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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper which examines five key themes from Machiavelli’s political treatise, explains its relevance in contemporary international politics, and critiques Machiavelli based on the readings of Aquinas’ most influential philosophical texts, with specific references to happiness, ethics, and law. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGprinceaq.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
worlds most influential - not to mention controversial - instructors of political philosophy. His sixteenth-century political treatise, The Prince (which was not published for the masses until after his
death), was essentially written to serve as a step-by-step, "how to" handbook designed to educate Lorenzo de Medici on the edicts of effective princely leadership. Machiavelli applied his views
on human nature and his knowledge of the international politics of his time to prepare the young Medici for the challenges that he would face one day. He was
a realist who had no interested in presenting an idealized portrait of humanity. The Prince is brutally frank, and depicts human beings as flawed, easily corruptible, and not always
motivated by the most divine or purest intentions. This cements the foundations of five central themes that are crucial to a greater understanding of the text.
First, Machiavelli asserted that contrary to the writings of earlier Christian scholars like Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), human nature is not always humane. In
The Prince he observed, "One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain" (Machiavelli 56). Men, Machiavelli
argued, were by nature more interested in their own good than in achieving the common good, and if the two came into conflict, selfish interests would invariably prevail. In
keeping with this theme, Machiavelli added that virtue is not necessary for the goodness of the state. He maintained, "People are fickle by nature; and it is simple to
convince them of something but difficult to hold them in that conviction" (Machiavelli 22). Furthermore, should man "discover that something which appears to be a virtue, if pursued, will
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