Machiavelli 1469 was born in Florence, Italy. His family used to be a noble family in Florence for a long time, but it had declined when he was born. Influenced and guided by his parents and family, Machiavelli got a good education. As a teenager, he read a lot of works by Cicero, Horace and Levi, mastered profound Latin through self-study, and cultivated the temperament of independent thinking and advocating freedom.
Influenced by Renaissance humanism, he took part in Florence's revolution. 1498 was appointed as the second secretary of state of Florence. During his political career for many years, he has accumulated rich political and diplomatic experience, and left a masterpiece of political science-On Kings for mankind in the ups and downs of the times.
Machiavelli praised * * * and political system, and thought that * * * and political system would help to improve social welfare, develop individual talents and cultivate civic virtue. He was the representative of the new bourgeoisie in Italy in the late Middle Ages, and advocated ending Italy's political division and establishing a powerful centralized country. He thought that Italy, which was in the depravity of human nature, national division and social unrest at that time, the only way to achieve national unity and social peace was to establish a strong monarchy. He felt that a strong monarch was needed to save Italy. Therefore, he highly praised Caesar, the then conspirator, Duke of valentino. The Bo family resorted to deception, conspiracy, assassination and other violent means, hoping that the monarch would follow his example and achieve the correct goal through various means. His thoughts are fully displayed in Kings.
Machiavelli believes that human beings are stupid and always have the desire to fill their dissatisfaction and the inflated ambition; Always influenced by interests, seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, selfish. Therefore, altruism and justice do not exist, and doing good deeds occasionally is just a disguise to win fame and fortune. He believes that people are "ungrateful, ambivalent, deceitful, pretending to be good people, from destruction and greed"; Even the best people are prone to corruption, because doing evil is more beneficial to themselves and telling lies is more pleasing to others. The people have the nature to submit to power, and the monarch needs cruelty, not love. One should choose a lion and a fox among wild animals, as cruel as a lion and as cunning as a fox. The monarch might as well get used to doing evil without worrying about being accused of cruelty; Compassion is dangerous, and human love is enough to destroy the country. Machiavelli famously said, "As long as the purpose is correct, you can do whatever it takes." .
Machiavelli also pointed out that it is better to be feared than to be loved. It is safer for a monarch to be feared than to be loved. But sometimes it is necessary for him to make people believe that he is "a person who combines beauty and virtue." In other words, the ruler should show his love for the people as a son and show kindness and generosity in public. Punishing others should be done by others. In the end, you can blame others and find scapegoats to avoid being condemned by the people. Reward others to come forward in person, and don't let subordinates be selfish. Give people kindness and hope bit by bit. Give someone a punch and kill him, leaving him without the possibility of revenge. The monarch should keep a straight face at ordinary times and pretend that he doesn't know anything to avoid letting his subordinates know about himself. But I know my subordinates like the back of my hand, manipulating them at any time and using the power of killing and punishing them.
At the same time, Machiavelli himself was attacked from behind. Few political philosophers have been so strongly condemned as Machiavelli. For many years, people called him the incarnation of the devil, and took his name as a synonym for deception and cunning. Among them, the strongest condemnation often comes from the mouth of those who put the theory he advocated into practice. People hate Machiavelli and call him "the devil's head". But Voltaire was right only because he revealed their secret. Benito? Mussolini was one of the few political leaders who publicly praised Machiavelli. There is no doubt that many outstanding politicians have carefully read Kings. It is said that Napoleon put a book on Kings under his pillow when he slept, and people have similar legends about Hitler and Stalin.
Machiavelli's influence on political theory is beyond doubt. Early writers such as Plato and St.? Augustine closely combined politics with moralism or theology. Machiavelli abandoned the medieval scholasticism and dogmatic reasoning method, and instead of starting from the Bible and God, he started from human nature and studied social and political issues according to historical facts and personal experience. He regards politics as the subject of practice, distinguishes politics from ethics, and regards the state as a pure power organization. He hinted that the important question is not how people should behave, but how they actually behave; It's not who should hold power, but how people actually get power. The way of discussing political theory today is much more realistic than before, which is partly due to Machiavelli's influence. He is one of the main founders of modern political thought. Engels praised Machiavelli as a "giant" and Marx praised Machiavelli as a pioneer of modern political science.
Machiavelli also made outstanding achievements in history and drama. In addition to On Kings, his masterpieces include Levi's Theory, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and the History of Florence.