What was machiavelli purpose in writing the prince

Here are some of the "myths" about Machiavelli and The Prince , followed by facts:. It is not certain whether he even read the book. Myth : Machiavelli promoted the principles set forth in The Prince —including violence and duplicity—as the ideal guidelines for ruling a domain.

Fact : Machiavelli presented the principles in The Prince as guidelines that a ruler in the real world, not the ideal world , should use to hold power and safeguard public welfare. To be moral and ethical is wonderful; unfortunately, most politicians are neither moral nor ethical, according to Machiavelli.

Myth : Machiavelli wrote The Prince primarily for people of all times, everywhere. Fact : Machiavelli wrote The Prince primarily for people in his own time to remedy serious political problems—and to gain favor for himself with the ruling Medici family.. Myth : Machiavelli cannot be criticized for recommending immoral or unethical behavior; he was merely reporting the truth. No writer can be chastised for presenting reality as it is.

Fact : Machiavelli was not merely reporting on immoral or unethical behavior; he was recommending it and therefore is open to criticism on moral and ethical grounds. Morever, his version of the truth was marred by faulty research methods. Myth : Machiavelli was an atheist who despised religion. Fact : Machiavelli was a Catholic who died believing in God.

Treatment of the People. It makes him [a ruler] hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.

And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways. It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and he should endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude; and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him.

Knowledge of Warfare. A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states.

And the first cause of your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art.

Construction of Castles. The prince, who has more to fear from the people than from foreigners ought to build fortresses, but he who has more to fear from foreigners than from the people ought to leave them alone. The castle of Milan, built by Francesco Sforza, has made, and will make, more trouble for the house of Sforza than any other disorder in the state.

For this reason the best possible fortress is- not to be hated by the people, because, although you may hold the fortresses, yet they will not save you if the people hate you, for there will never be wanting foreigners to assist a people who have taken arms against you.

Thomson, translator. The Harvard Classics. New York: P. Marriott, translator. Columbia University, Institute for Learning Technologies. New York: Macmillan, Cummings Study Guide. More Info. There were constant power struggles at the time between the city-states of Italy, the Holy Roman Empire, France and Spain.

As leaders rapidly rose and fell, Machiavelli observed traits that, he believed, bolstered power and influence. In , after being expelled from political service with the takeover of Florence by the Medici family , Machiavelli penned his outline of what makes an effective leader in The Prince. Therefore, if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need.

Finally, leaders must not rely on luck, Machiavelli wrote, but should shape their own fortune, through charisma, cunning and force. One of the real-life models Machiavelli took inspiration from when writing The Prince was Cesare Borgia, a crude, brutal and cunning prince of the Papal States whom Machiavelli had observed first-hand. During a visit with Borgia to discuss relations with Florence, Machiavelli witnessed as Borgia lured his enemies to the city of Senigallia with gifts and promises of friendship and then had them all assassinated.

Ultimately, even Borgia would succumb to ill fortune when his father, Pope Alexander VI, became ill and died. Borgia died a few years after the death of his father at the young age of But Machiavelli would not find an audience for his work before his death and Florence was not restored to its former glory in his lifetime. France, then Spain and Austria, invaded Italy and its warring city-states were unable to defend themselves, leading to nearly years of dominance by outside rulers.

Over the centuries that followed, the principles it espoused would trigger outrage as well as admiration and establish Machiavelli as a controversial and revolutionary political thinker. Years after writing The Prince , Machiavelli penned The Art of War , a treatise written in the form of a dialogue between a military expert and citizens.

The Art of War discusses the role that citizens have in supporting and using military troops to the citizens' advantage, the role of training and the best use of artillery in disarming one's enemies. Drawing on themes he introduced in The Prince , Machiavelli also notes how deception and intrigue are valuable military strategies.

Machiavelli would be blamed for inspiring Henry VIII to defy the pope and seize religious authority for himself. Hitler kept a copy of The Prince by his bedside and Stalin was known to have read and annotated his copy of the book. Some scholars have questioned whether Machiavelli intended that readers take him at his word. Instead, they propose that The Prince was actually a satirical work and intended as a warning of what could happen if power is left unchecked.

Beginning with Plato and Aristotle, the thinkers of this tradition were concerned with issues of justice and human happiness, and with the constitution of the ideal state. Until its final chapter, The Prince is a shockingly direct how-to manual for rulers who aim either to establish and retain control of a new state or to seize and control an existing one.

Rather than basing his advice on ethical or philosophical principles, Machiavelli founds his political program on real-life examples. When explaining what a prince should or should not do in pursuit of his ambitions, Machiavelli cites the actions of well-known historical and contemporary leaders, both successful and unsuccessful. Throughout The Prince , Machiavelli explicitly aims to give an unsentimental analysis of actual human behavior and the uses of power. Is Machiavelli simply being clear-sighted and objective, or is he providing spurious justifications for the worst impulses of those who seek power?

In The Prince , the results of actions are what matter. He sets the ambitions of the prince and the need of the people for order side by side, seeing the two as complementary. Perhaps they are, or perhaps this equation is merely a self-serving way for those who crave power to defend injustices.

To what extent the means that Machiavelli promotes in The Prince are justified by the ends, and whether the means actually bring about the ends, remain open questions. In this portion of The Prince and in some of his other writings, Machiavelli appears more idealistic and friendly toward a form of government that would give citizens a say. In his Discourses , Machiavelli portrays the ideal government as a republic that allows groups with differing opinions to speak openly.

Machiavelli thus sets the stage for an enduring discussion among his readers. Is he best understood as a seeker of unity and peace, concerned to make his advice practical and effective? Is he an opportunist offering aid and comfort to would-be tyrants? Do the moral and political goals he outlines in the final chapter of The Prince justify the actions he advocates in the preceding chapters?

Evidence suggests that Machiavelli was an upright man, a good father, and a husband who lived in affectionate harmony with his wife, Marietta Corsini, who bore him six children. Throughout his life, Machiavelli was a zealous republican.

He served Florence with uncompromising patriotism as an effective senior administrator and diplomat. But his single-minded service to the republic of Florence ended when the army of the Holy League of Pope Julius II returned the Medici family to power as benevolent despots of the city.

In the resulting political purge, Machiavelli not only lost his position in the city government but, when a conspiracy against the Medicis was uncovered in early , he also was accused of complicity simply because his name was on a list taken from the conspirators. Thrown into prison and subjected to the kind of torture that forced blameless men to confess their guilt, Machiavelli nevertheless maintained his innocence and was eventually released. Reduced to poverty, and with restrictions placed on his movements around the city, Machiavelli sought refuge in the little property, outside Florence, that he had inherited from his father.

There he produced not only The Prince , which he completed between the spring and autumn of , but also a variety of political commentaries and histories and a number of well-received literary works.

That hope was in vain. Machiavelli died at the age of 58, still exiled from Florence. Aristotle, Politics In this exploration of the ideal state, Book V, concerning the maintenance of political power, is an especially pertinent antecedent to Machiavelli.

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan The author presents a grim vision of human beings in their natural state, which becomes the basis for his argument that a practically omnipotent government is necessary to secure a basic level of justice and elementary freedoms. John Locke, The Second Treatise of Civil Government Chapter 14 examines the circumstances in which government can act in violation of the law or in the absence of law. Chapter 19 concerns the right of the people to overthrow a ruler or government when either has abused his power.

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