Machiavelli s The Prince And Descartes s Meditations On...

The works of two philosophers Machiavelli’s The Prince and Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy were revolutionary in terms of setting knowledge on new foundations. In the literary work The Prince Machiavelli details the guidelines that leaders should adhere to in order to maintain stability in their controlled lands by accurately summarizing the nature of humans as being ungrateful, vain, and selfish individuals. While Descartes in his work Meditations on First Philosophy ventures on a journey to decipher the relationship between his body and mind and what in actuality exists. Both philosophers embark on a journey to comprehend and uncover the truth. Machiavelli in his work informs the prince that even if he does possess certain qualities he shall always appear to his followers as retaining all of these qualities as shown in the following quotation â€Å"A prince, therefore, need not necessarily have all the good qualities I mentioned above, but he should certainly appear to have them†¦ He should appear to be compassionate, faithful to his word, kind guileless, and devout†¦ He should not deviate from what is good, if that is possible, but he should know how to do evil, if that is necessary† (Machiavelli 57). Machiavelli highlights that image is extremely crucial for rulers and they must alter the perceptions of their people in regard to him in order to appear in control at all times for the purpose of maintaining and sustaining control. This idea is overturning