Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, September 19, 2011

Group 5 (17)

Today in class our job was to focus on the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli.

They both had fairly negative out looks on the society, the way it works, etc. Hobbes referred to the world as a mere "matter in motion" and took a very materialistic stance. He is best known for his ideas of human life in the "state of nature" before society was formed being that people are self seeking and naturally not good.

Machiavelli is best known for his idea that "politics is all manipulation and strategy, not love for the people...". He essentially believed there is nothing moral about politics.

Our factual question was: True or False: Machiavelli and Hobbes broke with Aristotle's equation of politics and ethics.
Answer: True

Our discussion question was: Do you agree with Machiavelli's idea that politics is all manipulation and strategy and is the practice of politics essentially good or bad.

5 comments:

  1. I do believe that politics is all manipulation and strategy, but it depends on the politician whether it's good or bad. politics can be used in a good and helpful way, or it could be used to hurt and hinder. It just depends.

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  2. I believe politics is all manipulation as well, one guy can be a good speaker and get your attention, but be a horrible person. Or the opposite can take place too, he can be a bad speaker, but mean well. Its all about who speaks.

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  3. i have to agree with tyler in the fact that one guy can be a great speaker and gain your trust and promise "change" with manipulation. By insisting that they will do things for the greater good of the community, and in the long run nothing has been done.

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  5. 9 out of 10 politicians start out with honest intent. 1 out of 10 end that way. This is why politicians are like dipuers. They should both be changed often for the same reasoning.

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