Minority vs Majority

Bigla ko lang naisip: In a democracy, where unanimity is not always possible, should the minority submit to the will of the majority? And if so, is it because it is what ought to be done, or is it just for the sake of preventing chaos?

Social Contract Theory.. Try watching this.

3 Natural RIghts

It was discussed that we citizens have three natural or in-born rights. These are: life, liberty and property. But at present, do you think that these rights are really retained by the citizens?

These rights are not surrendered to the sovereign and the sovereign cannot take away these natural rights. but at present, I think that the state or the sovereign somehow takes away these rights of ours. They may not take them away absolutely, but they sometimes abuse it.

State of Nature

Who's take on the state of nature do you agree with more? Hobbes' claim that because men are essentially evil, they will eventually enter the state of war or Locke's claim that because men are essentially good, they understood the need for national cooperation?

All For The Monarchy?

Machiavelli did propose a monarchy for uniting Italy. But i don't think it was the government that he truly wanted to build Italy on. Machiavelli did write a means to uniting Italy under a single ruler but he did also write about how a republic should be started and structured.

I think he wanted to unite Italy with a single ruler, but only to a point of uniting Italy and to see that Italy can see itself as one nation. Then, like he wrote on the Discorsi would build a republic of Italy, which was his main goal.

I find it amusing that Machiavelli was open to more than one form of government and that he was also a person who was quick to changing one means to another means (eg. when being cautious over others).

Zacarias Daniel A. Baricuatro

Machiavelli Being Loud

It was said in our lessons that Machiavelli had a reputation for praising himself.

I find it to be a very practical way to get noticed and to sell. It could have been Machiavelli's strategy for the public to buy his works. Machiavelli was a person who thought ahead of most people at his time. His strategy for marketing the works he wanted people to read would be this difference that he wanted people to know about.

But what I perceive through his writing in The Prince on a psychological basis was that Machiavelli was a man of little trust for acquaintances. He wrote about making alliances and he also wrote about how to stay on top of everybody else. I guess he believes in the achievements a self-made man can do.

This said I believe Machiavelli was a strong marketer of himself and that in order for a chance to achieve his dreams he had to set himself apart from everybody else.

Zacarias Daniel A. Baricuatro

Something I Found...

I thought this would help serve as a quick summary on Machiavelli before we move onto our next lessons. It's a Video Link to a Discovery Channel Video on the Machiavelli

Additional reading for Karl Marx

Aside from "The Communist manifesto", please read also "The Return of Karl Marx" by John Cassidy. Please click on the link below for a soft copy of this journal article. The Article was originally published in the journal, New Yorker, in October 20, 1997.


http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=vKns1MCdu3MC&pg=PA264&lpg=PA264&dq=John+Cassidy+The+Return+of+Karl+marx&source=bl&ots=FACac-zbK9&sig=qMMMvB9tiuVu8h1x78xVnHsoZVQ&hl=tl&ei=E3VOTK2pA4aCvgOz2r1F&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=John%20Cassidy%20The%20Return%20of%20Karl%20marx&f=false

Thanks!

Machiavelli

You may think of this as a quick Review on what we learned about Machiavelli. What do you think are the highlights of Machiavelli's The Prince? Which points do you deem make the most sense? or most practical? Which of Machiavelli's teachings struck you the most or you agree with the most? Do you agree that it is better to be feared than loved? Was Machiavelli was really not Machiavellian? Do you agree that there are two kinds of morality?

Notes on Caligula (and Leader Appointment)

"Caligula also kept his favourite racehorse, Incitatus, inside the palace in a stable box of carved ivory, dressed in purple blankets and collars of precious stones. Dinner guests were invited to the palace in the horse's name. And the horse, too, was invited to dine with the emperor. Caligula was even said to have considered making the horse consul."

We do not need horses as leaders. He who chooses them shall discern a worthy leader from an inept, egotistic one.

First Exam reminders

Please take note of our scheduled exam in Soc Sci 2 on July 23, 2010 Friday (same room). The coverage of the exam will be from Plato to Machiavelli. Please bring 1 blue book. Thank you.

No Classes on July 7, 2010 (Wednesday)

There will be no classes on Wednesday July 7, 2010. Please use this time to read on John Locke and Thomas Hobbes (as they will be our next topic after Machiavelli) as well as the rest of the assigned readings for the class . Thank you!

Machiavelli was not Machiavellian

This is an interesting article that you could ponder on.
Available in this link: http://www.italian-american.com/machi2.htm

by David K. Fry

In 1739 Frederick II, the King of Prussia, wrote a treatise condemning Machiavelli's The Prince. He wrote that Machiavelli "corrupted politics, and in so doing hoped to destroy the very precepts of sound morality." Since its publication in 1532, The Prince has been attacked as unprincipled and immoral. Machiavellianism has come to represent corrupt, ambitious, totalitarian rule, where the ends justify the means. However, this modern view of Niccolo Machiavelli is unjustified. We can see this by looking at Machiavelli's support for republics and his hopes for Italy.

Niccolo Machiavelli's republican beliefs are very apparent in most of his writing. However, when writing The Prince, he was focusing on monarchies instead of republics. He started the second chapter with the words, "I shall omit any discussion of republics as I have discussed them fully elsewhere" (Machiavelli 1). Since he was writing for the Prince, it would not have been appropriate to examine the republic.

While The Prince is Machiavelli's best known work, it is The Discourses which portray the most about him. The Prince was just a pamphlet dashed off to gain influence with the Medici, but in The Discourses he sought to include his entire system of politics. The basic idea of The Discourses is the superiority of the democratic republic and the ultimate reliance of even the most despotic regimes on the mass consent of the people (Lerner 10). This writing shows Machiavelli's love for the common good and the injustice of the modern connotation of Machiavellian.

Machiavelli's love for liberty is also evident when looking at his life. Machiavelli came from a republican family and had a position in the government of Florence. He was very concerned with maintaining the Florentine republic, and he worked to form a militia to protect it. After the republic fell in 1512, he was jailed for a month and tortured as a suspect in an assassination plot (De Grazia 34). As a republican, he was not trusted by the Medici in power, but he always strived to find a way back into politics. In The Prince, Machiavelli represented himself differently in hopes of gaining a position in government. This depiction of Machiavelli as a supporter of corrupt totalitarian rule is unfair because Niccolo Machiavelli strongly favored republics.

The modern view of Machiavelli can also be seen as unjust because of his love for Italy. Machiavelli had many hopes for Italy and spent most of his life working towards them. He supported the republic, but he wanted most of all for the people of Italy to be happy. He was very patriotic and wanted Italy to reach its full potential. While he did not support the often immoral and totalitarian rule of the Medici, he felt that by having a position in government he could make it better.

Niccolo Machiavelli understood the reality of the chaotic situation in Italy. He had seen corruption, deceit, and ruthlessness in government and knew how and why it existed. Few others have analyzed how to be an effective dictator because it is rather distasteful. But Machiavelli accepted the predicament and tried to understand the political and personal interactions that kept it going. In writing The Prince, he was not examining right or wrong. He was simply setting down what he knew in the hope that it would benefit the Prince and the country. He hoped that by helping the Prince rule more effectively, he might help Italy achieve the greatness he hoped for.

During Machiavelli's lifetime, Italy went through many changes and years of turmoil. When he wrote The Prince, Machiavelli most wanted stability. He wanted Italy unified under a single ruler. The final chapter of The Prince, "Exhortation to Free Italy from the Barbarians," encourages the Medici to this end. Machiavelli wrote:

"THIS BARBARIAN OCCUPATION STINKS IN THE NOSTRILS OF ALL OF US. Let your illustrious house then take up this cause with the spirit and the hope with which one undertakes a truly just enterprise so that under the banner of your house the country may be ennobled" (Machiavelli 78).
Machiavelli's hope for a unified Italian state far outweighed his dislikes for the Medici. "To Machiavelli, man's mission in this life, and his first duty, is patriotism toward the glory, greatness, and liberty of the fatherland." (De Sanctis 23) The Prince was his way of helping to bring about the changes he felt were necessary. He was not advocating corrupt, immoral totalitarian rule but a powerful ruler to give Italy stability and security.

Machiavelli is unfairly remembered as something he was not. The western view of Machiavellianism is one of power, ambition, and corruption. Instead, Niccolo Machiavelli was a republican and a patriot. He supported the republic in his writing and in his actions. He loved his country and worked fiercely to protect it. The term "Machiavellian" should represent liberty and patriotism. He supported the republic and loved his country.

Works Cited
De Grazia, Sebastian. Machiavelli in Hell. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Frederick II. Oeuvres de Frederick II, Roi de Prusse. Berlin: Chez Voss et Fils, 1789. Translated by De Lamar Jensen
Lerner, Max. Machiavelli the Realist. Random House, 1950.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Arlington Heights: Harlan Davidson, 1947.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince and the Discourses. New York: Random House, 1950.