I want to focus on three specific “modes and orders” that Machiavelli wrote about in his Discourses on Livy and The Prince and examine and analyze the influence that the ancient city of Rome had on them. The three modes and orders are: the role that religion should play in governing a state, the kind of army a state should employ, and how to rule over a newly acquired territory.

The capricious roman goddess Fortune is known for her strong power to influence or even decide the destiny of humans. In ancient Rome she was considered to be a good goddess, who brought the gifts of destiny and who also was seen as a possible ally. During the Middle Ages this position changed. Fortune was given two sides, a good and friendly one and a cruel impenetrable side. She was seen as one of God´s ministers and became an expression of divine providence. My purpose with this essay is to analyse three artworks of Fortune by Giovanni Bellini, Albrecht Dürer and Master MZ, but also some texts by the renaissance humanist Niccolò Machiavelli. When examining this representation I will try to determine the iconography of Fortune and see how or if the interpretations of her differs. The study has shown that the different representations of Fortune differ from one another of the artworks. However, there is one major resemblance that presents itself in each and every one of the artworks as well as in Machiavelli’s texts, the fact that Fortune is considered to be capricious. This attribute is frequent. In the works of art Fortune is depicted along with some kind of circular object like a ball or a sphere, a clear indication of instability. In Machiavelli’s texts Fortune is often, metaphorically or directly expressed, as capricious and unpredictable. According to Machiavelli, humans therefore have to be prepared, hold capability or virtù, to be able to resist her rapid changes. Like the humanist Machiavelli was it is likely that he represents the ancient view of Fortuna, although some medieval element cannot be omitted. Furthermore, in all of the selected works of art together, one can see elements of both an antique view of Fortuna as well as a medieval. Although the Renaissance was strongly influenced by ancient ideas and ways of life, it becomes clear that also some medieval features survived into the mindset of the Renaissance.

Political realism is a general theory within political science focusing on the principle interest defined as power. The theory’s mutual standpoint is that states are inspired by power politics meaning that military and economic power or security stands in the centre while moral and ethics are placed in the periphery. This essay’s purpose is to analyze realism which helps to understand the development and change of the perspective. Focus is on classic realism within political science and the essay contains a comparison of the three theoretical philosophers Niccoló Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Hans J Morgenthau. The main question of the essay is: how has realism developed from Machiavelli to Morgenthau? The conclusion is that political realism has undergone a few large changes during the last four centuries but has mostly retained basic ideas. The most relevant adjustment is that realism has moved out from a highly immoral perspective to a perspective which actually contains various moral barricades. All the changes and non-changes within realism development can be observed in the model presented in the essay.

This thesis analyses the Machiavellian concepts of cunning, cruelty and opportunism as well as self-determination and individualism with regard to the major characters in Christopher Marlowe&#039 / s plays, The Jew of Malta, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2. The thesis then examines these characters&#039 / scales of achievement as individuals who challenge the established order. Finally, the thesis clarifies whether these characters are theatrical representatives of the Renaissance individual or not. Therefore, this paper primarily revolves around the analysis of the five concepts and how they give shape to the characters.

<p>Political realism is a general theory within political science focusing on the principle interest defined as power. The theory’s mutual standpoint is that states are inspired by power politics meaning that military and economic power or security stands in the centre while moral and ethics are placed in the periphery. This essay’s purpose is to analyze realism which helps to understand the development and change of the perspective. Focus is on classic realism within political science and the essay contains a comparison of the three theoretical philosophers Niccoló Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and Hans J Morgenthau. The main question of the essay is: how has realism developed from Machiavelli to Morgenthau?</p><p>The conclusion is that political realism has undergone a few large changes during the last four centuries but has mostly retained basic ideas. The most relevant adjustment is that realism has moved out from a highly immoral perspective to a perspective which actually contains various moral barricades. All the changes and non-changes within realism development can be observed in the model presented in the essay.</p>

This dissertation uses the history of political thought to shed light on the disconnect between the prominent place of judgments about the character in American democratic life, and the marginalized place of those judgments in contemporary democratic theory. By tracing the origins of that disconnect back into the history of political philosophy, and by locating an alternative approach to questions of character in the political and ethical writings of Aristotle, the dissertation brings out important connections between contemporary democratic theory and key developments in the history of ideas, and it recovers an ancient account of character that turns out still to be relevant to the dynamics of modern citizenship. The dissertation begins by showing how character is key to Aristotle‘s distinction between "correct" and "deviant" regimes in the Politics: not only are correct regimes distinguished by the character of those who rule, but the distinguishing feature of citizen-rulers in more correct regimes turns out to be their ability to appreciate what is excellent in the character of their fellow citizens. I then trace the decline of Aristotle‘s approach in the work of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant, showing how Machiavelli‘s famously unsettling account of the relationship between moral goodness, political leadership, and popular government made its way into the foundations of later democratic theory. Finally, I return to Aristotle, showing how his treatment of philia or "friendship" in his ethical writings provides an important prelude to the ideas from the Politics we will already have considered. By taking into account both the high and often noble aspirations that inform considerations of character but also their potential to derail into disenchantment or dangerous ill-will, Aristotle‘s approach offers a theory capable of engaging directly with both the promise and the pitfalls of character judgments in democratic life. / Government

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by Michael P. Zuckert for the Department of Political Science. "April 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-260).

[pt] O poder constituinte é conceito de grande importância para a teoria política e para a do direito. Geralmente se atribui a Sieyès o mérito de ter sido o primeiro a conceituar poder constituinte. O presente trabalho pretende argumentar que, na verdade, Maquiavel já havia falado sobre o poder constituinte em sua obra, apesar de não chamar o fenômeno com esse nome. Para tanto, se irá demonstrar o funcionamento dos conceitos de virtù e fortuna na obra de Maquiavel e examinar as instituições necessárias para a conservação daquela. Após, se abordará o conceito de poder constituinte, o qual não pode ser aprisionado simplesmente nas malhas do direito. Estabelecidas as características do poder constituinte, se demonstrará a presença de seus elementos em Maquiavel. / [en] The constituent power is a concept of great importance for the political and the law theories. The merit of having been the first to conceptualize constitutional power is usually attributed to Sieyès. The present work argues that, in fact, Machiavelli had already dealt about the constitutional power in his work, although he didn’t give the phenomenon the addressed name. For so, we will demonstrate the concepts of virtù and fortune in the context of Machiavelli’s work and examine the required institutions for its conservation. Finally, the concept of constituent power will be covered, which cannot be simply trapped in the meshes of the law. Once the characteristics of the constituent power are stablished, the presence of its elements in Machiavelli will be demonstrated.

Tesis para optar al grado de Doctor en Filosofía mención Filosofía Moral y Política / El año 2011 representa la vuelta del péndulo en términos de esta antropología, sin embargo, algo se mantiene: la conciencia del enfrentamiento entre dos humores que habitan la ciudad (la polis). Esta tesis nace intentando relevar el aporte que representa la teoría de Maquiavelo para pensar otra subjetividad y otro modo de concebir el poder en la línea de la interpretación de Marx, respecto de este autor. Como intentaré mostrar a lo largo de ella, Maquiavelo no contó con el apoyo de la naciente revolución rusa, que veía en él a un corruptor de los valores propios del socialismo, al punto que fue utilizado en las purgas que le dieron el poder a Stalin4. De este modo el marxismo también se hacía parte de la leyenda negra acerca del autor. Obviamente debemos reconocer el valor de Gramsci y su interpretación en este contexto. Sin embargo, tendremos que esperar hasta después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial para 1 Maquiavelo,que la tradición francesa reivindique una vinculación entre Marx y Maquiavelo. Esto, a pesar de que las referencias escasas del primero al segundo son siempre positivas, quizá debido a la mediación de Hegel.