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    Machiavelli/ Disagreeing with The Prince

    Number of Pages: 5

     

    Summary of the research paper:

    A 5 page essay that analyzes and discusses the principle points made by political philosophy Nicolo Machiavelli in the fifteenth century, and takes the position that Machiavelli's formula for power is wrong. No additional sources cited.

    Name of Research Paper File: D0_khdismac.rtf

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    Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
    primarily because Machiavelli argued in favor of a form of government that is completely unprincipled, designed to gain and secure a position of absolute power for a monarch, or  dictator, with total disregard for the welfare of the populace. Niccolo Machiavelli was a fifteenth-century political philosopher. In this book, The Prince, he outlined a strategy for obtaining and keeping  political power, which has been quoted and debated for five hundred years. Essentially, Machiavelli rejected traditional notions of good and evil believing that men will universally do whatever is  in their own best interests and rationalize the motivations behind the actions later. In The Prince, Machiavelli instructed Renaissance monarchs to utilize whatever means necessary and at their disposal, no  matter how ruthless, to gain control of the state. As this suggests, The Prince, is basically a technical manual for grasping and holding power, with specific instruction in murder, corruption  and intrigue. Sometimes evil actions have been rationalized by saying that the "ends justifies the means." It should be understood, however, that Machiavelli did not advocate evil as a  means of achieving a noble goal. The welfare of the people and the state are completely irrelevant to the principal goal of his text, which is the achievement of absolutely  power. For example, Machiavelli points out that the ruler becomes great in the eyes of the people by overcoming difficulties and opposition. Therefore, war is a "good" thing from the  leaders point of view. That Machiavellis assertion still holds true today is easily demonstrated. Simply look at how the Grenada invasion aided the popularity of Ronald Reagan -- or  how the War of Terrorism has aided the popularity of President George W. Bush. War can increase a leaders popularity with the people so quickly that Machiavelli recommends that a 

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