Machiavelli The Prince

The ancient roots of critical thinking ultimately trace back to the teaching practice and intellectual vision of Athenian philosopher of 470-399 BCE, Socrates. Socrates discovered people could not rationally justify their claims to knowledge and established the fact that one cannot depend upon those in authority to have sound knowledge and understanding. He highlighted the need in thinking for clarity and logical consistency, which many scholars, philosophers and authors, like Niccolò Machiavelli, agreed with and subsequently encouraged in their own work. In the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli wrote The Prince to critically assess the politics of his day, consequently laying the foundation for modern, critical, political thought in my personal

And to the prince who goes forth with his army, supporting it by pillage, sack, and extortion, handling that which belongs to others, this liberality is necessary, otherwise he would not be followed by soldiers. (49)

Machiavelli identifies that though generosity may seem admirable and desirable traits for a prince, it is ultimately detrimental and dangerous to the state's well-being and effectiveness. He claims that a prince will never be hated for lack of virtue, he will be hated only if he fails in his duty to maintain the state. Machiavelli undoubtedly built chapter XVI upon relevant data and current problems while identifying competing arguments to make his argument and conclusions

Many of his ideas for achieving long-term political success and power translate to today's world and his view of human nature is more modern that its cynicism suggests. Although Machiavelli's conclusions may seem disturbing, if we consider contemporary society, we might conclude that little has changed since his era. Machiavelli is famous, or infamous, for shifting the sense of “virtue” from moral worth to effectiveness. Politics itself is still an area where there are never easy choices, and prudence consists of knowing how to recognize the hard decisions you face and choosing the less bad solution as the more good, as is at many points, this time in my life. Now, there is a danger of misinterpreting and taking Machiavelli's ideas too far and using his philosophy to justify all kinds of risky situations, but there is greater danger in dismissing his philosophy as unworthy of this age. While it is delightful to believe that mankind is orderly and humane, some will do whatever it takes to harm others. Machiavelli proposes a good prince's duties and main responsibilities are to preserve his country first at whatever manner that may require. However, I can relate this back to preserving my