" The Prince" Quiz

"The Prince is a concise statement of Machiavell's belief that classical and Christian political theory is unworkable in a world that defines politics as the exercise of power and the struggle for power. It is also implicitly a rejection of a nihilistic counterethic, that only power and brute force matter."


(Dante Germino, Machiavelli to Marx: Modern Western Political Thought, p. 32)


Discuss to what extent you agree or disagree with this statement. What evidence can you bring to support your position?




In this quote, Germino is expressing two main ideas. Firstly he says that Machiavelli is arguing that in today's world it is virtually impossible to maintain Christian morals and ethics. I agree with this assessment. Machiavelli, I believe, does not not look down upon the Christian for their sense of integrity and uprightness nor does he condemn them, but he simply thinks that for a person who hopes to maintain a position of power it is impossible to have morals or a sense of virtue. He clearly states that a prince must do anything to stay in power; if that means killing a mass of people then so be it. There really is no moral standard for aprince. He must do all that is necessary to remain in power. Obviously this is a very selfish point of view. Everything the prince does is solely for his gain, not the betterment of his country or his peolple. However, Machiavelli does suggest that it is for the prince's good that his people like him, so he suggests doing different acts of "kindness." An example of this might be to lower the taxes. To the people this might seem like a kind deed by a King who is looking out for his people, but it is really no more than an act of selfishness. The prince is only doing this so that he his people will like him and not revolt, therefore not threatening his seat of power. Machiavelli would most surely say that if killing half of your subjects meant you staying in power than you must do it. Once again, all Machiavelli is saying is do whatever it takes to stay in power.



As for the second part of Germino's quote, I would have to disagree. Germino would say that Machiavelli rejects the idea that power is all that matters. According to Machiavelli, power is the only thing that matters. It is painfully obvious that this is what he is saying through "The Prince." In his mind, power is the one thing that all men desire. He devotes the entire book to the maintaining and obtaining of power. It would seem hard for someone to believe that the one thing that matters to him most would be anything but power.