Personal Mission Statement

Quiz 2 Machiavelli, Gracian

1. When we use the term "Machiavellian," it seems to to imply that someone is being ruthless in achieving their goals.  The thesaurus lists the following terms:  Tricky, decietful, scheming, underhanding, and sneaky.  I would say that this is not the proper use of the term of what Machiavelli had in mind when he wrote The Prince.  Machiavelli's ideas conveyed his belieg that there should be a more authoritarian form of government in place.  As Davis Wooton states, "My primary concern has been to convey the sense and the style which is aphoristic, lively, pursuasive." (xxxvii)

2. I feel that a lot of concerns in The Prince do reflect contemporary politics and world affairs in particular the issue of foreign policies involving the United States.  Of course the situation in Iraq is the first thing to come to mind.  Machiavelli writes,

   For if you fall on evil times and are obliged to change course, you will not have time to benefit from the harm you do, and the good you do will do you no good, because people will think you have been forced to do it, and they will not be in the slightest bit greatful to you.

   Nevertheless, you should be careful how you assess the situation and should think twice before you act.  Do not be afraid of your own shaddow.  Employ policies that are moderated by prudence and sympathy.  Avoid excessive self-confidence, which leads to carelessness, and avoid excessive timitdity, which will make you insupportable. (Wooton,81)

In looking at the war, I would say that President Bush ignored the teachings of Machiavelli and did not think twice before he acted in getting this nation involved in a war.  Through his excessive self-confidence, he has shown his carlessness and has in fact made him insupportable.

 3.  Machiavelli's purpose in writing The Prince was to gain the trust of the government that tortured him.  He wrote the pamphlet to suggest, "a professions civil servant's contempt for the amatures from whom he was obliged to take his instrucitons," (Wooton, xvi).  I think that a lot of the principles described in The Prince, although meant for governmental policies, the principles can definately be applied to the art of living.  I thing a lot of business are ran like a governent and especially a dictatorship.  In order to be sucessful, you need to look out for yourself first and everyone else second.

4.  The following are two pieces of advise that echo the ideas of the Stoics:

xli Never Exaggerate.--It is an important object of attention not to talk in superlatives, so as neither to offend against truth nor to give a mean idea of one's understanding. Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste. Praise arouses lively curiosity, begets desire, and if afterwards the value does not correspond to the price, as generally happens, expectation revolts againstthe deception, and revenges itself by under-estimating the thing recommended and the person recommending. A prudent man goes more cautiously to work, and prefers to err by omission than by commission. Extraordinary things are rare, therefore moderate ordinary valuation. Exaggeration is a branch of lying, and you lose by it the credit of good taste, which is much, and of good sense, which is more.

xl The Goodwill of People.--'Tis much to gain universal admiration; more, universal love. Something depends on natural disposition, more on practice: the first founds, the second then builds on that foundation. Brilliant parts suffice not, though they are presupposed; win good opinion and ’tis easy to win goodwill. Kindly acts besides are required to produce kindly feelings, doing good with both hands, good words and better deeds, loving so as to be loved. Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages. First lay hand on deeds and then on pens; words follow swords; for there is goodwill to be won among writers, and it is eternal.

5.  The following pieces of advice from Gracian contradict the ideas of the Stoics:

xxxi Select the Lucky and avoid the Unlucky.--Ill-luck is generally the penalty of folly, and there is no disease so contagious to those who share in it. Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it. The greatest skill at cards is to know when to discard; the smallest of current trumps is worth more than the ace of trumps of the last game. When in doubt, follow thesuit of the wise and prudent; sooner or later they will win the odd trick.

clxii How to triumph over Rivals and Detractors.--It is not enough to despise them, though this is often wise: a gallant bearing is the thing. One cannot praise a man too much who speaks well of them who speak ill of him. There is no more heroic vengeance than that of talents and services which at once conquer and torment the envious. Every success is a further twist of the cord round the neck of the ill-affected, and an enemy's glory is the rival's hell. The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied wins applause. The immortality of his fame is the measure of the other's torture: the one lives in endless honour, the other in endless pain. The clarion of Fame announces immortality to the one and death to the other, the slow death of envy long drawn out.

6.  Gracian has been known throught the years to illustrate his ideas by using shocking metaphors.  In doing this, he has kept his readers on their toes unknowing what he will be saying next.  I believe that by keeping his wording so vague and shocking for the readers of his aphorisms, Gracian has kept his popularity throughout the years while maintaining truthfulness in his philosophies.

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Articles and What I Think

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