Machiavelli’s 24 Dirty Hands

The Fox show 24 is getting ready to air its 8th season this January. If you’ve never seen the show it focuses around the main character Jack Bauer who works for the United States Government to help stop a looming terrorist attack. Each season the terrorists are different, the attacks are different and the situations [...]

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Machiavelli on “stimulating the economy”

Machiavelli opposes helping people.

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Machiavelli: On the Holocaust

Most will sway from discussing the legitimacy of the Holocaust. I believe the Holocaust occurred. I think it was an unjustified atrocity that paralyzed the relationship of the Jewish Religion with the rest of the world. After reading the Prince, I became interested in evaluating how Machiavelli might assess Adolf Hitler’s actions. While I understand [...]

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Machiavelli’s Subliminal Republicanism

According to many scholars, Niccolό Machiavelli was by no means a supporter of Principalities, such as that of the Medici family of Florence, but rather an enthusiast of Republicanism. He truly believed in a Republicanism that recognized all people as naturally moral, and respected the common person. Why then, did he write an instruction manual [...]

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Realistic Morality

             In a recent debate during my discussion section I was surprised to see how many students in the class would consider themselves a utilitarian.  I was reminded by this when I was reading a recent blog post about the television show, House MD, and its relationship to Machiavelli.  In [...]

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QuickPress: Obama, Harry Reid, and Machiavelli

Obama, Harry Reid, and Machiavelli

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The State of Nature and Executive Power

            In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, he says “That in the state of nature every one has the executive power of the law of nature” (page 289).  He goes on to defend his claim from those who would argue that if every individual had the power to be judges in their own circumstances, [...]

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Are Beneficial Ends Justified by Immoral Means?

Dylan Ashworth Political Science 101 Section 004 Are Beneficial Ends Justified by Immoral Means? The famous saying, “The ends justify the means,” is a highly loose concept that can be interpreted in many ways. One particularly debatable way to think about the concept is if beneficial ends are justified by immoral means.  The famous 15th [...]

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House M.D. and Machiavelli

As an avid watcher of the television series “House M.D.” you will always find my dorm room television on Fox at 8 p.m. on Mondays. Tonight’s episode, however, was particularly intriguing in the fact that it made a direct connection to the concept of “dirty hands” as addressed by Walzer and Machiavelli. In the episode, [...]

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Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 2004/Is it Still Better to Be Feared In Modern Society?

I think it is undeniable that in America the notion of fear plays a constant role in the election of leadership. While it may seem odd to say that in this modern day and age our government is elected not through who the public likes, but who the public fears, one need not look further [...]

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