|
||
Biography:
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian political philosopher who is best known
his book The Prince. Written in 1513 more as an attempt to gain favor with the ruling
Medici family, it was a practical guide of how to establish political stability
through the use of arbitrary power. What made this book different, however, is the
fact that Machiavelli grounded his arguments solely in terms of finding the best
methods for attaining the desired ends - thus, that the ends justified the means, no
matter what they were. Abstract moral concerns were ignored completely in the effort
to explain how an autocratic ruler might go about imposing his will.
Thus the term machiavellian came into the English language as a label for any system where the ends justify the means and ethics play no role.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
