Pranav Gopal Week #9: Machiavelli and the Power of Language
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| Pellegrini // Unsplash |
One such example I'll discuss today is the philosophy and messages of Florentine philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, who offered his interpretations and messages revolving around the use of power by monarchs and princes. In his work, The Prince, Machiavelli established a guide for the ideal way to rule, as well as many massive shortcomings in rulers of the time. Opposing many other philosophical works of the time, Machiavelli establishes a concrete and logical understanding of methodical steps towards an ideal ruler, encapsulating his message of providing the optimal means of maintaining strength and wielding power.
Whilst many other philosophers of the time establish wide and unrealistic ideals, Machiavelli completely contrasts this by indicating that these ideals do not translate well into actual government and ruling. In conjunction, Machiavelli also indicates the virtue of maintaining morality and conscience in personal life and perspective, but contrasts this again with the notion that a ruler would not benefit from a like application of morality and righteousness. To further enhance the complete and absolute strength of the ruler, Machiavelli also indicates that a ruler should also equally wield harsh and relentless punishment to keep his power assured and absolute. In this way, Machiavelli indicates that the good and benefit of the people presides over the morals and rationale of the ruler, rather than having a ruler maintain the ideal morality of the individual.
In this way, Machiavelli contrasts the typical understanding of the government philosophy at the time, instead wielding his own prose and language to establish a novel application of morality and conscience in monarchy and ruling. Throughout history, there have been many like Machiavelli, some notable figures being John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Voltaire. Figures as such who have utilized language have drastically altered the history of several nations, whether it be through philosophy or concrete legislation. Because of its widespread influence and its consequent ability to provide rational discussion and philosophy, language wields immense power, seen directly in instances like government and legislation.
Hi Pranav! After reading your blog, I was reminded of my experience learning AP European history where I was first introduced to Machiavelli as the absolute ruler. identified to be. Upon a deeper glance at your writing, I noticed the contrasting elements within it such as Machivelli’s emphasis on morality yet the need for relentless punishment, which helped me gain a deeper understanding on the subject. I find his argument that it is better to be feared than to be loved as intriguing for its situational importance. His distinction between individual morality and a ruler’s role is astonishing as it questions the human fundamentals behind emotions and behavior towards groups of people. In The Prince, Machievelli has connected language with political ideals to convince people of that time the differences in roles of a ruler and citizen. The reference to this work directly ties back with your claim and makes your blog more interesting to read. Thank you for your blog, and I am looking forward to reading your next one!
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! Hearing about Machiavelli brings me back to AP Euro, back to the beginning of sophomore year where everyone was getting used to online school. I don’t really remember much about him, except for the basics of his philosophy (or basically the minimum I needed to know for the AP test haha). I found your blog really interesting as it provided a much more detailed analysis of Machiavelli’s messages. It’s cool to see how Machiavelli’s ideas actually influenced politics and philosophies throughout and after his time in the 15th century.
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ReplyDeleteHi Pranav. I remember learning a lot about Machiavelli’s The Prince, last year in AP Euro. His ideas of the ends justifying the means, and that a ruler should make immoral, but necessary decisions were very interesting, especially at that time. His belief that it was better to be feared rather than loved was also very controversial and powerful. I think he did a good job of painting other principles, such as the ideas found in Erasmus’s Christian Prince as overly optimistic and idealistic. I agree with your analysis that Machiavelli’s language was very potent because some of the quotes in his novel were very memorable and influential. I also agree with you that language has the power to change the world, and many reformers have done so. For example, the printed ideas of Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke and Montesquieu, led to revolutions not only in Europe, but also across the world in America. Similarly, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, and his other printed panels and works spurred revolutions and religious wars across Europe. Ultimately, the power of language is undeniable, and there are many historical examples of when a person’s words changed history.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, Machiavelli is definitely the person to cover when talking about the power of language during history. His words kickstarted the age of absolutism, and were constantly used to justify the cruel absolutist rulers of history, like King Louis. While I don't agree with Machiavelli's beliefs and find that my beliefs align more with thinkers like John Locke, I still think that it's important to analyze all documents in history because they give us a sense of what that time period was like and how the course of history would follow through. I look forward to reading your next post!
ReplyDeleteHey Pranav. I remember learning about Machiavelli in both English and AP Euro last year oddly enough. I wrote about him in my essay on rhetoric used in Lord of the Flies. Jack's intimidation and manipulative tactics to rule made him an effective leader as the other children on the island gave into their fear rather than justice. I compared his desire to be feared to Machiavelli's well known idea. That it is better to be feared than it is to be loved because love is fickle and conditional. It is far more difficult to undo fear. I've mentioned before, but seeing the domino effects in history and how such old texts impact the world today has been quite fascinating to me. I enjoy learning about it.
ReplyDeleteNiccolo Machiavelli, all due respect to him, was what most considered to be the father of statecraft. He was, in essence, the man to blame for almost all of colonialism and absolutism. By justifying his desire to be feared over loved as just due to human nature, he darkened mankind's respect for itself. His ideas of doing whatever needed to be done was both good and bad, but mostly bad for the people of the world. Leaders now had justification for all their actions, no matter how cruel or inhumane. The Armenian genocide was justified due to his "the end justifies the means" idea: many millions have been led to their grave due to Niccolo Machiavelli's ideas. The man should be considered a dark part of humanity.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, one of the things that I like about The Prince is that it aged pretty well. Machiavelli says that the key to maintaining government power is harsh punishment, and he says that the government is a body to be feared. This is super relevant today because the world today consists of a few large bodies ruling large amounts of land rather than a lot of bodies ruling a small magnitude of land. This means that it is becoming increasingly harder to become a powerful government. As a result every most if not all of the countries today resort to force in order to make sure that their power still remains intact. Governments simply resort to physical harm in response to rebellion in order to make sure that they are in control. In a country like that it is really hard to reduce the power of the government.
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ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! I first encountered Machiavelli in The Alchemyst series that I read back in elementary school. Then, in seventh grade, when I went to Italy, I went to a museum that talked about Machiavelli and sold copies of his book. When we finally got to Machiavelli in AP Euro, I was very excited for no reason and felt like I was an expert on the man (I actually barely know anything about him). On the bright side, he is the only one I remembered, as I only have very vague memories of the other 3 people you mentioned in your blog.
(I think I forgot to press enter after commenting but I copy pasted my comment into my google doc so I'll just paste it here again.)