The Aspects of Power through Machiavellis Eyes essays

The Aspects of Power through Machiavellis Eyes essays In 1517 Niccolo Machiavelli wrote one of the most famous dissertations on power to date, entitled The Prince. His insights on the elements of power include the struggles for every level of power, from strategies performed by world leaders to the executive struggling in the corporate world. The ideas he set forth in The Prince, known of as Machiavellianism, have been seen as evil throughout the ages; but as most business leaders and politicians would agree, Machiavelli has merely defined the aspects of power in a logical fashion. In fact The Prince was written as a guidebook for his own prince, Lorenzo De Medici, for the sole purpose of advancing him into Italys political arena. He analyzed power and the way that Italy could gain enough to become independent and then how to maintain that control. His elaborate explanations were inspired by his own fascination with power and his desire for Italy to become its own state. But Machiavelli was only interested in directly discussing the ele ments of power, and not necessarily power itself. "...Since it is my intention to write something of use, I deem it is best to stick to the practical truth of things rather than to fancies. Many men have imagined republics and principalities that never existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation."(Machiavelli) When Machiavelli mentions "fancies", he is referring to theories that were set prior to his own; those theories that viewed men as good, and could thus be achieved and maintained by good works. But Machiavelli points out the logical fact that that men do not and cannot live in such a fashion. Thus, those acts which are "other than good", are necessary to acquire and preserve power in society. Machiavellis ideas set the model for the cold and calculated in every century regardless of the dif...