Niccolo Machiavelli

The Italian Renaissance is known for its birth of many notable philosophers, including the famous Niccolo Machiavelli. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest political thinkers to have ever existed, and his ideas and beliefs have been an inspiration and motivation for many famous leaders. Although he has known to have been a positive influence on mankind, Machiavelli has also distinguished a bad reputation that has been unfairly given to him because of a misunderstanding in his views on politics. Since rulers like Hitler and Mussolini have followed his teachings for obtaining power, society has unfortunately looked down upon this great philosopher, despite the many things he introduced to mankind. Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence, Italy. Brought up in a relatively poor family, his parents could not afford to send him to school. Instead, he was educated at home by his mother, a religious poet, and his father, an attorney. Since little is known about his early life, not a lot can be found in references about his childhood and teenage years. It is only known that his family did their best to obtain a respectable and prominent image, and Niccolo grew up to be a fine, educated, and well-known man. He attended the University of Florence and studied logic, mathematics, music, astronomy, and philosophical debate. Machiavelli's political career took off in 1498 when he was offered a government position in Florence. He became the secretary and second chancellor of the Florentine Republic. During this time, he was a civil servant who had many diplomatic and administrative responsibilities. From 1499 to 1508, he went on many missions where he met many powerful political figures including Louis XII, the Pope, and Cesar Borgia, a solider and aristocrat in central Italy. A lot of Machiavelli's philosophy was highly influenced by other people; meanwhile his own ideas were created about political power and maintaining government control. One of his major contributions to the city of Florence was persuading the people to raise its own militia instead of using a mercenary. He was entirely devoted to the Florentine Republic, and the city was his object of patriotism. In 1512, the Medici, a Florentine family, reclaimed power in Florence and the republic was thrown over. Niccolo lost his position as chancellor and was imprisoned after being accused of a participation in a secret conspiracy. He was tortured and beaten excessively in jail but then later released upon Giovanni de Medici's election to the papacy. For the next ten years of his life, he dedicated himself to writing political philosophy, history, poems, and even plays to express his beliefs about politics and power. These expressions were all attempts to gain favor of the Medici rulers so that he could someday get his political position back, and meanwhile he was gaining popularity among people because of his new and different perspectives for not only government and politics, but in life in general as well. His most famous work, The Prince, was written in honor of the Medici family to express his ideals and suggestions for a powerful government. The Medici noticed him finally in 1525 when the rulers called him back to service. He spent his last two years of working for them before they overthrew the system again, just before Machiavelli died on June 20, 1527. As a politician, military theorist, historian, playwright, diplomat, and philosopher, Machiavelli proved to be an incredible contribution to society. Although extremely well known around the world for his philosophy in politics, he has been seriously misinterpreted. Since he has incorrectly been viewed as an evil figure to mankind, the term "Machiavellian" has been developed over the years to describe a person who has no morals. The term "Machiavellian" usually refers to someone who is untrustworthy, unprincipled, cunning, sly, and deceitful. Machiavelli had a harsh way of viewing things, but he had no intention to be an evil intimidation. His pessimistic attitude led him to express himself more directly and bluntly than anything expected. The fact that he grew up in the "golden age" of the Italian Renaissance helped him to develop most of his philosophies because so much was happening around him that he had an opinion about everything. Although a positive humanist to the world, his demanding and pessimistic viewpoints led people to believe that he was in fact evil and therefore nothing but a threat to society. Machiavelli stressed