Niccolo Machiavelli

A detailed Summary of Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli is revered as the founder of modern political philosophy. He was considered a "realist" because he concerned himself only with the political situations that actually arose in reality, where as previous philosophers were concerned largely with the theoretical politics of an "idealist" perfect society. In Machiavellis' The Prince, written to the ruler of Florence at the time, Lorenzo de' Medici, he analyzes the characteristics of numerous past rulers. In doing so, Machiavelli presents Medici with a sort of guidebook of successful political practices.

Machiavelli goes against Platonic philosophy. Whereas Plato believed that human kind was virtuous by nature, with evil men being but a small faction of the species, Machiavelli felt that it was the virtuous who were a minority in a world of evil men. Machiavelli goes on to say that the evil majority would generally overcome the virtuous few. Thus it is the duty of rulers to safeguard th

ime." When cruelty is implemented in such a way, the populaces mood changes from one of fear to one of hatred.

Machiavelli also instructs Lorenzo de Medici that a successful ruler should be both loved and feared. However, since it is quite difficult to gain a reputation for two such contrasting traits, "it much more secure to be feared than to be loved." It is better to be feared because men, being evil natured, are more prone to turn on a man who they loved than a man they fear. Machiavelli goes on to say that a successful ruler does not necessarily have to possess every good human trait but that "it is truly necessary that he appear to have them."

emselves from the evil men by committing non-virtuous acts. Rather than contemplating how one might change human nature, Machiavelli was more interested in using it to serve his own ends.

According to Machiavelli, acquiring a kingdom by force is perfectly all right, because the desired end jus

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Approximate Word count = 649
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics

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Niccolo Machiavelli

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