Moreover, Machiavelli also believed that when leaders are not moral, it’s important they pretend they are to keep up appearances. “A prince must always seem to be very moral, even if he is not,” he wrote. Fortune and Virtù Finally, leaders must not rely on luck, Machiavelli wrote, ...
free of foreign oppression. Machiavelli believed that any means of strengthening the state were acceptable, including violence, murder, deception, and treachery. This is the origin of the term “Machiavellianism,” which signifies a policy that disregards the laws of morality. He sharply condemned ...
There is a difference because of the characteristicmoral dilemmathat occurs with political power. The lives of many, the "whole nation," depend on Caiaphas; and if he must truly chose between the innocent lives of many and the innocent life of one, then, however unpleasant, disturbing, or r...
Magnificent one, my most respected superior. I was sitting on the toilet when your messenger arrived, and just at that moment I was mulling over the absurdities of this world; I was completely absorbed in imagining my style of preacher for Florence: he should be just what would please me, ...
That required wealthy powers–families or governments–to value humanism and have the resources to spend on it. Powers like the Medici, and Florence’s Republican government, were convinced to spend their money on libraries and humanism because they believed it would bring them glory, strength, ...