machiavelli Essay - 880 Words

The Church accused Niccolo Machiavelli of being Satan for writing his book The Prince. Machiavelli completed The Prince in 1513. He wrote it as a gift to Lorenzo Medici, called the Magnificent, ruler of Florence. The political views Machiavelli expressed in his book went against the theology of the Church, specifically the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. Machiavelli wrote to gain control of a principality one must be brutal. (I)f you are a prince in possession of a newly acquired state and deem it necessary. . . to annihilate those who can or must attack you. . . . , you must do so to protect your principality. He gave the example of Duke Valentinos slaying of his nobles to maintain order, saying if Valentino had not killed his†¦show more content†¦The prince can pledge one thing under certain circumstances; but if those circumstances change, he is free to change his pledge if the change should benefit his situation. For instance, Pope Alexander VI, who reigned before Machiavelli wrote The Prince, made promises more persuasively or swore to them more solemnly and kept so few of them . . . . Pope Alexander VI also got what he wanted by deceiving others. The Beatitudes say those who desire righteousness will be filled; those who are pure of heart will see God. Righteousness and purity do not occur through deception. The ninth of the Ten Commandments says You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor, meaning do not lie. Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, says Do no break your oath . . . . The Church had good reason to disagree with Machiavelli about craftiness. Nobility for princes can be seen as one of two ways: generous or parsimonious. If a prince is generous, his generosity usually comes at the expense of his subjects. The prince would have to tax his people heavily in order to give. This will begin to make him odious to his subjects and . . . will lose him the respect of everyone. For a prince to give money, he need not tax his people, rather give what he pillaged and stole while on various campaigns. If a prince is stingy with the peoples money, he will not tax as much; thus, his subjects will honor himShow MoreRelated Machiavelli Essay1597 Words   |  7 Pages quot;The term Machiavellian refers to someone who is unscrupulous, cunning, cynical, and unprincipledquot;(Goods 1998). Many scholars agree that this particular adjective would have dismayed Niccolo Machiavelli, the man from whom the term is derived. In reality he has been attributed as being one of the brightest lights of the Italian Renaissance through his works as not only a writer, but also as an influential philosopher of history and political thought. His most famous work The Prince hasRead MoreThe Machiavelli And Machiavelli s The Prince2348 Words   |  10 PagesI have always found great interest in the infamous Niccolo Machiavelli and his ways of thinking; my eye was drawn to him long befor e I knew I would be studying at Colorado State and even before I had any interest in politics. It was from young man know as Tupac Shakur, and let me tell you it is great to finally understand who Machiavelli is and the things he has done for the outlook on politics after hearing about how much respect and praise he got from the iconic rapper of the 1990s. In this paperRead MorePrinciples Of Machiavelli1615 Words   |  7 PagesIn the 16th century Niccolo Machiavelli presented Lorenzo de Medici with his most prized possession, â€Å"The Prince†. At this time, it was custom to present the prince with your most prized possession, in order to gain their friendship. 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His writings have been the source of dispute amongst scholars due to the ambiguity of his analogy of the amp;#8216;Nature of Politics; and the implication of morality. The Prince, has been criticised due to itamp;#8217;s seemingly amoral political suggestiveness, however after further scrutiny of other works such as The Discourses, one can argue that it was Machiavelliamp;#8217;s intention to infact imply a positive