Scarlett Falcon
HIS 101
Machiavelli Paper
Nicolo Machiavelli may be one of the most highly acclaimed philosophers to walk to the earth. He composed The Prince as a practical guide for ruling. Though in my research some scholars argue that the book was intended as a satire and essentially a guide on how not to rule. Some say his foundation is built on the ability to gain power through deception.
Many of us have visions of how society should be run. For me in a perfect world everyone would be honest, the snake oil is gone, and we could believe every word that comes out of the mouths of our leaders. Realistically speaking that isn’t very practical at all. “Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not be good and use that knowledge or refrain from using it as necessity requires.” In other words, total honesty is not going to get you the vote. Telling the people “You don’t want to be poor, then go out and work ten times as hard…. follow these steps”, is not going to get someone elected. Politicians can’t be honest all the tim...
