It turned out to be a very interesting read. I don't think he so much advocates benevolent dictatorship, but reliable tactics for sustaining a state. Dictatorship is a natural assumption since monarchies were the norm of his times. However, he also referenced republics as well. Finally, I'm not sure how applicable his ideas are in our age. I think a large underlying assumption in his writing is the fluidity of states through war and conquest, which is not so much the case any more.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Machiaveli's The Prince
I finally finished reading The Prince by Machiavelli. It was actually very short. I just kept putting it off after starting it. :-p I found it on the bookshelf here in Cupertino after moving back and organizing stuff and figured that I should read it since I've always thought that I identified with his philosophy.
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3 comments:
You mean this wasn't your guiding philosophy of how you ran the kendo club? ;-)
Of course not!
My guiding philosophy was "I wish a higher ranking person would show up and take over!!" Very much the opposite of retaining power. ^_~
There are a lot of short and interesting books. =)
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