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One of the great political philosophers of the Renaissance was Nicolo Machiavelli. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Machiavelli was perceived as being devious and unethical. Furthermore, today the term “Machiavellian” denotes ruthless opportunism and the use of manipulative tactics. The source of this negative connotation is his famous treatise on government, The Prince, a short political work that attempts to lay out immoral techniques to secure and maintain power. In The Prince, Machiavelli states …

…to obtain and maintain power, he is right about human nature. According to Machiavelli, humans are prideful and self-interested beings. In The Prince, his most famous political work, he realizes that his “power politics” can only work because of human nature. But what he fails to realize is that obtaining power does not lead to happiness, therefore he no better then the Sophists. It is only through living the moral life can we obtain fulfillment.