Machiavelli

Introduction

Machiavelli's philosophy is basically to become a good leader you must do anything even it is immoral and wrong. He first writes that a prince's duty concerning military matter must always think of war only, even in times of peace. They must know their surroundings exactly so they can defend and make effective strategies to counter the enemy's attack. They must also know historical battles so they will be able to learn their tactics and improve on it. He then talks about the prince's path; should the prince be generous or a miser.

Discussion

During Machiavelli's time, it was commonly thought that events were ruled by fate and by God only. Not only that, but men could do nothing to stop or protect themselves from those events. Machiavelli did believe in fate, but he did not believe in the fact the fate controlled all events that occurred. If he did believe that it would mean that princes rule by chance. Machiavelli proves this when he states he is not unaware that many have held and hold the opinion that the events are controlled by fortune, because of this, one would conclude that there is no point in sweating over things, but that they should submit to the rulings of chance (Skinner 54-94).

Machiavelli is inexperienced in actual ruling and in many ways promotes violence. However, in so doing, he offers a way of separating morality or religion from politics. He writes, "The only way to safeguard yourself against flatterers is by letting people understand that you are not offended by the truth; but if everyone can speak the truth to you then you lose respect (Logan Adams and Miller 14-97).

Machiavelli defines virtues as qualities that are praised by others, such as generosity and compassion. He argues that a prince should always try to ...