Juan Carlos Gorbea Portico Reading Questions Week 7 Class A 1 According to Machiavelli do moral ends justify immoral means Yes Machiavelli believes that one does not need to feel uneasy at incurring a reproach for immoral means when trying to deal with a situation that can only be saved with difficulty 2 How does Machiavelli define virtue Machiavelli defines virtue with the use of the term liberality Virtue would be considered by Machiavelli the degree to which a Prince would permit a specific type of behavior that might otherwise be disapproved An excess of liberality would bring too much confidence in the vulgar and they would rise against the ruler 3 Describe the nature of love and fear in the relationship between a prince and his people Why does Machiavelli say that it is best for a prince to be both loved and feared Is it possible for a prince to be both Explain Machiavelli argues that a prince must aim to be both loved and feared but in the worst of cases a prince ought to be more feared than loved He believes that men are less likely to offend one that is feared than one who is beloved because love is preserved by the link of obligation which owing to the baseness of men is broken at every opportunity for their advantage but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails 4 What is Machiavelli s view of human nature How does this help explain what he says about the way in which a prince should rule Machiavelli believes that a Prince must have both a beastly nature and a humanly nature He states that humans are naturally bad and should not keep faith between them Because rulers can t trust humans because of their nature a ruler must always govern with authority and not much liberality He must implement more fear than love in order to maintain crowds and not raise a rebellion 5 According to M the ruler has to be a great pretender and dissembler Ch 18 Can we sum up Machiavelli s teaching as follows Never mind reality the image is everything Machiavelli has stated that human nature is primarily bad Thus we shall not keep faith upon anybody but a ruler must always appear to contain some good qualities These good qualities will serve useful as the vulgar will praise him for his good qualities He believes most people judge more based on what they see than what they know Hence the image of a good ruler will serve useful and bring great appraisal towards a prince but when he must diverge from the good he must know how to do so 6 Do you think Machiavelli s realistic advice to the aspiring rulers is good or bad What particular advice do you find good or bad Why I actually agree with Machiavelli s advice towards the aspiring ruler I find that every ruler or authority figure should always have an adapting mind that can change from one side to the other in order to help the group that follows him or her 7 How is Blake the Alec Baldwin character evidencing Machiavelli s influence in his speech from the Glengarry Glen Ross clip Blake uses most of the characteristics that Machiavelli describes in a prince For example he speaks loudly and strongly in order to inspire fear in the sales people Then he demonstrates his success with his watch and his car in order to gain a reputation of respect and appraisal Alec Baldwin does a tremendous job in portraying his character and showing his Prince like characteristics 8 In the trailer for Wall Street you hear the lines Trade honor for power and Trade everything you believe in for everything you ve always wanted Would Machiavelli approve Explain Machiavelli would agree completely Because he believes that the way we ought to live is far away from how we truly believe Machiavelli would agree with the quote in the Wall Street trailer trade everything you believe in for everything you ve always wanted Machiavelli also believes in the acts of deception in order to gain power