Machiavelli, The Prince

  Description:     In the Prince, Machiavelli writes down his political wisdom accumulated in many years of political practice and first hand observations of political characters. Machiavelli's goal is to make the prince successful in his endeavour of conquering, governing and maintaining/defending his principality. The central aspect of Machiavelli's argumentation is a virtue oriented language based on the idea of political necessity. Your task is A)Pin down Machiavelli's account of virtue and its relation to the logic of political necessity, based on the ideas/examples he is discussing in these chapters, B) Show by means of a significant example (or examples) why contemporary politicians generally tend to follow Machiavelli's understanding of virtue as linked to political necessity, D) Explain why you would agree or disagree with Machiavelli's idea of virtue linked to political necessity. Make a reasoned case.