Plato, Machiavelli Essay Example for Free

Plato, Machiavelli Essay Machiavelli says the prince only has to seem good, not be good. Plato insists that seeming is bad, being is good. Nicolo Machiavelli is known as being an realist who accepted that fact that humans are brutal, selfish, and fickle while Plato was an idealist who believed people could be ruled by a philosopher king who ruled over the warriors and tradesmen of his ideal republic with rationality. In his view the philosopher-king was in charge of making the state a utopia in that everyone had his/her place and all worked together for the common good of the state. Machiavelli said that this was a foolish idea. Machiavelli philosophy of government was centered on the ruler. He believed the king, or despot, had the right to do whatever was necessary for his own gain, or whatever the monarch considered the good of the state which he called Virtu’. Machiavelli believed the only purpose for a ruler was to make war, and protect its citizens from attacks by other states. He advocated the slaughter of surrendered generals in order to crush hopes of revolution even rationalizing that it was worth the risk of revolution should it anger the people. Machiavelli believed a ruler should be immoral using deception and illusion for power and never allowing the people to know the â€Å"real† him In Machiavellis time, as it is today, the States whole reason for being was to serve the citizens. The ruler, therefore, is justified in doing whatever is necessary to maintain the country or state, even if it is unjust. In Platos time, man served the state. According to the viewed that ethics and politics are the same, or at least co-terminous. There was no distinction between private life and public life, as there is today. Plato argues a ruler can never be unjust. Plato argues against this type of ruler, who rules solely by might. Plato tries to prove that it is always better to be just than unjust , claiming that there is a strong connection between justice , personal happiness and the well being of the state. Machiavelli underlines the fact that moral principles are not necessarily connected with the efficiency of the act of ruling . If the principles of morality and justice need to be broken in for the state to be prosperous , than this is how things should be done. In the end, Plato and Machiavelli lived very different lives, contributing to their differing thoughts on the world. Plato grew up in the upper aristocratic class but was adopted by Socrates. As he followed Socrates, he learned all he would need for his later life as a philosopher when he essentially wandered around Greece without pay. In this way he was untouched by wealths corruption. Machiavelli, on the other hand, grew up in a wealthy Italian home and lived well supplied for by his patrons. The wealth that he was accustomed to was the main cause for his philosophy centered around personal gain.

The Farm House Essay -- Personal Narrative Essays

Throw a dart at any year in the over-sized target that is the 1960s and you will hit on something big in American history. Nineteen sixty-three has the March on Washington, the publication of The Feminine Mystique, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Humanity was marching ever onward with ceaseless progress in science, medicine and engineering. The first ever telecast of a live murder by NBC as Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald. With the U.S. on the eve of yet another war against communism as over one hundred fifty thousand military advisors are stationed in South Vietnam; the Cold War still creeping amidst the nightmares of millions fearing nuclear holocaust. However, for the Geis’ of Lexington, Kentucky, they will see a regression to a life much more arduous. My grandparents, along with my mother Betty and her sisters, were about to leave the easy living and conveniences of nineteen sixties metropolitan life behind. Howard and Regina Geis had a dream that lay well away from the city life. Well away indeed. This dream lied within the backwoods of Barren County down an old country road obscured by the forest itself. An old country road that ran for a good mile down into the hollow†¦ Forty-four acres of farmland that--building from memory and photographs--would eventually become the epitome of rustic charm. The old homestead was surrounded by the kind of eerie, primeval wilderness that can only be truly felt by the unfiltered imagination of youth. Never more truer than when the fog would roll out of the thicket, over the rise and fall of the hills and creep up to the doorsteps. Even though one could call upon memory to reconstruct the family farm and the subsistence farming lifestyle, to really tell this story... ...est daughter’s dairy farm. Before writing this I took the opportunity to venture back into those fabled woods, down that stretch of country gravel to see for myself what remained of the place where my mother grew up and so many fond memories were shared between my cousins and I. Suffice to say, no wild guess was needed to assume what to expect once the farmhouse was within view. I was not surprised when my eyes fell upon the solemn sight. That place which held a lifetime of memories shared by three generations was nothing more than a shadow left in shambles. The farm house had been swallowed up in the years passed as any sign of life and cultivation has been slowly returning to natural order. Gone away were the verdant fields, the shrill laughter of children, and the nostalgic smell of the seasons that always mingled with the aromas of Grannie Geis’ country cooking.

Crossing Borders †Interracial Dating Essay

In the hodge-podge of American culture you are bound to find interracial dating. There are many differences between people. One that is obvious to the naked eye is the difference of race. In the society that we live in it is sometimes difficult for people of different races to be a couple. The Dominant Culture puts out an invisible border that separates people of different races. In an experiment that I did with a white friend named Michelle, we went out as a couple. Me being Indian and her being Caucasian posed some difficulties for some people to understand. We first went to a park and decided that we would just sit on the swings. There was another little Caucasian girl next to us. The next thing I saw really surprised me and Michelle. The mother of that little girl came and quickly grabbed her daughter and brought her to another part of the playground. All along, the mother looked at me and Michelle in a weird way. After that, we went to the shopping mall. Keeping in mind that we are in a predominantly white suburb, we held hands at the stores. People looked at us as if we were from another planet. I guess they could not believe that an Indian guy and a white girl could be going out on a date. We even brought another one of my friends to see the reaction of other people that me and Michelle could not see. Our other friend, Jim, said that many people kept on starring at us. Also that some people were whispering about us after they had passed us up. This really was a surprise to me. This experiment that I did was a real eye-opener because it gave me the evidence that people really were not happy seeing different races dating. Although this is not the opinion of all people, it seemed to be the opinion of a quite a number of people. These people are what keep the invisible border present in society. The real question that I asked myself is why this happened. One conclusion I came to was that since this was a primarily white suburb, people would not be too open to different races just being there. If someone different from them was to come into their society, it would be natural for them to not accept them. Especially in a situation that involved dating, people would be closed minded. Not only would they want themselves having nothing to do with interracial dating, they would want others of their same race not to be involved with interracial dating. The white people in this suburb probably looked down upon Michelle for being with an Indian guy. Furthermore, the events of September 11th did not help this situation either. Ever since that date, Indian people have been clumped into the whole middle-eastern terrorist category. This just gives the people of this suburb a reason to denounce me and our relationship. Much of this anger comes out of stereotypes. Since these people think that most middle-eastern people are bad or somehow connected to terrorism, this creates a stereotype that I am labeled with. Another reason we got such a hard time is that our cultures did not match up. Even though we have similar values, the customs of Caucasians and Indians are obviously different. Many people in the suburbs that we saw probably did not understand my culture, so what they do not understand, they do not like. People still have stereotypes of Indians. They might think that we cannot speak English or that we smell. These stereotypes bring the Indians in a lower regard with the dominant culture. Why is it harder for black and white couple to be accepted by society rather then an Indian and a white couple? This particular question can be answered in many ways. One of the many reasons is that social standards are set in our community that base blacks down the totem pole. Blacks have been discriminated against from the start of slavery and to this day in some rare cases. The dominant culture has looked down upon blacks because of their skin color for many generations. This is cause for the dominant culture to look down upon blacks. When it comes to Indians, some white people perceive Indians as somewhat semi-British. Whites are less prone to be against a relationship with an Indian person. It is more accepted for Indians to date white people because the dominant culture holds Indians in higher regards than blacks. It is because of biased thinking that this notion came into being. After everything, people are still not open to other ideas or beliefs. Even though the dominant culture puts out an invisible border, that border is becoming more visible with stereotypes that are put out there. This invisible border is displayed by their actions when they see interracial couples. They make it more difficult for these couples to be together. Other things like September 11th added to this invisible border in me and Michelle’s case. What this means is that the majority of our society will be closed minded to interracial dating. What it also means is that the racial lines will be erased if these couples get married and have children. The dominant culture wants to keep the races separate. In relating my experience with Michelle in that suburb, I felt like we should not be together as a couple. The reactions I got made me feel like I did something wrong. It is this feeling the invisible border is suppose to bring to me. I realized this only in the end. It is up me to decide who I date. It should be the concern of the two people that are dating and not the society.

Successful Leadership - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1211 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/09/25 Category Management Essay Tags: Leadership Essay Success Essay Did you like this example? Name: Bryan Ng (13) Class: 3A2 Date: 26 July 2010 Question: Successful leadership is about winning hearts and minds. Discuss. Warren Bennis, an American scholar widely regarded as a pioneer on the contemporary field of leadership studies, once said that â€Å"Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it. † Indeed, leadership comes with power but in order to gain this power, a leader must encompass three main leadership qualities. Besides winning the hearts and mind of the people, a leader must also be able to lead by example and have foresight. Only by mastering the above 3 qualities then can a leader be considered as a successful leader. Do you still think successful leadership is just about winning the hearts and minds of the people? You may ask: why bother to win the hearts and minds of the people? A leader has to be able to win the hearts and minds of the people to gain their support. This is necessary because a leader must have followers, followers who are willing to listen to the leader, followers who believe in the leader. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Successful Leadership" essay for you Create order So how does a leader achieve this? Well, to win their hearts and minds of people, I believe that it all starts with the leader encouraging and motivating the people. By doing so, the people will feel that their leader actually cares for them and that the leader is as though a close friend of theirs, supportive. This will definitely help bridge the gap between the leader and the people, bringing their relationship closer. Through this, the leaders are then able to gain the trust of the people, and when this mutual trust it built, the group can then effectively reach goals as a whole, as one. Of course, the leader must also be meritocratic and fair in order to win the hearts and minds of the people. The core of it all is to make the people happy, make everyone happy. Being biased to a certain group of people may bring them happiness and gain the support of them. However, the rest of them will feel that they are unfairly treated and will definitely rise against this leader. In history, we saw the French Revolution, which was caused by resentment towards royal absolutism, resentment towards noble privileges and dominance, by the peasants. Therefore, if a leader cannot even achieve win the hearts and minds of the people, who will be willing to support him? Who will be willing to choose a person who does not understand them well as their leader? Who will want a leader that is biased towards the rich, leaving a huge gap between the minority of the rich and the majority of the poor? No one will. The second aspect of successful leadership is to lead by example. A leader has to serve as a role model for the people to follow, then will people listen to you. You cannot expect a leader to ask people stop smoking when he himself does not stop, can you? Policies implemented must include the leader himself too. If the leader does not adhere to his own policy, this will be known as what the Chinese call shuo yi tao, zuo yi tao, which means to say one thing and to do another. However, if he leads by example, he will not only serve as a role model but also as an inspiration for the others. People will have the mentality that if he can do it, so can I, therefore, I feel that whether or not a leader leads by example is an important turning point in his leadership career. Leading by example is important but what is the most important thing that the leader has to lead in? The most important thing a leader must lead in is to be morally upright and work for the group interest rather than personal interests. As a group, a leader not only has to look after his own interests but also the interests of his fellowmen. One, who gives up his group interests for their own, is not only a bad leader but also a traitor, and if he is caught, they will be severely dealt with under the hands of the law. A clear example is former president Chen Shui-bian, who was charged with embezzling $3. 15 million during his presidency, receiving bribes worth at least $9 million, the laundering of some of the money through Swiss bank accounts, and the forging documents. He had sacrificed the interests of the public for his own and even tried to deny the public of the truth. Such leaders are definitely not role models but rather serve as examples for people to not follow. The final and most important factor of successful leadership is to have foresight and understand the team well. A leader has to be able to set long-term achievable goals for the team, steering the team towards success. This ability to foresee the road ahead for the team and prepare the team according to the conditions is just like the telescope of submarine. A leader must also have the foresight in understanding whether if the measures taken are in the best interest or beneficial to the group. Although measures taken may not be necessarily popular, it will be necessary as long as it is for the long-term benefit of the group. In Singapore, we have the Electronic Road Pricing. This system may not be popular with commuters, with many locals criticizing the system. However, it is effective in preventing heavy congestions. If Singapore did not have such a system coupled with the large population of cars in Singapore, Singaporeans may be facing heavy congestions during rush-hour periods. So, a leader must persevere and push forward what he thinks is the best for the people despite severe criticisms. A last point that a leader needs to recognize is the importance of coordination and cooperation within the team. Coordination is required for the effective reach of goals whereas cooperation is needed so that both the leader and people can help each other, point out each of their weaknesses, allowing the change for the better. This change will bring the entire group to greater heights. To sum up, a leader with vision encompasses the ability to understand what is beneficial and set achievable goals for the team. At the same time, he is also willing to listen to his people and learn about his weaknesses. Only by recognizing his mistakes then can he work on them. In my opinion, this is the best and the core of successful leadership. Successful leadership is not only about winning the hearts and minds of the people but includes a concoction of leading by example and having the foresight to plan ahead. By encompassing all these qualities, then will the people be happy, then will the people respect the leader and then will the team succeed. So here’s my say: one may be able to gain leadership but what defines successful leadership is not just achieving success but also making sure your fellow men are happy and sustaining this balance. Without the latter two, the leader is an authoritarian one. Do you have what it takes to be a successful leader?