Customer Reviews
One of THE most important works ever written - By: Lou Knee, 25 Aug 2007 
This masterpiece of reasoning & good practical handbook on how to get aheadin real life if you happen to be already a man of some means, was a work of great humanityin an age when humanity was still considered disgusting & subserviant to the Lord above & his chosen servants on Earth. What a shot across the bows to all those religious hypocrites & Bible following automatons this must have been, then. Two elements surrounding this work's brave publication are crucial, I feel: One being that this was Italy, (as it became) & at its advanced stage of the great Renaissance, as we now know it, & the second being that it was written at a time which was just right to be publishing order challenging controversial works. After seeing the liberal benefits to man that the use of the printing press had brought, & the world of possibilities it offered, Machiavelli struck the first blow against the stifling & corrupt order of the age.
His publication of political thought & theory which was refreshingly devoid of religious dogma or even quotations, preceded the publication of that other world changing document by three or four years: Luther's pinning of the ninety five thesis to a Church door a few hundred miles northin an area still ruled by edicts pumped out by prelates living closer to Machiavelli. This was exactly the right time to be reaching the learned men of the world with anything revolutionaryin tone, & well presented & researched contradictions of established thought were very lible to strike a chord with many. In other words, many people by this time had clearly had all they could stomach of the seething hypocrisy they witnessed being displayed by the Lord's own servants,in the church & consequentlyin the monarchy led governments of the age. To be spouting their harsh godfearing edicts out to the uneducated masses when the vast majority of them enjoyed the sins they were loudly proscribing the common populace from having, was all a bit rich for certain educated but strong minded men like Machiavelli & Luther. The time was very ripe for a wind of change, & even the corrupt but mighty church of Rome knew it, & feared it.
Machievelli simply took a different line to Luther, perhaps not least because he was far more used to living with these ruler's inconsistencies than the more morally outraged teutonic man of God was. Where Luther got all spiritual & quoted the many edicts from scripture that the church of Rome was blatantly abusing, Machiavelli simply plotted the practical lines for a prostective leader of state to follow, quoting the works of historians & statesmen who had written about both the world's most successful leaders & its least successful leaders, as a practical handbook on how to be a successful head of state. Both of their actions though were brave, & both of them catastrophic to the cosy order of things & to the power of the once mighty Catholic Church. Humanity owes both of these great men an enormous debt, for their brave & insightful works helped breathe a real wind of change to the way the human race had been living.
The virtues of Machiavelli - By: Kurt Messick, 03 Feb 2005 In the course of my political science training, I studied at great length the modern idea of realpolitik. In that study I came to realise that it was somewhat incomplete, without the companionship of The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, a Florentine governmental officialin the late fifteenth & early sixteenth centuries. The Prince is an oft quoted, oft mis-quoted work, used as the philosophical underpinning for much of what is considered both pragmatic & wrongin politics today. To describe someone as being Machiavellian is to attribute to the person ruthless ambition, craftiness & merciless political tactics. Being believed to be Machiavellian is generally politically incorrect. Being Machiavellian, alas, can often be politically expedient.
Machiavelli based his workin The Prince upon his basic understanding of human nature. He held that people are motivated by fear & envy, by novelty, by desire for wealth, power & security, & by a hatred of restriction. In the Italyin which he was writing, democracy was an un-implemented Greek philosophical idea, not a political structure with a history of success; thus, one person's power usually involved the limitation of another person's powerin an autocratic way.
Machiavelli did not see this as a permanent or natural state of being --in fact, he felt that, during his age, human nature had been corrupted & reduced from a loftier nobility achieved during the golden ages of Greece & Rome. He decided that it was the corrupting influence of Christianity that had reduced human nature, by its exaltation of meekness, humility, & otherworldliness.
Machiavelli has a great admiration for the possible & potential, but finds himself inexorably drawn to the practical, dealing with situations as they are, thus becoming an early champion of realpolitik carried forward into this century by the likes of Kissinger, Thatcher, Nixon, & countless others. One of the innovations of Machiavelli's thought was the recognition that the prince, the leader of the city/state/empire/etc., was nonetheless a human being, & subject to all the human limitations & desires with which all contend.
Because the average prince (like the average person) is likely to be focussed upon his own interests, a prince's private interests are generallyin opposition to those of his subjects. Fortunate is the kingdom ruled by a virtuous prince, virtue here not defined by Christian or religious tenets, but rather the civic virtue of being able to pursue his own interests without conflicting those of his subjects.
Virtue is that which increases power; vice is that which decreases power. These follow Machiavelli's assumptions about human nature. Machiavelli rejected the Platonic idea of a division between what a prince does & what a prince ought to do. The two principle instruments of the prince are force & propaganda, & the prince,in order to increase power (virtue) ought to employ force completely & ruthlessly, & propaganda wisely, backed up by force. Of course, for Machiavelli, the chief propaganda vehicle is that of religion.
Whoever reads Roman history attentively will seein how great a degree religion servedin the command of the armies,in uniting the people & keeping them well conducted, &in covering the wicked with shame.
Machiavelli has been credited with giving ruthless strategies (the example of a new political ruler killing the deposed ruler & the ruler's family to prevent usurpation & plotting is well known) -- it is hard to enact manyin current politicsin a literal way, but many of his strategies can still be seenin electioneering at every level,in national & international relations, & evenin corporate & family internal 'politics'. In fact, I have found fewer more Machiavellian types thanin church politics!
Of course, these people would be considered 'virtuous'in Machiavellian terms -- doing what is necessary to increase power & authority.
The title of this piece -- the virtues of Machiavelli, must be consideredin this frame; certainlyin no way virtuous by current standards, but then, it shows, not all have the same standards. Be careful of the words you use -- they may have differing definitions.
Perhaps if Machiavelli had lived a bit later, & been informed by the general rise of science as a rational underpinning to the world, he might have been able to accept less of a degree of randomnessin the universe. Perhaps he would have modified his views. Perhaps not -- after all, the realpolitikers of this age are aware of the scientific framework of the universe, & still pursue their courses.
This is an important work, intriguingin many respects. Far shorter than the average classical or medieval philosophical tome, & more accessible by current readers because of a greater familiarity with politics than, say, metaphysics or epistemology, this work yields benefits & insights to all who read, mark, inwardly digest, & critically examine the precepts.
Ruthless - By: , 28 Oct 2004 The Prince... well its difficult to describe exactly what it entails. I think to start with all who consider going into politics or any kind of management role should be handed a copy of this book at the same time as they recieve their application forms. It is ruthless but efficient also & so its central premises should always be remembered, particularly by our governing bodies.
Machiavelli writes with a self assurance which is refreshingin an age of hesitation & self correction.
I'm not convinced that this was a life changing book for me to read, it certainly affected my attitudes & values but is not a inspirational self help book (not that its supposed to be).
I recommend this to anyone who has an interestin history orin politics.
A prince among men. - By: , 14 Oct 2003 Machiavelli's realisation of the true nature of men as "...fickle,lying,cowards..." leads himin his brilliantly astute work to illuminate the realities of government & lifein general.
Disregarding all political theorie's & ideaoligies machiavelli refreshingly deals with how things are & not how they should.
While on first glance machiavellis work would seem almost evilin its implications as it has been labeled countless times, a deeper look would show it to be more humane & considerate of human wellbeing then any half baked political ideology (communism, Republicanism,democracy etc). His assertion that the ends justifies the means is a good demonstration of this as Machiavelli demonstrates through historical analogies the truth of lifein general: for people to prosper others have to suffer. In truthfully explaining this & insisting it be done quickly & totaly for it to be over & done with machiavelli shows a level of compasion far greater than any bleeding hearted liberal vegaterian (the most likely to be opposed to his assertions)
His work while being what many would labels as deeply cinical is niether cinical nor idealogical but an honest assesment of lifein general as well as politics, which cannot help but uplift those of the same frame of mind with the comfort of nowing that the realisation that the world is a very unhappy place is not theres alone.
But if you truly believein the hollywood view of the worldin which love is blind & happy endings happen for every one than don't read this book (ignorance is bliss).
ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS EVER - By: alaskadoggie, 25 Jul 2003 Here are some BASIC, UTMOST IMPORTANT & UNIVERSAL REMARKS for those that start reading Niccolò Machiavelli, be it IL PRINCIPE or his DISCORSI SOPRA LA PRIMA DECA DI TITO LIVIO, better known as "The DISCOURSES", giving a very original political comment on the first ten books of Titus Livius.
** Machiavelli's IDEA'S are NOT a close-fitting nor a rounded down system: who thinks elsehow will get into overlasting problems.
** The "Secretarius Florentinus" is NOT a SYSTEMATIC philosopherin the scholastic sense of the word: he DOESN'T WORRY whether the question or idea he describes is IN CONCORDANCE with notions or opinions written down elsewhere. Therefore lots of statements can but difficultly be broughtin accordance to the former AND can even bring CRITICISM INTO TROUBLE. This is of far lesser importance while these incongruities are merely touching the general points of departure of his work, instead of the distinct parts of his arguments. You can notice this through his LOGIC (as strong as iron!!) & an IRREFUTABLE CONSEQUENCE.
** Machiavelli stays A-MORALin Il Principe, just as nature is: not judging about good & bad, not influenced by a religion or anything else!! I know people have problems with this last "way of writing, thinking", BUT this is the most important factor that makes his work so IMMENSELY UNIVERSAL ...
There are TWO CENTRAL THEMESin this work: POLITICS & THE PROBLEMS THAT ARE CONNECTED WITH THE NOTION, THE CONCEPT "POWER".
The Prince is a flaming & militant political piece of writingin which the author is not only rationally, but also emotionally 'present' with the full power of his personality. Machiavelli's ideas are closely related to the general philosophical concept of the Renaissance. His vision too is antropocentric: the only right to exist man has, is presentin man himself ANDin the realisation of the selfin this world.
The author is the FOUNDER of the political science(s): nobody before him had considered that politics are a single, separate science, free of any moral or religion.
In his system he isolates the technical bias (read: orientation) on what is politically useful from the moral & theological aspect of kindness & justice. He defines sharply THE PURPOSE that one wants to reach, to achieve & THEN, starting from the situationin which a (the) person stands, WEIGHS UP THE PROS AND CONS (on a rational-technical basis) OF THE MEANS THAT LEAD TO THE PURPOSE, WHICH MEANS THOSE "ARE", DOES NOT MATTER ( = AMORAL). A means of reason that is MORALLY BAD, can be GOOD FOR POLITICS & VICE VERSA ... !
Instead of talking about The Prince, it is only correct to use the word RULER: the crucial personin this work. For Macchiavelli it was Cesare BORGIA, for Nietzsche it was NAPOLEON, who REALLY slept with Il Principe (he understood the book very well).
Too many readers are misled by words as 'fortune, virtue':in the Middle-Italian (very difficult, even for specialists) the author uses the words 'FORTUNA' & 'VIRTÙ': these two words (f.e.) have NOTHING OF LITTLE IN COMMON with fortune & virtue or virtus. There are about 23 POSSIBLE TRANSLATIONS FOR THE WORD 'VIRTÙ'...
To be a good ruler is not easy. In 26 short chapters the biggest philosopher of the 16th century, Macchiavelli, describes what the ruler can and/or should do ... to stay 'the ruler', not to lose the power he/she has,in absence of moral & religion: amoral! THAT IS DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN: JUST LOOK AROUND, LISTEN TO THE NEWS, THINK ABOUT GLOBAL PROBLEMS: EVERYWHERE YOU'LL MEET NICCOLÒ MACCHIAVELLI, WAVING WITH HIS HAND TO YOU AND TRYING TO MAKE YOU AND US FREE FROM PREJUDICES, WHISPERING WHAT WE SHOULD DO OR NOT.
I have read several editions of 'THE PRINCE', but have only one that stays with me since decades now: I read & keep on reading about our ruler forever, so my book will stay with me too.
LAST NOTE: The saying "The end justifies the means" is NOT from Macchiavelli; it already existed for a few centuries.
