Sample Critical Thinking On Nicole Machiavelli: The Prince

The main message of the book The Prince is that the politics should be considered separately from religion and ethics. Additionally, Machiavelli states that in order to achieve the intentions of one ruler, two things can be used: law and force. Since the law is attributed to people and force to animals, the rules can use both."Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man" (Machiavelli, 69). Machiavelli wanted to say that the mastery of ruling should be based on the balance of antithesis in a real life. However, the ideas from the book have later been oversimplified and the new term “Machiavellian” has been used when referring to the idea where the goal justifies its means. This is the idea on which later in history many politicians have used for their purposes. Even though the book itself does not present a call for doing anything that is needed in order the obtain power and domination, it is considered to be a founder of new philosophy in politics.
The audience that this book is intended for includes Medici family and provides a solution for them to regain power in Florence. Machiavelli tried to explain them how to rule and what are the tools that Lorenzo de'Medici can use in order to obtain and keep political power. Bearing on mind that the politics did not exist in a form that exists today, the book was supposed to be used as a manual for rulers. In this book, Machiavelli clearly gave suggestion what should be the primary goals of every ruler. The advices that Machiavelli gave may be considered as cruel, but he clearly indicated that realistic and idealistic should not be mixed.
Bearing on mind that Machiavelli wrote the book in Renaissance Italy in 16th century, his thoughts and ideas presented in the book are in close correlation with that time and the political situation in Florence and Medici family. The impact of the book at the current political state in Florence did not go in favor to Machiavelli. He was sentenced to an exile, even though Machiavelli though that he would be accepted at court as a political advisor. Machiavelli gave practical solutions for the ruling class in Italy.
Even though Machiavelli wrote the book in order to advise Lorenzo de Medici on how to rule Florence, he was never called back from exile or congratulated for his book. It might be said that his ideas were ahead of his time and that the ruling class did not understand them, or that it was not in their interest. Despite of that, Machiavelli's The Prince is the pioneer in the modern politics and even though he openly states his thoughts, this book continues to be the stepping stone for the development of modern politics.

Cited work:

Machiavelli, Nicole. The Prince. Print