Essay/Term paper: Machiavelli

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Philosophy Essays

Machiavelli


Machiavelli's views revolved around the ideas that one must do anything
within his (Machiavelli did not refer to "her') power to keep the influence and
power that he has attained. For him, anything that must be done in order not to
lose the influence and the power that one has should be done without question.
"The ends justifies the means", he said. The power of one that rules must be
kept by keeping the people in constant fear. Without the fear in the people,
the trust that they have in their leader will whither and they will start to
look for other leaders to take the place of the one that they believe to be weak.
Machiavelli thought that the importance of this tactic should override
all others. Although, he believed in emanating a sense of fear to the people
that were being ruled, he also believed that without the people, the ruler or
leader is worthless and will be overcome. One must have support of the people,
while constantly keeping them in check with the rules and regulations that he
has set.
These thoughts today would be looked at as dictatorial and likened with
the beliefs and felling of such hated groups as the Nazis. In today's system,
societies that have been lead by rulers with such a mentality have not lasted
very long. It seems that these days the general populace have much less
tolerance for those rulers that believe in doing anything for the sake of
themselves and supposedly the society at large. I believe that such rulers
today are not tolerated (and should not be tolerated) There is no room for this
type of thinking in modern day life. Respect is another factor that was very
important to Machiavelli and his way of thinking. The Prince, as Machiavelli
stated, must do anything to keep his respect with the people, but at the same
time to make sure that he has ultimate control. I believe that so much control
by one person will ultimately lead to war and the demise of the society. How
can one person with so much power and latitude in decision making possible
benefit the s ociety, in fact, they are not even benefiting themselves in that
they are the ones who ultimately stand to lose when the people in the society
realize that they are being taken advantage of for the good of one person.