In this book, Nicolo Machiavelli describes
means to reach power and to preserve that power, once you reach it.The author formulates theories and proves them through historical facts, pointing out the right and wrong atittudes that each
prince has taken, and how it should have acted when he commited mistakes.One can find several
important lessons for a prince, like the famous "it is best to be hated than loved", because if loved, when all things are right he will have several friends, but when something goes wrong, they will no longer back him up. On the other side, the fear for punishment will make man think twice before betraying him.Machiavelli also states the idea of a prince as someone that
doesn''t necessarily
needs to have qualities, but he must assure that the people thinks so, as sometimes he needs to act against those (for example in what regards finances and taxes), among other lessons.Machiavelli''s theory is rather interesting for not having ethical, moral and religious links. The prince can practice either the good and the evil, depending on the situtation itself.This leads to a reflexion of the human being as someone who is always in tranformation, that must not be narrow-minded, as everything around him is also in permanent transformation.In this book it is also formulated the theory of "the ends justifying the means",
despite not with that same exact words. This means that it doesn''t matter what the prince does in his domains, as long as it assures him to be the authority.These and several other lessons are historically analised by Machiavelli, who presents Lorenzo II of Médicis (one of the most important italian families) with them, considering it the most important thing that he could give to a prince.Despite the intensive reading, it is almost obligatory for all those who are leaders and have to control and satisfy a huge amount of people.Because it is an old work, so are the examples given by Machiavelli, yet, he''s lessons are and will always be contemporary.
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