Machiavelli's Ethical Theory as Expressed in the Prince and the Discourses

Western Political Theory Professor Roger Paden Authored by Jorge A. Osuna Concerning Machiavellis Philosophy Niccolò Machiavelli was a very complex thinker who displayed his thought through several(prenominal) works. There is strong biographical evidence that suggests that the author worked on The Prince and The Discourses at the same time, writing the formers inaugural draft in 1513 and starting to write the latter during the same year. It is obvious then that in orderliness to understand the gist of The Prince we cannot restrict ourselves only to its lines, but we must look beyond into Machiavellis other writings, much(prenominal) as The Discourses, to achieve a general understanding of his philosophy, and to better appreciate the full limn he wished to put together. It is evident that Machiavelli drastically separated himself from rationalism, he did not bother to resort to abstruse hypotheses to discover the lawfulness, and sooner took a quite an empiricist approach when interpreting the world. He relied on his senses and dealt with the messy reality that these put in front of him: I consider decided that I must concern myself with the truth of the matter as facts show it rather than with any imaginative notion.

Yet many have fancied for themselves republics and principalities that have not been seen or known to exist in reality. For there is such a difference between how men digest and how they ought to live that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done learns his destruction rather than his preservation […] (The Prince, Chapter 15) Far from being a Utopian, Machiavelli analyzed tarradiddle from a human perspective, separating himself from the Christian view of history seen as providential. He tried to discover how to bring the most trade good to society in spite of what he considered humanitys inherent tendency to evil. This view, seen from a historical perspective, goes in confession of freedom, since those who follow the path of pure reason, and often claim to have found the... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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