Professor Mack Comparative Government (POLS 1220.32) 13 December 2011 The Art of Self-Interest: Sun-Tzu and Thucydides “Being fond of the truth‚ I am an admirer of antiquity‚” writes Confucius. (Kaplan‚ 40) The past contains lessons that apply to the future‚ because while time‚ place‚ individuals and creed change‚ people as a whole do not. The motivations are always the same. “Thus‚ as Aron notes‚ while our ideals have usually been peaceful‚ history has often been violent. Though this should
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Lao-Tzu‚ Machiavelli‚ and the American Government Lao-Tzu’s "Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching" and Machiavelli’s "The Qualities of a Prince" both have the ultimate goal of making better leaders. The tactics that each writer chooses to present as a guide for the leader are almost opposite of each other. Today’s American government would benefit from a combination of the two extreme ideas. Lao-Tzu’s laissez-faire attitude towards the economy‚ as well as his small scale‚ home defense military is
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Is Government Good or Bad? “In Discussion: Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli’s view on Government” “The Master leads by emptying people’s mind and filling their cores‚ by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know‚ everything they desire‚ and creates confusion in those who think that they know.” (Page 19). This passage supports a number of readings. All of them centered on government. The definition of government is the organization‚ machinery‚ or agency
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comparisons can you make between Lao-tzu’s Master and Machiavelli’s Prince. Summary: The writings of Machiavelli and Lao Tzu indicate that they would disagree most strongly on the concept of how a government should run. Machiavelli believed that in strong government control by a prince who acted more in terms of practicality and maintaining power than through moral principles. Lao Tzu‚ on the other hand‚ took a more individualistic‚ carefree approach‚ believing that a ruler will be respected and followed
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stillness and non-action. This idea is discussed in Dao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. Taoism achieves attentions and significance from philosophers and literature scholars as Taoism gets interpreted in many different ways. As a companion of Dao Te Ching‚ The book of Chuang Tzu is the second most influential and popular literature that concerns with the interpretation and application of Taoism. Different from Tao Te Ching‚ The Book of Chuang Tzu elaborates on Taoism with philosophical fantasy narratives and poetries
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Background on Chinese history in 500 BC‚ the Zhou Dynasty was falling apart and there was civil strife. Confucius tried to bring people together through ritual and culture. Sun Tzu was an ancient iii. No one can follow a leader without a balance of both strict rules and humanity iv. Thesis: Although the Confucius and Sun Tzu share different points of view on leadership‚ a balance of both strategies would be the most effective in times of both war and peace. II. Rebuttal i. Include somewhere either
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1 Kayla Short English 2 12:30 PM Class The way in which a leader governs his country can differ for different countries. Two polar opposites would be Lao-Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli. They’re both on opposite sides of the spectrum for their ideas on how a leader should govern. Lao-Tzu leans more towards a less intrusive government‚ while Machiavelli believes in powerful rulers. Some of their ideas are shown today in our society‚ some good and some bad. Starting with Machiavelli‚ he says
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The Influence of Sun Tzu- “The Art of War” on Current Business Strategy Management and Tactics MGT 4335 Management struggles constantly day in and day out in order to meet the rigorous demands of their organization. Meeting after meeting‚ they try to stay ahead of the competition and look for any competitive advantage that they may have to control the market share. The current strategies of top management teams today have been derived from many influential leaders of ancient warfare. One of
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effect of actions revolve mostly around how people treat each other. Lao-Tzu largely focuses on how a leader treats his people in “Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching”. He encourages those in power to not force anything in their actions but to just go with the flow of what is occurring around them. When this is done and when the leader actively works for peace‚ avoids war‚ and follows the Tao‚ the country is at its greatest. Lao –Tzu advises that the people should be left to themselves and to lead so subtly
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Lao Tzu is a Chinese philosopher and founder of Daoism. He is the author of a philosophical document called “Tao-te Ching”. Niccoló Machiavelli‚ is a 15th century aristocrat and a writer‚ mostly famous for his political treatise‚ “The Prince”. This essay will attempt to analyze both authors’ views on human nature and the way these views affected the types of government supported. As mentioned above different lives of Lao Tzu and Machiavelli influenced their images of human nature. Lao Tzu worked
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