POLB72H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Medes, Cesare Borgia, Class Conflict
Document Summary
Lecture 5 niccolo machiavelli (fortune, power and the object of the state) Conventional interpretations of machiavelli: amoral = no moral content to be used to decide if actions are good/bad. Immoral = the actions taken by rulers are not moral. Celebrates the pursuit of power for its own sake. Condones the use of ruthless violence: the ends (the pursuit unrestrained power) justifies the means (ruthless violence) A (cid:448)aria(cid:374)t of thras(cid:455)(cid:373)a(cid:272)us"s (cid:373)ight is right approa(cid:272)h i(cid:374) politi(cid:272)s. Machiavelli biography: born in 1469 and died in 1527 in renaissance florence. Machiavelli did not return to politics after he was exiled: the prince was published in 1532 and the discourses was published in 1531. The former is treatise on acquiring and securing a principality while the latter is concerned with the founding and consolidation of a republic. He"s i(cid:374)terested i(cid:374) po(cid:449)er and wanted to create unity in italy. He thought that italy was divided and enslaved.
