4. Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence on May 3, 1469.
He is notable for his essays on politics, particularly his infamous treatise on
power entitled The Prince.
He came form a political family.
He held a privileged position
He had a wife and sixteen children.
In 1494 Machiavelli became a clerk at the chancery at Adrian.
Later, he became a secretary to the Council of Ten, which was the
governing body in charge of diplomacy and military organization for the
new Florentine republican government.
He observed the workings of foreign affairs firsthand.
He met with other political leaders to see how their countries were ruled.
He carried out several diplomatic missions to Germany, Spain, and other
Italian city-states.
5. In 1512 the Medici family regained power in Florence,
putting an end to republican rule. As a result, Machiavelli
was forced out of his job and temporarily imprisoned. He
returned to his country estate near San Casciano after his
release and wrote several books on politics, including, On
the Art of War, History of Florence, Discourses on Livy, and
The Prince, which was dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici in
an attempt to gain favor with the ruling family.
Machiavelli wrote a first version of The Prince in 1913, but it
was not published until 1532—five years after his death.
7. • Pragmatic (concerned with practical results).
• Gives directions; How-to Book
• Brief and to the point
• Uses historical precedents to support his points
• Appeals to common sense
• Suggests alternate arguments and then shows why
they are wrong.
• Gives the appearance of fairness and
thoroughness
• Discusses opposite pairings, including both sides of
an issue
• Compare and contrast
• Aphorism
16. • Ad hominem: "against the man"; attacking the arguer rather
than the argument or issue.
• Appeal to tradition: a proposal that something should continue
because it has traditionally existed or been done that way.
• Argument: a process of reasoning and advancing proof about
issues on which conflicting views may be held; also, a statement
or statements providing support for a claim.
• Authority: a respectable, reliable source of evidence.
17. Begging the question: the arguer proves his conclusion while
assuming it to already be true. The premise for his argument is
based on the truth of his conclusion. In other words, the
argument assumes to be true what it is supposed to be proving.
Claim: the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer is trying
to prove.
Credibility: the audience's belief in the arguer's trustworthiness
Deduction: reasoning by which we establish that a conclusion
must be true because the statements on which it is based are
true
18. Ethos: the qualities of character, intelligence, and goodwill in an
argument that contribute to an audience's acceptance of the claim.
Euphemism: a pleasant or flattering expression used in place of one that
is less agreeable but possibly more accurate.
Evidence: facts or opinions that support an issue or claim; may consist of
statistics, reports of personal experience, or views of experts.
Fallacy: an error of reasoning based on faulty use of evidence or incorrect
inference.
False analogy: assuming without sufficient proof that if objects or
processes are similar in some ways, then they are similar in other ways as
well;
19. • Faulty use of authority: failing to acknowledge
disagreement among experts or otherwise
misrepresenting the trustworthiness of sources.
• Generalization: a statement of general principle
derived inferentially from a series of examples.
• Hasty generalization: drawing conclusions from
insufficient evidence.
• Inference: an interpretation of the facts.
20. • Motivational appeal: an attempt to reach an audience by
recognizing their needs and values and how these
contribute to their decision making.
• Non sequitur: "it does not follow"; using irrelevant proof
to buttress a claim.
• Post hoc: mistakenly inferring that because one event
follows another they have a causal relation; from post hoc
ergo propter hoc ("after this, therefore because of this");
also called "doubtful cause."
• Qualifier: a restriction placed on the claim to state that it
may not always be true as stated.
21. • Refutation: an attack on an opposing view in order to
weaken it, invalidate it, or make it less credible.
• Slanting: selecting facts or words with connotations
that favor the arguer's bias and discredit alternatives.
• Slippery slope: predicting without justification that one
step in a process will lead unavoidably to a second,
generally undesirable step.
• Values: conceptions or ideas that act as standards for
judging what is right or wrong, worthwhile or
worthless, beautiful or ugly, good or bad.
23. HOMEWORK
• Post #21: How can we apply the philosophy of
Machiavelli and/or Lao-Tzu to A Game of
Thrones? (Print and bring to class)
• Post #22 Essay #2 (1-2 pages: before Saturday)
• Choose your topic from "Suggestions for
Writing" pages 32-33, prompts 1-6 or pages 50-
51 prompts 1-5. Hard copy due Thursday OR
Electronic copy due by noon on Saturday.
• Study Vocabulary for exam #4: Test Thursday
