The Prince Questions and Answers
The Prince
What are the qualities of the ideal prince according to Machiavelli?
For the prince to maintain power, it is important that he act ruthlessly if necessary. Contrary to popular belief, Machiavelli is not endorsing blood-soaked tyranny. He's simply saying that, under...
The Prince
According to Machiavelli, what roles do fate and fortune play in life?
Machiavelli makes a distinction between those who rise to become princes through their own abilities and those who are merely fortunate, admiring the former more and remarking that their positions...
The Prince
Why does Machiavelli liken Fortune to a woman in The Prince?
In The Prince, we could argue that Niccolò Machiavelli compares fortune to women for sexist reasons. In his comparison, Machiavelli brings in many toxic tropes about women, including the belief...
The Prince
Is it better for a ruler to be feared or loved and why?
According to Machiavelli, it is better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved. This is the case, he says, because a ruler who is feared is less likely to be overthrown. In other words,...
The Prince
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to being the kind of leader Machiavelli describes?
There are several advantages to being the kind of ideal ruler that Machiavelli recommends in The Prince. Most importantly, you're much more likely to hold onto power. If you follow Machiavelli's...
The Prince
What kinds of historical examples does Machiavelli use to demonstrate his ideas in The Prince? How does his choice of...
Machiavelli places his most famous work, The Prince, well in the tradition of other humanist works which were very popular during the Renaissance. Humanism draws heavily on using examples of actual...
The Prince
What were the three major themes of The Prince by Machiavelli?
The first main theme is politics. The Prince was written as a manual for new rulers who desired complete control. Machiavelli argued that the prince must maintain sovereignty over his subjects....
The Prince
What are Machiavelli's views regarding liberality?
First, it is important to establish that "liberality" for Machiavelli means willingness to spend lavishly, not any political ideology in the way the term is used today. With that in mind,...
The Prince
What is the main criticism that people in the modern age have of Machiavelli's ideas (as shown in The Prince)?
The main criticism that modern readers level at Machiavelli is that his notion that the "ends justify the means," when put in practice by governments, can lead to horrific consequences. In a modern...
The Prince
What was Machiavelli's main purpose in The Prince?
In 1511, Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was in the service of Piero Soderini, the Prior of the Florence Republic, as an ambassador to Pope Julius II, and to Cesare Borgia as Secretary of the...
The Prince
In regardst to The Prince, why is Machiavelli considered the first political realist?
Machiavelli is considered the first political realist because he argued in The Prince that a ruler does not have to be virtuous but merely appear virtuous to the people. In fact, he goes on to say,...
The Prince
Should a prince be liberal with money or stingy according to Machiavelli in The Prince?
As Machiavelli explains in Chapter 16 of The Prince, it is better to be stingy, though he notes that it can be advantageous to cultivate a reputation for generosity. However, the lavish displays...
The Prince
What advice does Machiavelli give about why a prudent ruler should not keep a promise?
Machiavelli advises his audience that Princes should not keep promises, nor live uprightly, if they intend on keeping their power. He argues that in the time The Prince was written, those Princes...
The Prince
Why did the pope ban "The Prince" by Machiavelli in 1559?
Though the conventional view of The Prince is that it promotes a supposedly amoral ideology for political leaders to embrace, this is probably not the only reason the religious authorities banned...
The Prince
What Was Machiavelli's View Of Human Nature
Machiavelli takes a very cynical, jaded view of human nature that can be summed up by the following statement in Chapter 17, "Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether It is Better to Be Feared...
The Prince
How does Machiavelli think a ruler should act?
Niccolo Machiavelli’s early-sixteenth century The Prince is considered a treatise on how rulers should conduct themselves and handle affairs of state, should they wish to survive. Machiavelli was...
The Prince
What are 10 characteristics essential for a prince to rule successfully?
The Prince flew in the face of a prevailing theory that a virtuous prince would rule most successfully. Instead Machiavelli advised that too much virtue could be the downfall of a ruler and that...
The Prince
Could you explain what the quote means in Ch. 17 of The Prince when the discussion is about fear and love?
This question refers to one of the most famous statements in all of Machiavelli, regarding the question of whether it is better to rule by fear than love. Machiavelli, in answering this question,...
The Prince
Which of Machiavelli's ideas did you find the most intriguing in The Prince?
Machiavelli's most prevalent and well-known idea is perhaps the most impactful, in large part due to its controversy. I will address this concept for those reasons and because I believe it is the...
The Prince
What was the influence of Renaissance Humanism in The Prince?
Machiavelli was greatly influenced by humanist thought when composing his seminal work, The Prince. Humanism concerns the potential for power that individuals have in determining their fate and...
The Prince
Arguing against Machiavelli, why is it better to be loved than feared?
Machiavelli actually says it is “safer” to be feared than loved. He bases this assertion on the premise that men are “thankless, fickle, false, studious to avoid danger, greedy of gain, devoted to...
The Prince
One of Machiavelli's arguments in "The Prince" is that a leader must only maintain the appearance of morality in...
While I hate to say it I totally agree with Machiavelli on many points including this one. When I first began studying Machiavelli I thought his system was too black and white and way too cold, but...
The Prince
How does Robert Mugabe exemplify the ideas of The Prince by Machiavelli?
As was the case with Hugo Chavez (or with any ruler we see as bad), Mugabe exemplifies the idea that a ruler should care only about maintaining his own power. All ideas about ethics or about...
The Prince
What kinds of states does Machiavelli describe in The Prince?
Machiavelli writes, at the beginning of chapter 1, that "All states...have been and are either republics or principalities." As the title suggests, almost all of The Prince is devoted to analysis...
The Prince
What was Machiavelli's opinion of mankind?
In The Prince, Machiavelli depicts humankind as far more motivated by fear than by love. Since The Prince is a work about how a prince can best maintain his power, Machiavelli advises princes to...
The Prince
In The Prince, what, according to Machiavelli, are the disadvantages of the various routes to power?
Machiavelli discusses the prince's acquisition of power in relation to the acquisition of territories. He draws a distinction between hereditary and composite principalities. The acquisition of...
The Prince
What is the role of armies, according to Machiavelli in The Prince?
At the time when Machiavelli wrote The Prince most Italian states relied on mercenaries for their defense. Machiavelli's own Republic of Florence was one such state, much to Machiavelli's...
The Prince
In The Prince, what does Machiavelli state as ways for a prince to gain fame and public approval?
In The Prince, Machiavelli makes a dramatic break from former advice books to princes by distinguishing between virtue and the perception of virtue. To Machiavelli, it is more important for a...
The Prince
Who does Machiavelli refer to in The Prince, and how does he refer to them?
The Prince is replete with examples of contemporary leaders, whom Machiavelli uses to support his arguments about how a prince should behave if he wants to be successful. He points, for example, to...
The Prince
What does "to be feared is much safer than to be loved" mean in The Prince?
Niccolo Machiavelli is best known for his idea (which was groundbreaking at the time) that a ruler should not worry too much about morality. He said that rulers should, instead, do whatever was...
The Prince
How does Machiavelli show humanist values and teachings through his works The Prince and Discourses?
Humanism is evident in both works and in both senses of the word. As has already been mentioned in a previous contribution, Machiavelli cites a number of examples of classical wisdom—Livy being an...
The Prince
What kind of political impact did The Prince by Machiavelli have?
The Prince was infamous among political and intellectual circles during the Early Modern Era. To quote from the introduction to The Portable Machiavelli: "It is a remarkable book, one which...
The Prince
Compare pragmatism in modern politics and in Machiavilli's time in The Prince. Compare pragmatism in modern politics...
Even in Machiavelli's own time, his ideas were regarded as immoral by many, and the ruthless, cunning, cynical, exploitative "Machiavel" became a stereotypical figure on the Elizabethan stage....
The Prince
In The Prince, What is Machiavelli's basic argument on the question of whether a ruler ought to be loved or feared?
The answer to this question can be found in Chapter XVII of The Prince. Here Machiavelli observes that, given a choice, rulers would obviously want to be loved and feared. But if this is...
The Prince
What is Machiavelli's guidance to a prince in a mixed principality?
Mixed principalities are countries comprised of both the prince's original holdings and new territories he has taken over. Machiavelli says that ruling a mixed territory is tricky, because people...
The Prince
What kind of states does Machiavelli describe in The Prince and how do they differ from one another?
In The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli goes to great lengths to illustrate the different kinds of kingdoms a prince may acquire and the relative advantages to each of them. Machiavelli begins his...
The Prince
Humanist revival of Greek and Roman texts and the promotion of secular models for individual and political behavior...
There are really two parts to this question. The first deals with the concept of humanism that gained sway during the Renaissance in Italy and beyond. The second addresses the related issue of...
The Prince
When Was The Prince Published?
The publication date of Machiavelli's The Prince is generally given as 1532. This is the year in which Pope Clement VII, a cousin of the Duke of Urbino, to whom Machiavelli had dedicated his work,...
The Prince
Why did Machiavelli write The Prince?
Machiavelli's main motivation in writing The Prince was his profound frustration and anger at the contemporary political situation in Italy. At that time, the Italian peninsula was divided up into...
The Prince
In "The Prince," what does Machiavelli say is the best way to maintain hereditary, mixed, civil, and ecclesiastical...
(continued from previous answer) "now to speak of ecclesiastical principalities, touching which all difficulties are prior to getting possession, because they are acquired either by capacity...
The Prince
How would Machiavelli critique our contemporary society? What things might he condemn, and what might he praise? What...
Well, in regards to your first question, it's important to understand that Machiavelli is NOT talking about democratic rulers, he is talking about autocratic rulers; therefore, not all of the...
The Prince
Renaissance humanism was an intellectual movement based on the study of the classical literary works and the...
Renaissance humanism is considered to have first developed in Florence, Italy, beginning in the 14thC. for a variety of reasons, and perhaps the two most important are the rise of the Medici...
The Prince
How does The Prince symbolize the humanist revival of Greek and Roman texts and promote secular models?
Machiavelli was a true child of the Renaissance. He was a thoroughgoing humanist who looked fondly to antiquity for models of learning, wisdom and statesmanship. The Prince stands as a monument to...
The Prince
What are 10 characteristics that are essential for a Prince to rule successfully as stated in Machiavelli's The Prince?
You might want to concentrate on chapters 15 through 23. They concentrate on the qualities that a Prince should cultivate to be successful. If you take a quick glance at the subtitles you should...
The Prince
According to Machiavelli in The Prince, what sorts of principalities are there?
There are two kinds of principalities according to Machiavelli. They are hereditary principalities and new principalities. To define hereditary principalities didn't occur to Machiavelli, so there...
The Prince
What were Machiavelli's views on power? What would some historic or current examples be?
The work that Machiavelli is most famous for is titled "The Prince," though it was not published during his lifetime. The reason why it stood out at the time it was published was because it was...
The Prince
What, according to Machiavelli in The Prince, were the basic criteria essential for a good prince?
Machiavelli, in The Prince, espoused qualities of initiative and calculated ruthlessness: this second part is particularly important, because Machiavelli is sometimes misunderstood on this account....
The Prince
Expand on Machiavelli's words in The Prince: "The way we really live and the way we ought to live."
Lord Macaulay notes in his essay on Machiavelli that The Prince was so shocking both to Machiavelli's contemporaries and to succeeding generations that they strove to account for it by various...
The Prince
What is Machiavelli's basic argument on the question of whether a ruler ought to be loved or feared?
Machiavelli definitely believed that it was better to be feared than to be loved. He said that it was best of all to be both feared and loved, but that the two rarely go together. The major...
The Prince
According to The Prince, would a Machiavellian leader be likely to lie to his subjects in order to avoid scandal or...
A Machiavellian leader should lie to his subjects if it is necessary. A leader has to always act in ways that will make his people respect him, even if this means that he has to break his word....
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