Machiavelli's treatment of ethics and morality is amoral. This is so because he simply talks about what it takes to be an effective leader. In no way is Machiavelli promoting immorality. He speaks of immorality acts in order for a ruler to serve the greater good of his people. He looks at polit...

Machiavelli goes against the traditional mindset that a prince derived his power from God. Machiavelli believed that the rulers were given no divine right. He said that a ruler achieved his power through his own efforts and skills. The traditional thinkers believed that the ruler had to abide by Chr...

One of the great political philosophers of the Renaissance was Nicolo Machiavelli. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Machiavelli was perceived as being devious and unethical. Furthermore, today the term "Machiavellian" denotes ruthless opportunism and the use of manipula...

Niccolo Machiavelli's work The Prince is a letter he wrote, while he was in exile to Lorenzo Medici. In his work he sought to establish a state capable of resisting foreign attack. His writings are concerned with the principles on which a state is founded, and how they are maintained. He describe...

Machiavelli's views have been misinterpreted since his book was first written, people take him in the wrong way, and are offended by what he says. Careless readers take him in a completely wrong way, such as they think that he believes that the end justifies the means, that a leader should lie to ...

A Negative Necessity In "The Qualities of the Prince" the author, Niccolo Machiavelli, generates an interesting question; do the desired ends justify the means used in order to achieve them? Machiavelli uses simple comparisons, subtle contradictions, and historical facts to support his ...

When reading Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, one can't help but grasp his argument that ordinary morality and politics cannot exist in the same forum. However, when examining Machiavelli's notions in depth, one can conclude that perhaps a moral end fuels his suggested use of force ...

Virtù In Machiavelli's The Prince, in order to be a successful ruler, a statesman must possess virtù. The Machiavellian principle of virtù begins with the idea that a ruler must be prudent and cautious, and in times of peace he may be non-violent. Yet, if the situation calls for it, he needs...

The American Heritage Dictionary defines ethics as "A set of principles of right conduct.", and defines morals as "Rules or habits of conduct, especially of sexual conduct, with reference to standards of right and wrong". Most people would say that people with the strongest ethic...

Study Questions F-YS Ethics and Literature Terri Gordon Spring 2001 Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751) 1) Hume’s approach to morality is a descriptive-explanatory one, not a normative one (meaning he wants to describe, not prescribe, moral conduct)....

Macbeth's Representation of Ambition From top to bottom of the ladder, greed is aroused without knowing where to find ultimate foothold. Nothing can calm it, since its goal is far beyond all it can attain. Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; real...

Nietzsche "God Is Dead" Out of all the things I could have chosen to write about, for some reason "Twilight of the Idol's' caught my eye It was kind of a catchy title, and it was the last thing that Nietzsche wrote that had any merit before he went ...