In Chapter 14, Machiavelli states that military power is the most important value of a state that a prince must only focus on "art of war" especially in peace time. I mostly do not meet up with Machiavelli's opinions but this time, it is not that cruel. (I didn't say that I completely agree with him but... Just wait for it.)
He gives military such an importance because as we know in previous chapters the big goal of the state is stability and self-preservation. He continued that in order to achieve that goal, the leader must engage in physical and mental trainings like learning the geography of the local region, developing strategies, reading history, etc which are so useful, I think. All these would be advantages in war time and lead to be one step forward from the enemy. But the mission point of Machiavelli is that a prince should be skilled in many disciplines including liberal arts, hobbies, sports, sciences, etc. Ensuring the stability of state is important, of course but such kind of developing (only military stuff) might be resulted in narrow mindedness.
To sum up, I agree with Machiavelli's opinions about military and a prince must be aware that it is important but I disagree with the words : "A prince should have no other object, no other thought, no other subject of study, than war, its rules and disciplines; this is the only art for a man who commands (...)" (40). There are so many examples of successful leaders interested in science, art, philosophy, sports to develop themselves all-purpose such as Atatürk, Churchill, Lenin, Hitler, etc. Maybe, we should also consider the age Machiavelli wrote all these which is the 16th century but as in present, it is not needed or should not be that a leader must only engage in war stuff. Certainly not.
I agree that a prince shouldn't solely focus on techniques and strategies of war and must work to gain knowledge in many fields to be a good leader. But I also think that there isn't necessarily a contradiction between the claim that a prince should only study the "art of war" and the argument that a prince should be skilled in many disciplines. It's possible that a prince is gaining skills on the fields of science, history, sports with the ultimate goal to be a better warrior or commander. He can use this knowledge to learn from past mistakes and to develop better tactics and tools for fighting in the future. It is also possible that Machiavelli considers versatility on many subjects as a prerequisite of being good at the art of war.
ReplyDelete(reposted with corrected spelling.)
In order not to analyse the sentences with their exact vocabularies, we have to lift our head from the text and think about what the author really meant. For example, let's start with the vocabulary "war". According to Oxford Dictionaries there are two slightly different meanings.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the first meaning is what you have meant. That is, a state of armed conflict between countries. This is the exact meaning. However, if we have a look at the second meaning, a state of competition or hostility.
Let's focus on the second meaning. A war hasn't be done by guns, only. The war of science is effective as the classical war. The best example of science war is the Cold War. A leader can maintain the peace period by studying and learning science.
Art can also be obtained as a tool for war. By imposing the art of one culture to another, one can change the other's cultures, moral values and life style.
Essentially by saying 'war' one can point so many ways to fight not only the one that swords and axes were used.
In order not to analyse the sentences with their exact vocabularies, we have to lift our head from the text and think about what the author really meant. For example, let's start with the vocabulary "war". According to Oxford Dictionaries there are two slightly different meanings.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the first meaning is what you have meant. That is, a state of armed conflict between countries. This is the exact meaning. However, if we have a look at the second meaning, a state of competition or hostility.
Let's focus on the second meaning. A war hasn't be done by guns, only. The war of science is effective as the classical war. The best example of science war is the Cold War. A leader can maintain the peace period by studying and learning science.
Art can also be obtained as a tool for war. By imposing the art of one culture to another, one can change the other's cultures, moral values and life style.
Essentially by saying 'war' one can point so many ways to fight not only the one that swords and axes were used.