Machiavelli's The Prince

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The Philosophies of Machiavelli

Though being labeled as a “Machiavellian” was associated with craftiness and deception, it is not necessarily a negative label. Machiavellian is the description of a person who is goal driven and lives with a strong focus, without much emotional involvement. During the year 1505 Machiavelli’s book The Prince stunned the early European world with a straightforward guide to leading as a ruler or prince. Instead of being used as guidelines for ruling, the word “Machiavellian” became associated with political procedures that had unsettling inclinations. Machiavelli believed that one could be more objective if he would remove himself from emotional connection when in a leadership position. Machiavelli’s description of being objective in a political position is to have an agenda and meet it at all cost. This agenda is broken into sections throughout The Prince, and labels someone that is called a Machiavellian as one stays true to a set goal in a leadership position. The primary objective for …show more content…

He was a prince who came into power by luck, which is one of the reasons why Machiavelli had great admiration for him as a leader. Although he was considered cruel by many, Machiavelli was moved by the changes he made in Romagna. In the text he says, “those who unexpectedly become princes are men of so much ability that they know they have to be prepared at once to hold that which fortune has thrown into their laps, and that those foundations, which others have laid before they became princes, they must lay afterwards.” (Machiavelli, 28) This meaning that he is impressed with men who become princes by chance because they do not have the hereditary background that many princes that do inherit power have. Instead, they must work to maintain the position and favor of the people they

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