Nicolo Machiavelli

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Nicolo Machiavelli

• Renaissance Political Theorist
• The Prince

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Renaissance Political theory

• You must know there are two methods of fighting,
  the one by law, the other by force the first
  method is of men, the second of beasts but
  because the first is frequently not sufficient,
  one must have recourse to the second. Therefore
  it is necessary for a prince to understand how to
  use the methods of the beast and the man . . . A
  prince . . . ought to choose the fox and the
  lion because the lion cannot defend himself
  against traps and the fox cannot defend himself
  against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be
  a fox to discover the traps and a lion to terrify
  the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do
  not understand this.
• -- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)

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Score
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If your Machiavellian Score Is

• 10-23 (Type A)
• You are not at all Machiavellian. Some would say
  you are an idealist and an optimist about human
  nature. You have strong ideas about right and
  wrong..
• 24-36 (Type B)
• You are more cautious about trusting human nature
  and less idealistic than those above. You know
  that selfishness can sometimes get in the way of
  lofty ideals.
• 37-50 (Type C)
• You are extremely Machiavellian. Practical to
  the point of being a hard-headed cynic, not very
  trusting about human nature, and ready to deal
  with what is, rather than what ought to be

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Political Theory

• Machiavellis central thesis in The Prince
  concerns how to acquireand keeppolitical power.
  In the Middle Ages, many writers on political
  power had stressed the ethical side of a princes
  activityhow a ruler ought to behave based on
  Christian principles.
• Machiavelli rejected this approach.
• From his point of view, a princes attitude
  toward power must be based on an understanding of
  human nature, which he believed was basically
  self-centered.
• Political activity, therefore, should not be
  restricted by moral principles.
• A prince acts on behalf of the state, and for the
  sake of the state, he must be willing to let his
  conscience sleep.
• Machiavelli was among the first to abandon
  morality as the basis for analyzing political
  activity.
• His views on politics have had a profound
  influence on political leaders who followed.
• Caesar Borgia