Professor Mack Comparative Government (POLS 1220.32) 13 December 2011 The Art of Self-Interest: Sun-Tzu and Thucydides “Being fond of the truth‚ I am an admirer of antiquity‚” writes Confucius. (Kaplan‚ 40) The past contains lessons that apply to the future‚ because while time‚ place‚ individuals and creed change‚ people as a whole do not. The motivations are always the same. “Thus‚ as Aron notes‚ while our ideals have usually been peaceful‚ history has often been violent. Though this should
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situations. It also contains different theories on how the structure of a monarchy affects a king’s superiority in his own kingdom. Throughout Odysseus’ journey‚ he made questionable decisions that contradict the teachings of Machiavelli. By not following the guidelines of Machiavelli on leadership and power management‚ as a result‚ Odysseus failed to lead his team safely back to Ithaca.
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Machiavelli differs from the many political theorists who offer conceptions of a “natural state‚” a presocial condition arising solely from human instinct and character. But while Machiavelli never puts forth a vision of what society would be like without civil government‚ he nonetheless presents a coherent‚ although not particularly comprehensive‚ vision of human nature. Machiavelli mentions explicitly a number of traits innate among humans. People are generally self-interested‚ although their
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These qualities include‚ military matters‚ praise-worthy qualities‚ qualities to be blamed‚ generosity‚ miserliness‚ cruelty and mercy‚ keeping of promises‚ and avoiding being hated. The first quality introduced by Machiavelli is the duty of prince on preparing military. This quality is important because if the prince is not willing to prepare a troop to protect himself and his country‚ he is showing the people that he does not care for his or his country’s safety‚ which
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There are numerous books on warfare but not many that have been relevant for two and a half thousand years. Sun Tzu was a general in the Kingdom of Wu in China around 490BC. His text was translated from Chinese to French in 1782 and it has been suggested that it was the key to Napoleon’s success. It was only when he failed to follow all of the rules set down by Sun Tzu that he was defeated. Since then it has been translated into several languages and published widely. I have two different versions
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A Contrast of Political Controversy: The Prince versus Capital It is often very difficult to judge which policies and principalities are correct when comparing and contrasting controversial literary works. In The Prince‚ Niccolo Machiavelli presents many ideas that may be looked at as unethical by the general population of a nation. In fact‚ Machiavelli’s ideas were looked down upon by his own nation‚ Italy‚ resulting in his eventual exile. For Karl Marx‚ Capital presents many contradictions
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Sun Tzu - The Art of War A mysterious Chinese warrior philosopher compiled this book over 2‚000 years ago. It was translated into English by an author named‚ Thomas Cleary‚ who holds a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University. He is the translator of various works in Buddhist‚ Taoist‚ and I Ching studies. It is still the most prestigious and influential book today for study by politicians and military strategists everywhere. The main theme of this book is to "To Win
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Danielle Butler October 16‚ 2011 English 101/ O.C #2-Machiavelli Though often presented as two ideological opposites‚ personally I find there to be a lot more similarities between Plato and Machiavelli than usually acknowledged. Obviously there are some sharp contrasts. If one examines the excerpts from Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and Plato’s “The Republic”‚ it’s easy to conclude that Plato believed it to be essential for a government leader to be just‚ good‚ and free from corruption
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In the passage from The Prince‚ Machiavelli discusses the idea of leaders coming into power through “popular favour”‚ where in order to maintain this‚ they must ensure that the people feel as though they are not oppressed. If one is starting their reign with the support of the public‚ this leaves them with the responsibility of keeping the people involved in their political decisions and maintain a democracy instead of a dictatorship . This comes into context through Machiavelli’s political background
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distinctive views regarding human nature. Once this is assessed the picture that each man paints of their ideal ruler or founder becomes much clearer. Plato promotes the concept of philosopher-kings who rule over his imagined Utopian society‚ while Machiavelli endorses a ruthless and at times amoral prince whose primary objective is the preservation of the state. Plato’s view of human nature can be seen when considering his view of the soul‚ which‚ according to him‚ is comprised of three distinct
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