WESTERN CIVILIZATION 101

Write an essay on Niccolo Machiavelli "The Prince." Include in your discussion the following:

• Why is he writing it? Does he have a personal interest? What does he want?
  
  
• What is the higher or political reason beyond himself for writing it?
  
  
• What is he trying to do? What is the content of this Prince? What is he trying to tell the Prince? What is the substance of the book?
  
  
• Machiavelli talks about a set of political laws/principles a Prince should follow. Does he believe that laws are "natural" laws? Are political science laws not fixed laws? Where does he derive these laws? Where do they come from? An example: A scientist obtains them from experimentation.
  
  
• Name 4-5 laws/principles and explain where he derives them from.
  
  
• Discuss your interpretation. Do you think that these principles are held together by some morality, some end that can be justified? Is this what has to be done? What is the moral good that justifies what you might see as cruelty.
  
  
• What is the relationship between the ruler and his people. Does it justify the brutality, the quick sordidness of the Prince in getting rid of the enemy?
  

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