|
 While
in prison, Tupac Shakur studied in depth the
teachings of the political philosopher
Machiavelli. Tupac said he learned a lot
from reading Machiavelli's books,
particularly
The
Prince and
The
Art Of War.
After
his release from prison, Tupac began using
the name Makaveli to represent his new way
of thinking.
Niccoló
Machiavelli (1469-1527)
ALSO: Niccoló Macchiavelli
"Men
are always wicked at bottom unless they are
made good by some compulsion."
Biography:
The
first great political philosopher of the
Renaissance was Nicolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527). His famous treatise,
The
Prince, stands apart from all other
political writings of the period insofar as
it focus on the practical problems a monarch
faces in staying in power, rather than more
speculative issues explaining the foundation
of political authority. As such, it is an
expression of real politic, that is,
governmental policy based on retaining power
rather than pursuing ideals.
Machiavelli
was born in Florence, Italy at a time when
the country was in political upheaval .
Italy was divided between four dominant
city-states, and each of these was
continually at the mercy of the stronger
foreign governments of Europe. Since 1434
Florence was ruled by the wealthy Medici
family. Their rule was temporarily
interrupted by a reform movement, begun in
1494, in which the young Machiavelli became
an important diplomat. When the Medici
family regained power in 1512 with the help
of Spanish troops, Machiavelli was tortured
and removed from public life. For the next
10 years he devoted himself to writing
history, political philosophy, and even
plays. He ultimately gained favour with the
Medici family and was called back to public
duty for the last two years of his life.
Machiavelli's greatest work is
The
Prince, written in 1513 and published
after his death in 1532. The work
immediately provoked controversy and was
soon condemned by Pope Clement VIII. Its
main theme is that princes should retain
absolute control of their territories, and
they should use any means of expediency to
accomplish this end, including deceit.
Scholars struggle over interpreting
Machiavelli's precise point. In several
section Machiavelli praises Caesar Borgia, a
Spanish aristocrat who became a notorious
and much despised tyrant of the Romagna
region of northern Italy. During
Machiavelli's early years as a diplomat, he
was in contact with Borgia and witnessed
Borgia's rule first hand. Does Machiavelli
hold up Borgia as the model prince? Some
readers initially saw
The
Prince as a satire on absolute rulers
such as Borgia, which showed the repugnance
of arbitrary power (thereby implying the
importance of liberty). However, this theory
fell apart when, in 1810, a letter by
Machiavelli was discovered in which he
reveals that he wrote
The
Prince to endear himself to the ruling
Medici family in Florence. To liberate Italy
from the influence of foreign governments,
Machiavelli explains that strong indigenous
governments are important, even if they are
absolutist.
The
Prince. Machiavelli opens
The
Prince describing the two principal
types of governments: monar chies
and republics. His focus in
The
Prince is on monarchies. The most
controversial aspects of Machiavelli's
analysis emerge in the middle chapters of
his work. In Chapter 15 he proposes to
describe the truth about surviving as a
monarch, rather than recommending lofty
moral ideals. He describes those virtues
which, on face value, we think a prince
should possess. He concludes that some
"virtues" will lead to a prince's
destruction, whereas some "vices"
allow him to survive. Indeed, the virtues
which we commonly praise in people might
lead to his downfall. In chapter 16 he notes
that we commonly think that it is best for a
prince to have a reputation of being
generous. However, if his generosity is done
in secret, no one will know about it and he
will be thought to be greedy. If it is done
openly, then he risks going broke to
maintain
 his
reputation. He will then extort more money
from his subjects and thus be hated. For
Machiavelli, it is best for a prince to have
a reputation for being stingy. Machiavelli
anticipates examples one might give of
generous monarchs who have been successful.
He concludes that generosity should only be
shown to soldiers with goods taken from a
pillaged enemy city. In Chapter 17 he argues
that it is better for a prince to be severe
when punishing people rather than merciful.
Severity through death sentences affects
only a few, but it deters crimes which
affects many. Further, he argues, it is
better to be feared than to be loved.
However, the prince should avoid being
hated, which he can easily accomplish by not
confiscating the property of his subjects:
"people more quickly forget the death
of their father than the loss of their
inheritance." In Chapter 18, perhaps
the most controversial section of The
Prince, Machiavelli argues that the prince
should know how to be deceitful when it
suits his purpose. When
The
Prince needs to be deceitful, though, he
must not appear that way. Indeed he must
always exhibit five virtues in particular:
mercy, honesty, humaneness, uprightness, and
religiousness. In Chapter 19 Machiavelli
argues that the prince must avoid doing
things which will cause him to be hated.
This is accomplished by not confiscating
property, and not appearing greedy or
wishy-washy. In fact, the best way to avoid
being overthrown is to avoid being hated.
Buy
The
Prince - Buy
The
Art Of War
credit
to tupacfans.com for producing the article.
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