The Mack Attack Niccolo Machiavelli The Ultimate Gangster

The Mack AttackNiccolo Machiavelli The Ultimate Gangster

The Prince: A Review of chapter 17

Of Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved or

Feared

The Prince: A Review of chapter 17Of Cruelty and Clemency, and

Whether It Is Better to Be Loved or Feared

1. cruel or kind?2. loved or feared?3. reply to whether it is better to be loved or feared4. explain fear5. when to be cruel and armies6. example of cruelty and armies7. conclusion


1. cruel or kind?

what do you think is one of the key quotes in the first paragraph?

“A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and faithful”


2. loved or feared?

what does Machiavelli say?

Better to be feared and loved but if a prince must choose the choose____________fear but not so much that you

are hated

of course he said feared because of the nature of mankind


He goes into detail about the nature of mankind.Men in general, he says, are ungrateful, eager to avoid danger, and selfishThey should never be trusted

Men don’t care about breaking their word to one they love because love is held together by obligation which, men being selfish, will break whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.


So, if man can’t be trusted then how can you appeal to their nobler side? It doesn’t exist.

How can you ask him to act against his own self-interest? That is the only interest he recognizes


But...be careful not to be feared so much you become hated....Do not take their property.If you must kill a subject let it be for good reason but this is not as important as refraining (preventing) from taking their property

Men forget the death of their father but they never forgive the taking of their property


It’s different concerning an army


It is different when a prince is head of an army - then he should not mind being labeled cruel

indeed this is a desirable reputation when leading an army

he uses the examples of Hannibal and Scipio to prove this point


men love freely but fear at a Prince’s will

Conclusion:


Machiavelli wanted to strip away all the fake pretenses of the world and look at reality. To do this he came up with a theory of human conduct based not upon the Christian ethic, but upon what he observed.

Chapter 17 lesson

this is an important chapter because here Machiavelli spells out his view of the nature of man -

Student reading, relabeling paragraphs of chapter 18 and chapter 19 of The Prince.

Directions: Students are to: 1) number each paragraph (if book copy) and write titles or headings of each paragraph. Headings don't have to be elaborate - can use words in the paragraph where appropriate. They can identify the functions of the paragraphs to indicate which paragraphs summarize what had gone on before, which paragraphs provide examples, and which paragraphs defined terms. Ex: "summary of paragraphs 1-5" or "Examples of ______" or "______ Defined" p.58

The Prince:

Homework

Chapter 18

The Prince: The Prince: Chapters 18 and 19

In What Ways Princes Must Keep Faith (keep his word)

Chapter 18


This chapter speaks of the ways in which a Prince may keep good faith, and the conditions in which good faith must be ignored

Chapter 18


1. Good faith2. two methods of fighting3. fox or lion4. modern example5. appearances6. be careful with appearances

Chapter 18


OK Machiavelli says...we all know it is good if a Prince keeps his word and preserve his integrity but still many Princes who didn’t keep their word (double dealing) were successful anyway

Chapter 18


There are two methods of fighting:by law (the way of men)by force (the way of the beast)

if the first method (law) doesn’t work then a Prince must use the second (force)

a wise Prince will learn to use both

Chapter 18


Achilles is given as an example of knowing law and forcebut the next paragraph is likely the most famous: can you guess what it is?“A prince who must act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion. For the lion cannot protect himself from traps and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One therefore be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves. Those who wish to be only lions do not understand this. Therefore a prudent (wise) ruler ought not to keep the faith when by doing so it would be against his interest, and the reasons which made him bind himself no longer exist”

Chapter 18The Prince: Chapters 18 and 19

He concludes that it is not necessary for the Prince to be merciful, humane, kind, and faithful although it may be necessary to appear to have those qualities.He notes it may be dangerous for a Prince to

have those qualities because they limit his range of actionsThis is especially true of new princes who have to consolidate their power (they must act ruthlessly against any and all opponents)

Chapter 19


That We Must Avoid Being Despised and Hated

Chapter 19


It is the longest chapter of the book....having dropped the bombshells in the previous chapter, here he buttresses (defends) his arguments

Chapter 19


What do you think those rules are?1. A Prince must be firm- a show of strength discourages enemies2. Such a Prince will have a great reputation, and it is difficult to engage in conspiracies against such a ruler

Chapter 19

The Prince: The Prince: Chapters 18 and 19A prince only has 2 fears: those involving subjects (citizens) and those involving foreign enemies

A prince can deal w/ foreign enemies if he has strong army and good soldiers (and a good prince always does)

Internal matters will remain stable since the foreign threat will be limited (see above) and his reputation will ensure stability within the citizentry - especially if he avoids being hated and despised (see previous rules)

Chapter 19


Even those who plot against a prince are unlikely to succeed because they will need companion conspirators. Those conspirators will quickly see the benefit of “turning in” the other conspirators to the Prince - they will gain his favor. So those who join a rebellion are the most likely to be the ones to make it fail.

Machiavelli then gives examples to prove his point

Chapter 19


What does he conclude?

Hatred can be gained as much by good works as by evil- so a prince might as well do evil if it accomplishes the ultimate goal

The Prince: The effects of this publication The Prince...

Italy: Pope is powerful and had no interest in unifying Italy under some other ruler....the Catholic Church declares Machiavelli evil and adds his publications to The Index: the banned book list

Europe: horrific religious wars of 1500s caused a lot of interest and hatred in Machiavelli

Britain: some 400 references in popular literature like Shakespeare’s Othello

Frederick The Great of Prussia: such a true Machiavellian he wrote a anti-Machiavelli booklet (which is exactly what Machiavelli would suggest a powerful prince should do)

The Prince:

The effects of this publication The Prince...

The Enlightenment: to these men Machiavelli’s disregard for natural laws was unpardonable.

The French Revolutionaries: Machiavelli’s contempt for the masses was unforgivable.

The Italian Unifiers like Garibaldi (1870): Machiavelli was considered the grandfather of Italian unification

Modern Times: his interest in nationalism has gained him the title Father of Modern Political Science

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The Mack Attack Niccolo Machiavelli The Ultimate Gangster