The Prince is the best-known work
of Niccolò Machiavelli, in which he asserts that a prince must use cunning and
ruthless methods to stay in power.It was written around 1513, but not published
until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death.
The political philosophy contained in this
book is mainly based on the principles of rulership.The theories expressed in
The Prince are often venerated as very insightful and shrewd methods an
aspiring prince can use to gain the throne, or an existing prince can use to
establish and maintain his reign.According to Machiavelli, moral principles
must yield to every circumstance and the Prince must be willing to do anything
necessary to maintain power.It seems that Machiavelli disregards the connection
between ethics and politics, which disturbed many of his contemporaries.The
prince should endeavor to be seen as compassionate, trustworthy, sympathetic,
honest, and religious. But in reality, the duties of the Prince very rarely
allow him to actually be compassionate, etc.The Prince seems to justify a
number of actions done merely to perpetuate power.
It is a classic study of power -
how to get it, expand it and use it for maximum effect.In The Prince Niccolo
Machiavelli makes an effort to discover from history and contemporary
events,how principalities are won,how they are held,and how they are lost.In
this book he gives an example of a state or principality in which one ruler or
a small elite governs the subjects who have no active political
life.Machiavelli's philosophy in The Prince is scientific and empirical,based
on his own experience of affairs.He talked about some political
ends,regardless of the question whether the ends are to be considered good or
bad.
