Kayla Kessler Dekle English 101 11 September 2013 Machiavelli versus Lao Tzu There are many kinds of leaders in this world that believe that their style of leadership is the best. Machiavelli and Lao Tzu were two people that believed that their style of ruling was the best way to rule. They were both extremely outspoken and they stood by their ways. Both Machiavelli and Lao Tzu were very clear about how they thought a government should be run. Even though they both held strong opinions
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Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli on Government and Those Who Govern Machiavelli‚ in “The Prince” and Lao-Tzu in “”Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching” have very opposing views. In their writings‚ they differ on topics such as qualities of a leader‚ functions of government‚ and human nature and the world around them. Here I will describe each of their views and compare the differences. Both Machiavelli and Lao-Tzu are philosophers writing in regard to Government‚ giving advice in ways that they feel people should
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Lao Tzu’s political views are based on Taoism‚ which means that things should be done in conformity with nature. He is against aggression and coercion and recommends the adoption of inaction by both the government and its subjects (Csikszentmihalyi 58). Confucius‚ on the other hand‚ is of the proposition that democracy should be a great aspect that ought to be embraced by all members of the society either as leaders or subjects (Walton 100-101). The two scholars differ in various respects‚ but still
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The genre of a text can make an immense impact on the way one reads and interprets a novel. I will be focusing on the text Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu and Plato’s Five Dialogues. Both of these readings are written quite differently. Tao Te Ching is written as a poem and has more of a self-interpretative aspect to it. On the other hand‚ Plato’s Five Dialogues is written in an essay format‚ using dialogue. I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these writing styles and the interpretive challenges
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Per Lao-Tzu’s “wu wei” if you can master the art of doing nothing‚ then you can achieve anything you desire. As perplexing and difficult as it may seem to comprehend‚ Lao-Tzu’s “wu wei” didn’t exactly mean to literally do nothing‚ but rather let nature take course. Act on what nature entails relatively than what you desire. When you do more‚ you attain less so mastering the art of doing less you achieve more‚ one of the major ways to learn how to achieve more is to stop worrying‚ learning to accept
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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
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attention of common people. Early Chinese writers like Lao Tzu‚ Confucius‚ and T’ao Ch’ien gave answers to universal questions to help people decide how to live their lives. Many pieces of Chinese poetry like Form‚ Shadow‚ Spirit‚ The Analects‚ and Tao Te Ching answer ambiguous questions like how one should live with the knowledge of death when T’ao Ch’ien explains that one should not waste time pondering about death; the actions of a ruler when Lao Tzu states that a ruler should keep the people healthy
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Laos Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia which originates from the ancient 14th century kingdom of Lang Xang. Since the fall of the Lang Xang Kingdom‚ Laos has continually been under control of outside forces. Historically Laos has not been given the chance to grow and prosper as an individual country. After Laos was granted sovereignty in 1953 the neutral country was caught up in the Vietnam War until 1975 and suffered from devastating air strikes and bomb drops. In 1975‚ Laos was
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Wendy Swartz The Nature of Evil Hsun Tzu’s philosophy is built from the idea that human beings are by nature inherently evil‚ and the good they produce will only come through their conscious activity. Hsun Tzu believes that if man follows his nature and indulges in his natural desires‚ without transforming himself by conscious activity he is doomed to fall victim to his evil nature. "Any man who follows his nature will inevitably become involved in wrangling and strife‚ will violate the
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Chuang Tzu by Aven Fisher Through comparing different translations of the same texts one can get an idea of the meanings for the Chinese words used by Chuang Tzu in his work. In comparison to the English language the difference in the translations of the text gives the impression that the Chinese words used are much broader terms and must be simplified before we can describe them in English. This paper will assess the second section of the Chuang Tzu‚ specifically
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