While Machiavelli advises a ruler to be feared by his people in order to best consolidate his power, I argue that the best way to live a political life depends largely on the circumstances: with different situations calling for the prince to employ different characteristics that would be most effective to each circumstance. Machiavelli’s call for vigilance and distrust may be valuable to a prince and the state he governs in some situations, but toxic in other situations, as it hurts the society he attempts to better. Machiavelli argues that while the prince may superficially have allies and advisors, he must remain alone and independent at heart. This seems to assume that Machiavelli wants the prince to harbor a fundamental distrust of others, encouraging constant vigilance in order for him to keep his place on the throne. Indeed, Machiavelli describes men in simple, untrustworthy terms: …show more content…
Eventually, however, a prince must move from being achieving his own goals to becoming the facilitator or catalyst for his people’s goals. In doing so, a prince will be loved by his people, without necessitating coercion or fear. That is not to say that force has no place for a prince -- force has an important role in safeguarding the state and the people’s goals --, but force cannot be used to coerce the people into loving a ruler. In the corporate realm, companies that give employees more autonomy experience more output and product development. In fact, giving employees directed goals driven by extrinsic incentives often led to poorer performance (Chamorro-Premuzic). Similarly, the distrust Machiavelli prescribed leaders to harbor would actually inhibited a state’s growth, as it was centered around the extrinsic motivator of avoiding punishment and maintaining power rather than an intrinsic passion for making the people’s lives
Machiavelli's claims about leaders would not bode well with
In the book, Machiavelli writes, “It is better to be feared than loved”. This statement reflects Machiavelli’s belief that rulers should be willing to do whatever is necessary to maintain power, even if it means using fear and violence to control their subjects. Machiavelli’s political ideology was a product of the historical and cultural context in which he lived. The Renaissance was a time of political and social upheaval, and Machiavelli’s philosophy of power and control was a response to the challenges of his
In The Prince (1532), Machiavelli lists elements a prince should have. The biggest thing Machiavelli cautions against is breeding hatred. He claims that “[…] a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavor only to avoid hatred” (Machiavelli 82). Hatred will lead to loss of control. If the civilians hate the prince, then they have control over him.
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
Furthermore, Machiavelli thinks that fear works best because you can’t trust people to always be loyal through affection: “In general men are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly,
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
Their Voice The Enlightenment changed and challenged the way that people thought or acted during the Age of Absolutism. During the Age of Absolutism, the only things kings cared about was power and wealth. They had complete disregard for their subjects. In all six DBQ excerpts, the reader sees people either challenging the king or the King getting upset that people are starting to stand up for themselves instead of just taking his word as the gospel truth.
However, it is important to separate lying and deception that endangers the wellbeing of the society, from those that benefit society. Upon reading Machiavelli’s The Prince, it is easy, especially in today’s society, to dismiss his arguments as immoral or wicked. However, upon further inspection, much of his theory, such as his justification for lying, is morally correct and highly applicable to politics
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.
According to Machiavelli, ideal prince is a risk-taker who puts a military on action, as the people respect the warrior. An ideal prince thinks for himself rather than relying on others, knows how to read characters, and does not surround himself with flatterers. He lives in reality, not fantasy. He works hard, utilizes his own mind, and makes survival of his guide. The ideal leader is neither loved nor hated, but respected.
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
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.
In chapters six and seven of his book, “The Prince”, Niccolo Machiavelli stated that the difficulty in keeping and maintaining new principalities depends on how the prince acquired them. The principalities can be acquired either by one’s own arms and abilities or by the arms of others and by relying on luck or good fortune. Although the two options will both mitigate different problems and issues, Machiavelli argues that those who rely least on good fortune will come out the strongest. In this chapter, the dependent variable would be the difficulty a prince would experience in acquiring a principality. The independent variable then will be the method in acquiring the principality, whether through ability or good fortune.
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.
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.