In Niccolo Machiavelli's book, The Prince (1513), he evaluates on how a prince can be a successful leader. Machiavelli’s purpose of this guidebook was to construct his argument to the rising ruler Giuliano de Medici for when he comes to power in Florence. He adopts a casual but authoritative tone in order to convince the prince that Machiavelli’s evaluation on how to be the best prince, is the right thing for the prince to do without coming off as he knows more than the prince or is trying to intimidate him.. Machiavelli’s reference to previous rulers and whether their tactics failed or succeeded helps to benefit his credibility along with his allusion to historic text. He appeals to our logic by simply stating a prince can only do what is within his power to control, and his use of an analogy furthers his argument.

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Genghis Khan a revered warlord by some, and feared by many. Genghis Khan has ruled a vast empire, a crazy twelve million square miles which had continued to spread until his death. His empire was so vast from all the land and people he conquered, it has been said that one in two hundred men are direct descendants of Genghis Khan, which is quite a plausible claim. Everywhere Genghis Khan marched, troops followed and cities were razed. Many trembled in fear to surrender to his ranks, others who did not die merciless deaths.

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Despite their different opinions on the role fear should play in preserving a political order Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes both assert that fear is an important element of functional societies. Machiavelli’s The Prince primarily focuses on preserving and expanding a ruler’s position, while Hobbes’s Leviathan primary focus is on constructing an ideal commonwealth to escape the “state of nature”. Machiavelli believes that a ruler should use fear as a tool to maintain his position of power, while Hobbes believes that the use of fear should be to ensure the sanctity of contracts in a Commonwealth, the most important contractual obligations being the obligation between sovereigns and their subjects. Hobbes’s belief that fear should be used

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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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He designed his own hypothesis of effective leadership and based his ideal leader on Borgia’s life. Machiavelli famously claimed that excellent leaders have to learn to be tough; they must be ready to set aside ethical or moral concerns of justice, kindness, and honesty in order to guarantee the stability of their regime. The assertion was outrageous to contemporaries, who upheld medieval concepts about divine power, in which a supreme being appointed the ruler for the sole purpose of serving people and upholding justice and law. In contrast, Machiavelli asserted that the most prosperous leaders were not those adhered to the dictates of justice, conscience or law, but those prepared to do whatever it take to preserve their own power. Such leaders, according to him, end up preserving the order of their

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Niccolo Machiavelli, in “The Prince,” declares his belief that a successful ruler must control his subjects through fear rather than earning their love. He explains that the love of man is dependent on their current state of happiness, and that they will turn against you if they are not benefiting from the arrangement. On the other hand, when a ruler has instilled fear amongst his subjects, they will live in predictable servitude because they are concerned for their own wellbeing and are afraid of punishment. Machiavelli starts off by providing two oppositional leadership styles. He then goes on to articulate the weaknesses of earning loyalty as a result of love and supports the value of his favored technique, fear.

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One aspect of Machiavelli’s theory which significantly contributes to his reputation as the “philosopher of evil,” is his advice to the prince on keeping their word to the public. In chapter eighteen, Machiavelli states, “a wise ruler cannot, and should not, keep his word when doing so is to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that led him to promise to do so no longer apply” (pg. 37). To simplify, Machiavelli says princes are obligated to lie in certain circumstances. He also states that while it is unnecessary for the prince to have positive qualities, such as honesty, trustworthiness, sympathy, compassion, or be religious, it is essential for the prince to be viewed so by the public (pg. 37). While many people argue that Machiavelli’s legitimization of lying and deception in politics is immoral, I argue the opposite.

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In the book, Machiavelli believes in the idea of having a strong dominant leader, in order to preserve the benefits to the citizens as a group instead of individually. This strategy clearly shows in chapter seventeen where Machiavelli points out that every prince would prefer to be loved than to be feared. However, the two rarely co-existed. If one had to choose, it is not only better to be feared than to be loved but it is also much “safer” looking at it realistically. By safer, it means that you will not have to worry and watch out as much since people will be less likely to conspire against someone they fear than someone they love.

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According to him, rulers should know their respective limits when it comes to the force and violence they inflict. Machiavelli believes that maximizing betrayal, deception and other cruel acts aren’t considered talents. Although these methods are effective in gaining empire, these don’t help in getting glory. Therefore, using violence and cruelty may be necessary but should have limits. The prince must know up to what extent his violence should be inflicted upon and he must do it all at once to avoid the hatred and resentment from his

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Being a prince is not as easy as it may seem. There are good and bad decisions a prince can make. Machiavelli has his own standards on how a prince should behave. According to Machiavelli, a prince could be considered a lion, a fox, or a wolf. The lion is fierce but doesn’t have the smarts, while a fox has the smarts but isn 't fierce.

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Machiavelli believed that men will follow a ruler as long as the ruler serves their interests, and a quick to turn against the ruler unless they fear great punishment. Machiavelli would say that it is best to be feared rather than loved as long as the fear does not cause hate, which he believed to be perfectly possible.

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According to Machiavelli, a successful leader should to exhibit a certain character which is key to their success. He highlights five key qualities that a leader should possess A leader should be feared by the people. According to Machiavelli, it is better to be feared than loved. He believed that the people were less likely to revolt if they feared the leader

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I. Machiavelli In his famous work the Prince Niccolo Machiavelli exposes what it takes to be a good prince and how only this good price and keep control over his state. There are many different qualities that make a man a good ruler but there are some that are more essential than others. In this work Machiavelli stresses the importance of being a warrior prince, a wise prince, and knowing how to navigate the duality of virtù and vices. Without these attributes there was no way that a prince could hold together their state and their people.

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