Literary Paper
Two of the most important people that have different perspectives on how they feel about war is Machiavelli and Lao- Tzu’s. They talk about how to be a great leader in different ways. One of the biggest differences is their aspects on war. Machiavelli point of view is that leadership should be your only profession and your only focus, that it’s very important to be ready and have a skilled army to be a successful ruler. While Lao-Tzu saw it in a different way, he didn’t support war believes in being peaceful, that war should not be resort because it effects the society in many ways. The way Niccolo Machiavelli saw his way of war was having great leadership by being rational, being physically and mentally prepared for war in
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In the other hand, Lao-Tzu’s idea is different from Machiavelli, he believed in ethics and goodness, sees it as being more peaceful. He explains how morality brings us together and how solving a problem a more peaceful ways creates peace in society. Lao-Tzu says how he feels towards weapons, he talks about them as being violent how they bring fear to the people and that we as human shouldn’t use them or have the need to. He also explains how war will make the unity fall apart so he will rether have a more united society by bringing peace to evryone. In conclusion Machiavelli didn’t believed in morality as part of his rules, he believed leaders should be prepared before to be successful, and on the other hand Lao-Tzu believed in morality, to be peaceful between the people and not break each other
Take, for example, the curro Luis Cervantes; a pseudointellectual, Cervantes attempts to avoid the fighting if possible. This quality makes him the most peaceful of Macías’ soldiers. Yet, Cervantes is still driven by a desire for destruction; he hopes that one day he will be able to extinguish the light of the men who he feels slighted him. For Cervantes, no ardent desire for reform, the most educated of Macías’ men, exists. The actions of Macías’ and his men throughout the book are those of men at war; by nature, war is destructive.
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.
Lao Tzu and Machiavelli have different perspective on how a leader should lead, one believes in a compassionate leader while the other believes in a cunning leader. These seemingly contrasting ideas can be combined to form an effective leader. Lao Tzu’s idea of a compassionate leader is compatible with Machiavelli’s idea of a cunning leader, because these ideas are complementary. For a leader to become respected and praised, one must be compassionate to one’s subjects. A leader must try to act for the benefit of the citizens, one must have empathy towards the people.
Both have different opinions on what a leader should or should not be. Even though Machiavelli and Lao Tzu are in two completely different time periods both of them do make great points
When comparing Machiavelli and Rousseau’s presentation on human nature, one can see that Machiavelli’s idea of human nature was completely opposite compared to Rousseau’s idea of human nature. Machiavelli was a realist, and had a rather negative view on human nature. He assumed that men by nature are evil, and are driven by their own selfish wants and needs. In a society where they are free, everything becomes unorganized and confusing. In Machiavelli’s, The Prince, he states that, “Men never do good except out of necessity, but when they have the freedom to choose and can do as they please, everything becomes confused and disorderly (182).”
Lao-Tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is known as the author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a god in Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. Niccolò Machiavelli was a writer of the Renaissance period. They are both philosophers that have completely different perspective on how a country should run and how the leaders should act. While both philosophers’ writing can be very useful to the government in some ways.
Then for Machiavelli he talks about how a prince should show no fear instead for him to show that he is the one with power. That a prince's people should fear him. Both authors go on to talk on how their people react based on the prince and princesse act. The authors then go on to explain how they should view and run their people. Both authors also reflect the fact that the way their people are going to act towards them is mainly based off of how they treat them.
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
The Prince and the Discourses, by Machiavelli as a gift to the prince. Because it was the best thing that Niccolo Machiavelli could give to him. He was trying to teach the prince ways to stay in power. Machiavelli even stated it himself “I can consider of this subject, discussing what a principality is, the variety of such states, how they are won, how they are held, and how they are lost” (Machiavelli xxiv). The main focus of his work was with monarchies because he did not care for republics.
MID-TERM POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSIGNMENT QUESTION- What are the key similarities and differences between the views of Non Western political thinkers like Sun Tzu/Kautilya with Western political thinkers like Hobbes and Machiavelli, with regard to war/security of a state MACHIAVELLI AND KAUTILYA 's SIMILARITIES AND DIFFRENCES ON WAR In my essay i will present the views of MACHIAVELLI and KAUTILYA on WAR and identify their similaties and diffrences.
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.
Confucius, Aristotle, and Lao-Tzu—all incredibly influential thinkers—did not always agree on how one ought to live; where Aristotle believed that thought or study led to virtue, Lao-Tzu placed focus on inaction, and Confucius taught that rituals paved the way to the best life. A few ideas, however, tie Confucius closer to Aristotle than to Lao-Tzu. Because Aristotle also placed importance on names, emphasized the need to find a mean of behavior, and believed that rulers should most critically be moral, Confucius would have preferred Aristotle to Lao-Tzu. Names—Aristotle utilizes them, even though he recognizes the difference between what exists in reality and the form represented by its name, while Lao-Tzu, on the other hand, maintains that names only serve to put limits on the named, and, in fact run the risk of creating opposites. According to Lao-Tzu, “Recognize beauty and ugliness is born.
Machiavelli generally believes that laws are good when followed naturally from a good military. He even states that war is necessary and is generally the cause of states that are well-formed and successful. Throughout the book, the idea of a good war is created along with how to fortify cities, treat newly found humans in new territories, and to prevent problems with domestic politics. He also believes that more than just the military is needed throughout a war. International diplomacy, geography, history, and tactical strategy are all described by the author.
Although Dante Alighieri and Niccolò Machiavelli lived in two different times, they both experienced political turmoil that impacted their lives. Living during times of conflict shaped the way they each looked at violence, virtue, and reason, which is evidenced in Dante’s Inferno and Machiavelli’s The Prince. Dante and Machiavelli both viewed violence, virtue, and reason as an interconnected triangle, but their realities created different ideas on how virtue and reason impact violence. Living a century apart, both authors’ lives show similarities. Both lived amid political turmoil that weakened Florence, and both were exiled from Florence because of politics.
In his novel, the prince, nicolo machiavelli guides us to be a fruitful ruler. He clarifies the best routes for any ruler or sovereign to govern a region, bring prosper to the society, and keep up their position. This book can be read by anyone to get a few pointers on political issues. Most of the thoughts held by machivelli were linked to mercilessness and evil, hence they raised a considerable number of eyebrows. He maintains that the ruler 's primary goal should be conquering, staying in control of the general public and to always have the idea of war in mind.