The mistakes of King Louis XII
-King Louis XII: Machiavelli uses the military and political
exploits of Louis XII in Italy as examples of what not to do in maintaining
power over a newly conquered territory. Louis XII makes several crucial
mistakes in his attempts to take Italy. Machiavelli, in describing the king's
mistakes, emphasizes one key point: that he who causes another to become
powerful ruins himself.
Leaders acquiring power through virtue
-To acquire states by
virtue is a matter of doing it by one’s own arms; and to do so by fortune is
often a matter of doing it with other people’s arms–this seems suggested by the
titles of P 6 and 7. It will also explain why in P 14 M categorically states
that “a prince should have no other object, nor any other thought, no take
anything else as his art but that of war and its orders and discipline; for
that is the only art which is of concern to one who commands. Acquiring power
through virtue is by working on it and by striving hard to achieve that thing
by our own self. Leaders gets power because they know how to work on it by
their own self they don’t depend on other people instead that they command to
have a good help from people.
Virtue is a physical
strength either potentially or as an actual force. Virtue is important to
Leaders because without this concept they can’t acquire so much power that they
wanted. Having a virtue is being independent Itself. Virtue is linked with mans
capacity to understand the world and control it.
Virtue,
then concerns the ability of human prudence, will, and action to control the
effects of human nature and history. But the highest and most powerful in
gaining power is through Virtue because it came from our own idea and in our
own strength without the involvement of others. And most importantly it came
from our own hands and own power.
Leaders Acquiring power through Fortune relying on the good
will of others.(Cesare Borja )
Cesare Borgia is an example of a prince who
came to power through fortune, but lost his power through an unfavorable change
in fortune, even though he was a great leader and did almost everything right.
Princes who come to power through evil means may gain power but not glory
because of their conduct. Those who come to power by civil means (election by
the nobles or the people) must remember to win the support of the people
because they are crucial in times of adversity. Machiavelli also mentions the
ecclesiastical principality with the pope as the ecclesiastical prince.
In describing how the
position of pope has come to wield much power, Machiavelli does not make a
great distinction between a religious prince and a territorial prince. Cesare
Borgia is considered by Machiavelli to have been a most capable leader and the
embodiment of what a prince should be. Fortune thus personifies the accidental,
the unforeseen and often unfortunate things in life. Leaders acquire power
through fortune and by relying the good will of others its like depending the
good will of people.
Machiavelli views human
virtue as associated with the ability to control fortune. Those who will rise
of power is through fortune and the arms of others. Since virtue and fortune
are not mutually exclusive terms, the amount of luck a man has bears no
necessary relation to his personal abilities. It is therefore possible to
consider the case of a man unusually indebted to fortune while possessing
unusual ability with which to counteract his dependence. Fortune is not given
to us it will eventually happen.
This is the case of Cesare Borgia :
Cesare Borgia, called Duke Valentino by
the vulgar, acquired his state through
the fortune of his father [Pope Alexander
VI] and lost it through the same,
notwithstanding the fact that he made use
of every deed and did all those things that
should be done by a prudent and virtuous
man to put his roots in the states that the
arms and fortune of others had given him.
Leaders
acquiring power through wickedness. The case of the King of Syracuse,
Agathocles of Sicily and that of Oliverotto of Fermo.
One
of the leaders that acquired their power through wickedness is the King of
Syracuse, Agathocles of Sicily. He was a son of a potter, through all the
changes in his fortunes always led an infamous life. Nevertheless he
accompanied his infamies, with the ability of mind and body through this he was
able rose as the Praetor of Syracuse. Using that position he deliberately
resolved to make himself prince and to seize by violence without obligation to
others, that which had been conceded to him by assent, he came to an
understanding for this purpose with Amilicar, the Carthaginian, who, with his
army, was fighting in Sicily.
He
assembled the senate and the people, who thought he was to discuss something
about the Republic, and at his signal his soldiers killed all the senators and
the wealthiest people. He then seized the princedom of the city in this manner,
and there was no civil commotion. Even though the Carthaginians routed him
twice, and ultimately besieged, but then he was able to defend his city and not
only defend it, but left part of his men to defend it and the other half
marched with him to attack Africa and in a short time raised the siege of Syracuse. Reduced to
extreme necessity, the Carthaginians was compelled to come to terms with
Agathocles, thereby leaving Sicily to him and had to be contented with the
possession of Africa.
It
is not considered a talent to deceive friends, kill fellow-citizens, to be
without faith, mercy, and religion. Such manner may gain you an empire but not
glory. Nevertheless, if the courage of Agathocles in entering into and
extricating himself from dangers be considered, and his greatness of mind in
enduring, overcoming the hardships. He should not be esteemed less than the
most notable captain. Nevertheless his barbaric ways and inhumanity with
infinite wickedness cannot be permitted for him to be celebrated among those
men of excellence. What he achieved cannot be attributed either to fortune or
genius.
Discuss
and Share: Raison D ‘etat; the end justifies the means; the State as sovereign,
autonomous and non-religious; double standard of morality; Human nature is low
and ungrateful; Popularity of the Prince; Council of wise Men Not of Flatters;
Separate of Politics and Religion; and Remaining free from Emotions
Raison
D ‘etat
It is define as a
purely political reason for action on the part of a ruler or government,
especially where a departure from openness, justice, or honesty is involved.
For Richelieu's concept of raison d'etat had no built-in limitations. How far
would one go before the interests of the state were deemed satisfied? How many
wars were needed to achieve security? Wilsonian idealism, proclaiming a
selfless policy, is possessed of the constant danger of neglecting the
interests of the state; Richelieu's raison d'etat threatens self-destructive
tours &force. That is what happened to France after Louis XIV assumed the
throne. Richelieu had be- queathed to the French kings a preponderantly strong
state with a weak and divided Germany and a decadent Spain on its borders. But
Louis XIV gained no peace of mind from security; he saw in it an opportunity
for conquest. In his overzealous pursuit of raison d'etat, Louis XIV alarmed
the rest of Europe and brought together an anti-French coalition which, in the
end, thwarted his design.
The end justifies the means
The Greek playwright Sophocles wrote ‘The end excuses any
evil’ the thought was later rendered by Ovid the Roman poet as ‘The result
justifies the deed’ in Heroides. Micheal Wigglesworth in his “Diary” again
offered another explanation to this phrase, he says “Anything is acceptable if
it leads to a successful result”.
Then we can conclude that these phrase would mean that no
matter how wicked a thing or plan is done or executed if its results have
created something for the betterment of it resulted to something great then the
deed made will not or does not matter anymore.
Double standard of morality
A double
standard is the application of different sets of principles for similar
situations, or by two different people in the same situation. A double
standard may take the form of an instance in which certain concepts (often, for
example, a word, phrase, social norm, or rule) are perceived as acceptable to
be applied by one group of people, but are considered unacceptable—taboo—when
applied by another group.
The
concept of a double standard has long been applied to the fact that different
moral structures are often applied to men and women in society.
A
double standard can therefore be described as a biased or morally unfair
application of the principle that all are equal in their freedoms. Such double
standards are seen as unjustified because they violate a
basic maxim of modern legal jurisprudence: that all parties
should stand equal before the law. Double standards also violate the principle
of justice known as impartiality, which is based on the
assumption that the same standards should be applied to all people, without
regard to subjective bias or favoritism based on social
class, rank, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual
orientation, age or other distinctions. A double standard violates this
principle by holding different people accountable according to different
standards. The phrase "life is not
fair" may be invoked in order to mollify concerns over double
standards.
Human nature is low and ungrateful
If
a prince can not be both feared and loved, Machiavelli suggests, it would be
better for him to be feared bey the citizens within his own principality. He
makes the generalization that men are, "...ungrateful, fickle, liars, and
deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them
well they are yours." He characterizes men as being self centered and not
willing to act in the best interest of the state,"and when the prince is
in danger they turn against him." Machiavelli reinforces the prince's need
to be feared by stating:
In
order to win honor, Machaivelli suggests that a prince must be readily willing
to deceive the citizens. One way is to "...show his esteem for talent
actively encouraging the able and honoring those who excel in their
professions...so that they can go peaceably about their business." By
encouraging citizens to excel at their professions he would also be encouraging
them to "...increase the prosperity of the their state." These
measures, though carried out in deception, would bring the prince honor and
trust amongst the citizens, especially those who were in the best positions to
oppose him.
Popularity of The Prince
Niccolo
Machiavelli's The Prince is
arguably the most popular book about politics ever written. Its observations
about human behavior are as true today as they were five hundred years ago. In
this book, Machiavelli offers advice to politicians regarding how to gain power
and how to keep it.
Although modern readers think that a
"prince" is someone who is destined to inherit control of his
country, the princes of Machiavelli's time were by no means that secure: the
prince had to be careful to keep the support of his citizens if he wanted to
remain in power. The methods that Machiavelli suggests for leaders to keep
public support are just as relevant for today's elected officials as they were
for leaders of the sixteenth century.
Council of wise Men Not of Flatterers
A prince who is not experienced
should take counsel from more than one he will never get united counsels, nor
will he know how to unite them. Each of the counselors will think of his own
interests, and the prince will not know how to control them or to see through
them. And they are not to be found otherwise, because men will always prove
untrue to you unless they are kept honest by constraint. Therefore it must be
inferred that good counsels, whence soever they come, are born of the wisdom of
the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.
Separate of Politics and Religion
The separation
of church and state is the distance in the relationship
between organized religion and the nation state.
Although
the concept of separation has been adopted in a number of countries, there are
varying degrees of separation depending on the applicable legal structures and
prevalent views toward the proper role of religion in society. While a
country's policy may be to have a definite distinction in church and state,
there may be an "arm's length distance" relationship in which the two
entities interact as independent organizations. A similar but typically
stricter principle of laïcité has
been applied in France and Turkey, while some socially secularized countries
such as Denmark and the United Kingdom have maintained constitutional
recognition of an official state religion. The concept parallels various
other international social and political ideas,
including secularism, disestablishment, religious liberty, and
religious pluralism.
The
degree of separation varies from total separation mandated by
a constitution, as in India and Singapore; to an official
religion with total prohibition of the practice of any other religion, as
in the Maldives.
Remaining free from emotions
Remaining free from one’s emotions especially when one is
making critical decisions, because this can cloud logic and hence it will
result to poor decision making and can result to damages. Take for example when
one is so angry and decides to let anger take over him/her and so then the
person will do things or say things that when one is finally sober of the
overwhelming anger will come to realize and regret the things one has said and
done. So then we can say that when one has to make critical or make decisions for
a serious matter it is much better to set aside emotions.
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