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Machiavelli-Ideals of the Renaissance:
An Analysis of Machiavelli's principles
It has been the general outlook among political philosophers that there is a particular association between moral goodness and legitimate authority. Many authors believed that the use of political power was only correct if it was employed by a ruler whose personal moral character was strictly virtuous. Therefore, rulers were advised that if they wanted to be a successful ruler, they must behave according to the conventional standards of ethical goodness. It was thought that rulers did good when they did well; they earned the privilege to be obeyed and respected when they showed themselves to be virtuous and morally decent.
It is this moralistic view of authority that Machiavelli criticizes in his best-known dissertation, The Prince. For Machiavelli, there is no moral foundation on which to judge the difference between legitimate and illegitimate uses of power. Rather, authority and power are......

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Approximate Word Count: 2814
Approximate Pages: 12 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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