Machiavelli’s View of Human Nature Essay example -- Machiavelli The Pr

Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher from Florence Italy. He lived during the Italian Renaissance from May 1469 to 1527. This stoppage in time that Machiavelli lived was the rebirth of art in Italy and rediscovery of ancient philosophy, literature and science. Machiavellis philosophy about the nature of man is that man possesses both approximate and bad qualities, but will lean towards his own self-interests when all things argon equal thus man is a fickle creature. Machiavellis view of gay nature influences his view of government.Machiavelli writes, that man has qualities that will bring him either praise or blame and because a prince is a man therefore, he will also exhibit these qualities. A prince should put his good qualities on public display and be clever enough to hid e his immoral failings from his subjects but, if these vices are necessary to fight down his state, he should embrace them because this appearance of a strong state by his subjects gives them a false sense of security.He states in paragraph fourteen that since they (men) are a sad lot, and keep no faith with you, you in turn are under no obligation to keep it with them. Machiavelli believes that men will lie, cheat, or steal if it has some benefit to them, and while a prince shows the...