Opinions on The Prince

I want to read this, but I don't know shit about philosophy. Will I understand anything?

Yep it's super easy

It's hardly philosophy
It's a meme book good only for those interested in florentine or historical politics in general

"Philosophy" is an incredibly generous way to describe it. It's essentially a handbook for rulers based on Machiavelli's knowledge of history. It's fascinating, yes, but it's all advice and no theses.

If you want something a little more ideologocial from the same era, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie is a good, equally short read.

Skip the meme book and Machiavelli's discourses instead.

You'll understand some of it, and it will be a good start. Read a lot. Read many books. Read it again in ten years. You will have learned a lot. You will understand more. Repeat.

The book isn't about philosophy, its a guide for ruling princedoms that he dedicated to the Medici to win their favour. If you want to know more of his political stance read his Discourses.

The Prince and Discourses are nowhere close to each other. The Prince is about how to gain and keep power (over states mostly) while Discourses is about how to rule a republic.

Have any of you fags actually read the book?

Read this and when you are ready to read actual political philosophy read the leviathan.
If you want political philosophy pertaining to how a politician should carry themselves out to the state, other statesmen and the citizenry I would probably read Caesars gallic journals instead.

Yes, for the reasons others have said. Gonna second though, it's fucking great if you're into that portion of history.

It's pretty dry and boring desu

It's a satire

The Prince is entry-tier, business major, bro philosophy. There are no prerequisites and you will gain nothing of value

No it's not

FUCK MERCENARIES
There you go champ.

It's not really philosophy. It's philosophically interesting precisely because it ignores philosophy (ethics). It's essentially just a guide to effective leadership of a medieval kingdom, nothing more. I read it and a couple of articles on it and made a presentation about it for class, which was interesting, though not super enlightening. It's a very overrated (it's not going to turn you into an immoral egoistic asshole) and commonly misinterpreted book.

I thought the prince was written as a satire? People took it too literal

>I thought the prince was written as a satire?
Jesus, FUCK whoever started this meme.(I think it was Rousseau)

Everyone shitting on prince is a pleb who can't apply it to their snapshit timelines, so they discount it. Read it. It can be read on a short plane ride or in a waiting room. Most important line: A Prince should only concern himself with war and it's disciplines, it is the only art through which principalities are held and the only way a private citizen can rise to the rank of prince.

They are very close to each other. Discourses will be more of a headache for anyone who isn't a halfbaked history bluff. Prince is like high school tier discourses is like college tier but alot of the same ideas are echoed through both.

>The academic consensus
aka a bunch of braindead marxists

It's obvious to anyone who isn't a brainlet.

Actually, I don't see any significant evidence at all that 'The Prince is a satire' is a meme. The academic consensus seems to be that it is.

Seems thinking The Prince isn't satire is the meme here, since it seems this ill-guided opinion is rampant on this board, while academic consensus is that it is indeed a satirical work.

I will agree that it isn't wise to blindly worship academia, so go ahead and present your sources of credible people in academia who don't think The Prince is a satire.

>t isn't wise to blindly worship academia, so go ahead and present your sources of credible people in academia
I can't even begin to express how retarded you are

>"ok guys I am going to tell you what to do to not throw away your kingdoms so many people have died for"
>"here are some examples of other guys fucking up dont do this"
>"IT WAS A PRANK BRVH!!!"

Cite me an academic who considers it satire. I'm honestly interested.

nigger without the "marxist academics" you wouldn't have your precious translations of the Greeks and Machiavelli. Shut the fuck up

You're actually treating it like it's some sort of a deep metaphor that you can post on instagram yourself, you braindead moron. It's a guide for ruling a kingdom not a metaphor for how you should lead your life.

I first read that book when I was 15 and that line on prep for war stuck with me. I bought rural land, guns, built a bunker and didnt post any of that on the instagram I dont have how is that a metaphor?

l o l

The book is dedicated to and meant for an italian prince from centuries ago, not for an edgy american teenager
top lel

It is actually a metaphor for people who understand that ruling a country is much like ruling anything else in life. There are direct parallels and analogies, because everything in life is symmetrical.

This is why The Prince is satire, I find myself laughing sometimes while reading it. It clearly even makes fun of the system itself when explaining how to garner more power and maintain control.

Rousseau, and many other political philosophers understood The Prince to be a satire. The struggle for power back then was even more severe and negative than it is today.

Oh so you are a euro nogunz rowhouser. You dont have the room to apply this book let alone swing your nuts pardon my confusion.

[[freedom intensifies]]

>nogunz rowhouser
kek, what the fuck is this supposed to mean anyway?

Could you be a bit more nebulous and cite fewer sources next time?

>the prince is satire

i wonder if 500 years from now people will be like the communist manifesto is satire

It means you live in a high population density area and the only people who have a say are the landed gentry class which you have to be born into. When I first posted I didnt consider how someone in a place with less social mobility would not be able to take a book like the prince seriously as something that could help you wield influence. You HAVE opened my mind to the reality that my country does have some redeeming factors after all.

It's always funny to give a copy of The Prince if your job has a Secret Santa thing during the holidays.

Dunno about the book being satire. Personally I think it was intended to be a "false flag" book like the various fake documents that the KGB was creating during the Cold War like "Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars" and "Field Manual 30-31B." My reasoning is this: Machiavelli was very pro-Republican. The Medici invaded Florence, overthrew the republican government, and had him tortured (breaking his arms IIRC) and he got exiled from the city. So he writes a explosive book about how best to be a tyrant, dedicates it to the Medici, and has it published after his death to try and turn the general public against the aristocracy.

Thank you for your social analysis of a country that you're too dumb to even find on a map. I bet your gunz and a farm make you super influential, Obama and the kikes are trembling.

>turn the general public against the aristocracy.
Didn't really succeed there, huh? You can't be that influential when your book gets banned by the church...

This.

>and has it published after his death to try and turn the general public against the aristocracy.

Why would he do it after his death? that makes no sense.
Do you give a shit about the world after your death?

That's the Veeky Forums scholarship, Machiavelli was like a fantasy villain who works against his enemies with a ridiculously complex scheme even after his death. Referring to sources or making sense is below these geniuses.

Not good as a self help book. It's a pretty good look into the dogma of the powerful.