Machiavellian Folly in The Prince Essay -- Machiavelli The Prince Essa

Machiavellian Folly in The Prince      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the annals of history, many individuals have contributed great works of literature, waxing philosophically on the meaning of life, death, and love.  Ã‚   Niccolo Machiavelli wrote not on love or life, but on power:   How to capture it, how to consolidate it, and how to defend it against all comers.   His work has been talked about and dissected to the extent that his subject matter and methods have earned their own moniker:   Machiavellian.   Nonetheless, this great philosopher's works did not meet with unanimous approval.   His own student, Thomas Hobbes, presented a very different account of politics.   This essay offers a Hobbesian critique of some of Machiavelli's arguments, focusing in and around the ninth chapter of The Prince.   Although Machiavelli and Hobbes share many of the same views - like the moral depravity of the human character and the absence of natural justice - Hobbes differs from Machiavelli in three key respects:   The position of glory and honour, the role of competition, and the function of the state.    Hobbes and Machiavelli share the same understanding of human character.   Machiavelli wrote during a time when people believed in absolute moral virtue.   But as Machiavelli struck pen to paper, he rebelled from this norm.   Having criticized Christian doctrine in Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli proceeds in The Prince to outline a sinister, ruthless understanding of virtue.   Hidden deep within this dark design is his greatest contribution to modern politics:   Rationalism.1   Machiavelli was the first philosopher to employ a truly pragmatic approach to politics.  Ã‚   He examined human beings in light of their motives, their desires, and their fears.   While other philosoph... ...ts of the citizenry.    BIBLIOGRAPHY: Curley, Edwin [Ed.].   Hobbes, Thomas.   Leviathan.   Hackett Publishing Company, United States of America;   1994 Mansfield, Harvey C. [Trans.].   Machiavelli, Niccolo.   The Prince.   University of Chicago Press, Chicago;   1998    1 Sometimes referred to as Realism. 2 Pangle, Thomas.   Class Lecture.   Jan. 25, 1999 3 Mansfield, Harvey C. [trans]   Machiavelli, The Prince.   Ch. XVII.   P. 66 4 Curley, Edwin [ed.].   Hobbes, Thomas.   Leviathan.   P. 58 5 Mansfield, Harvey C. [trans]   Machiavelli, The Prince.   P. x 6 Curley, Edwin [ed.].   Hobbes, Thomas.   Leviathan.   P. 76 7 Ibid.   P. 78 ** Emphasis added in translation. 8 "Good" here refers to the conventional, Biblical and Aristotelian understanding. 9 Mansfield, Harvey C. [trans]   Machiavelli, The Prince.   P. 62 10 Ibid.   P. 71   

Deception Point Page 49

Marjorie Tench's raspy voice echoed in her mind. Are you aware that Sexton is accepting bribes from private aerospace companies? Gabrielle's pulse began racing as she gazed down the darkened hallway toward the archway that led into the senator's den. She knew she should speak up, announce her presence, and yet she felt herself inching quietly forward. She moved to within a few feet of the archway and stood soundlessly in the shadows†¦ listening to the conversation beyond. 55 While Delta-Three stayed behind to collect Norah Mangor's body and the sled, the other two soldiers accelerated down the glacier after their quarry. On their feet they wore ElektroTread-powered skis. Modeled after the consumer Fast Trax motorized skis, the classified ElektroTreads were essentially snow skis with miniaturized tank treads affixed-like snowmobiles worn on the feet. Speed was controlled by pushing the tips of the index finger and thumb together, compressing two pressure plates inside the right-hand glove. A powerful gel battery was molded around the foot, doubling as insulation and allowing the skis to run silently. Ingeniously, the kinetic energy generated by gravity and the spinning treads as the wearer glided down a hill was automatically harvested to recharge the batteries for the next incline. Keeping the wind at his back, Delta-One crouched low, skimming seaward as he surveyed the glacier before him. His night vision system was a far cry from the Patriot model used by the Marines. Delta-One was looking through a hands-free face mount with a 40 x 90 mm six-element lens, three-element Magnification Doubler, and Super Long Range IR. The world outside appeared in a translucent tint of cool blue, rather than the usual green-the color scheme especially designed for highly reflective terrains like the Arctic. As he approached the first berm, Delta-One's goggles revealed several bright stripes of freshly disturbed snow, rising up and over the berm like a neon arrow in the night. Apparently the three escapees had either not thought to unhook their makeshift sail or had been unable to. Either way, if they had not released by the final berm, they were now somewhere out in the ocean. Delta-One knew his quarry's protective clothing would lengthen the usual life expectancy in the water, but the relentless offshore currents would drag them out to sea. Drowning would be inevitable. Despite his confidence, Delta-One had been trained never to assume. He needed to see bodies. Crouching low, he pressed his fingers together and accelerated up the first incline. Michael Tolland lay motionless, taking stock of his bruises. He was battered, but he sensed no broken bones. He had little doubt the gel-filled Mark IX had saved him any substantial trauma. As he opened his eyes, his thoughts were slow to focus. Everything seemed softer here†¦ quieter. The wind still howled, but with less ferocity. We went over the edge-didn't we? Focusing, Tolland found he was lying on ice, draped across Rachel Sexton, almost at right angles, their locked carabiners twisted. He could feel her breathing beneath him, but he could not see her face. He rolled off her, his muscles barely responding. â€Å"Rachel†¦?† Tolland wasn't sure if his lips were making sound or not. Tolland recalled the final seconds of their harrowing ride-the upward drag of the balloon, the payload cable snapping, their bodies plummeting down the far side of the berm, sliding up and over the final mound, skimming toward the edge-the ice running out. Tolland and Rachel had fallen, but the fall had been oddly short. Rather than the expected plunge to the sea, they had fallen only ten feet or so before hitting another slab of ice and sliding to a stop with the dead weight of Corky in tow. Now, raising his head, Tolland looked toward the sea. Not far away, the ice ended in a sheer cliff, beyond which he could hear the sounds of the ocean. Looking back up the glacier, Tolland strained to see into the night. Twenty yards back, his eyes met a high wall of ice, which seemed to hang above them. It was then that he realized what had happened. Somehow they had slid off the main glacier onto a lower terrace of ice. This section was flat, as large as a hockey rink, and had partially collapsed-preparing to cleave off into the ocean at any moment. Ice calving, Tolland thought, eyeing the precarious platform of ice on which he was now lying. It was a broad square slab that hung off the glacier like a colossal balcony, surrounded on three sides by precipices to the ocean. The sheet of ice was attached to the glacier only at its back, and Tolland could see the connection was anything but permanent. The boundary where the lower terrace clung to the Milne Ice Shelf was marked by a gaping pressure fissure almost four feet across. Gravity was well on its way to winning this battle. Almost more frightening than seeing the fissure was Tolland's seeing the motionless body of Corky Marlinson crumpled on the ice. Corky lay ten yards away at the end of a taut tether attached to them. Tolland tried to stand up, but he was still attached to Rachel. Repositioning himself, he began detaching their interlocking carabiners. Rachel looked weak as she tried to sit up. â€Å"We didn't†¦ go over?† Her voice was bewildered. â€Å"We fell onto a lower block of ice,† Tolland said, finally unfastening himself from her. â€Å"I've got to help Corky.† Painfully, Tolland attempted to stand, but his legs felt feeble. He grabbed the tether and heaved. Corky began sliding toward them across the ice. After a dozen or so pulls, Corky was lying on the ice a few feet away. Corky Marlinson looked beaten. He'd lost his goggles, suffered a bad cut on his cheek, and his nose was bleeding. Tolland's worries that Corky might be dead were quickly allayed when Corky rolled over and looked at Tolland with an angry glare. â€Å"Jesus,† he stammered. â€Å"What the hell was that little trick!† Tolland felt a wave of relief. Rachel sat up now, wincing. She looked around. â€Å"We need to†¦ get off of here. This block of ice looks like it's about to fall.† Tolland couldn't have agreed more. The only question was how. They had no time to consider a solution. A familiar high-pitched whir became audible above them on the glacier. Tolland's gaze shot up to see two white-clad figures ski effortlessly up onto the edge and stop in unison. The two men stood there a moment, peering down at their battered prey like chess masters savoring checkmate before the final kill. Delta-One was surprised to see the three escapees alive. He knew, however, this was a temporary condition. They had fallen onto a section of the glacier that had already begun its inevitable plunge to the sea. This quarry could be disabled and killed in the same manner as the other woman, but a far cleaner solution had just presented itself. A way in which no bodies would ever be found. Gazing downward over the lip, Delta-One focused on the gaping crevasse that had begun to spread like a wedge between the ice shelf and the clinging block of ice. The section of ice on which the three fugitives sat was dangerously perched†¦ ready to break away and fall into the ocean any day now. Why not today†¦ Here on the ice shelf, the night was rocked every few hours by deafening booms-the sound of ice cracking off parts of the glacier and plummeting into the ocean. Who would take notice? Feeling the familiar warm rush of adrenaline that accompanied the preparation for a kill, Delta-One reached in his supply pack and pulled out a heavy, lemon-shaped object. Standard issue for military assault teams, the object was called a flash-bang-a â€Å"nonlethal† concussion grenade that temporarily disoriented an enemy by generating a blinding flash and deafening concussion wave. Tonight, however, Delta-One knew this flash-bang would most certainly be lethal. He positioned himself near the edge and wondered how far the crevasse descended before tapering to a close. Twenty feet? Fifty feet? He knew it didn't matter. His plan would be effective regardless.

The Theory Of Perception And Knowing - 1760 Words

To James and Lippmann, the stimuli world is a buzzing confusion that bombards the perceiver. From Shakespeare and Socrates to Kant and Kohler, the power of perception has been discussed by philosophers and psychologists alike. Construction of perception and knowing is subjective, depending on factors such as motives, wants, needs, values, cultures, norms, and mood. Meaning is constructed to end doubt, prepare for action, and obtain sub-jective feelings of control. In the social world, inferences and categorization happen at an unconscious level. However, we have the cognitive flexibility to engage in effor Separating meaning from pure sensation was the goal for Kohler and Bruner. For Kohler, even the most elementary forms of knowing†¦show more content†¦When a person is forced to choose between stimuli, a per-son will respond to stimuli based on which stimuli speak to his or her goals most clearly. Similar to Kohler and Bruner, Lewin believed motives and goals could operate at an uncon-scious level, yet play an essential part in perception and action. Goals and motives that were chosen consciously and operate unconsciously are known as â€Å"quasi-needs.† Ability of a stimulus to capture one’s attention depends on the strength of the quasi-need. Stimuli related to our goals stand out to us while stimuli unrelated to our goals may go unnoticed. This con-firmation bias can be exemplified by the willingness of people to believe fake news when it fits their unconscious goals. These goals operate passively, waiting to be triggered by an en-vioronmental cue. Building o n Lewin’s work, Postman, Bruner, and McGinnies found that the perceptual meaning of value-laden words were dependent upon the perceiver’s likes and dislikes. Culture and norms took the center stage in Sherif’s assertion that there were two ways of framing the construction of knowledge. First, a stimulus may not invoke the same effect in person at different times; instead, the perceptual experience and subsequent behav-ior may be a function of the state of the organism at the time. By the same token, researchers have found that negative mood states reduce one’s perceptual focus, making it more diffi-cult toShow MoreRelatedDavid Hume s Theory Of Cognitive Structure1415 Words   |  6 Pagesexactly constitutes knowing and the conditions which make knowing possible. One of these philosophers is David Hume who is his book An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, claims that reasoning cannot demonstrate that things in the world exist therefore, all we can really know are our sense perceptions. An obvious flaw that is seen with Hume’s philosophy is that he reduces all knowledge to sense perceptions gained from experience. As Hume’s theory is limited to sense perception, another philosopherRead MoreTo what extent do ways of knowing prevent us from deluding ourselves? 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