Luis Torres Essays (943 words) - Machiavellianism,

Luis Torres Kat McDonald Miranda Humanities in the Western Tradition 05/07/2017 Machiavelli's "The Prince" Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" is often considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature of the Renaissance era. In it, Machiavelli explains his ideals on how he thought a Prince should rule his empire. He distinguishes between "Principalities" (those lands ruled by a prince) and "Republics" (those lands that are "free") and focuses mainly with the former. The book is distributed into a series of "chapters," some of which are only a few sentences long, where he exemplifies on various aspects of governance. He starts by illustrating multiple types of principalities, such as those that are gathered through conquest, and those that are given by heredity, and explains that different types of principalities have different concerns. The first type, for example, may present the new Prince with the challenge of imposing a new set of social rules and customs, whereas the latter may simply require the maintenance of long-established rules and norms. He then goes on to describe various circumstances a Prince might face while ruling, such as the establishment and maintenance of armies. Following that, he describes the various personal traits that a Prince should, and should not, exhibit in an effort to rule effectively; it is here that the book is perhaps most interesting, as Machiavelli highlights the seeming paradoxes a successful ruler must confront. He sets up a series of dichotomies, such as the way in which a leader who is too lenient is, in the end, visiting cruelty upon his people by possibly allowing them to be conquered. He concludes the book with an "exhortation" to the Medici family, wherein he attempts to persuade them of the wisdom in conquering Italy. While a chapter-by-chapter analysis of "The Prince" could in itself fill an entire book, there are several key points about effective leadership that Machiavelli puts forth, often repeating and reiterating them in different ways. As noted, he uses a thematic device throughout the book of describing the paradoxes and seemingly contradictory issues a Prince will face in the acquisition and maintenance of leadership. These dichotomies arise largely in the middle and end of the book, after he first describes the various types of principalities he sees, such as those newly acquired through power, those handed down through heredity, and so on. Machiavelli asserts that different types of principalities require different approaches to effective leadership. In some cases, a new Prince must concern himself with understanding established local customs, rather than with imposing new customs. He suggests that, in some cases, a Prince should go and reside among his newly-conquered or acquired peoples, thus establishing himself as a powerful and trustworthy leader. Barring that, he suggest the establishment of "colonies," where groups of people from the Prince's homeland go and live among the newly-acquired peoples, bringing with them the "new" laws and customs the Prince wishes to establish. As with all of his suggestions, Machiavelli stresses pragmatism, and the wisdom to understand what methods are best suited to a particular situation. Machiavelli goes against the traditional mindset, at that time, that a prince derived his power from God; Machiavelli believed that the rulers were given no divine right. He said that a ruler achieved his power through his own efforts and skills. The traditional thinkers believed that the ruler had to abide by Christian morals like the "virtues;" whereas, Machiavelli believed that the good ruler ignored questions of good and evil because those questions distracted the ruler from dealing with the necessities like state problems concerning the welfare of the people Mansfield (1996). It is not that Machiavelli does not believe in being merciful, it is just that he believes there are special occasions or situations where it should be used. Machiavellian Power As for the acquisition of power, Machiavelli advocates the swift ruthlessness of brutal tyrants: "He should calculate the sum of all the injuries he will have to do, and do them all at once" (27). Niccolo Machiavelli here is conc erned only with the maintenance of power, rather than with any ethical consideration. Whatever rationalization is made in defending Machiavelli's ideas, the fact remains that those ideas are rooted in the worship of