A strategic focus on self-interest and personal gain, doing what works to benefit the self the most when involved with others (however, limiting pain to a certain extent. The morality of this is questionable, but Machiavellianism doesn’t really take that into account because life, at the end of the day, is about what works and what doesn’t. Focus on how to benefit the self the most.)
1. Fear is more
powerful and safer than love, because love is futile and demanding,
while fear can continue
to exist.
2. Focus on what leads to power and stability.
3. The ends justify your means as long as it doesn’t lead to hatred.
I learned Machiavellianism in the past because I wanted some form of power - before I realized that it's literally impossible to overcome the power imbalance of things like school or government, without, you know, becoming a man with power. I am clearly not! It only really works for power figures, unless if you actually love seeing how they abuse their power (spolier for rest of article: appearing good while restricting freedom and then doing whatever the hell they want).
It is where the ability and energy of an individual allows them to achieve their goals despite potential circumstances like external influence.
Be feared without being hated!!
Even big corporations use strategic psychological convincing… It’s better to know it rather than not, you would likely fall into their traps. In fact, the silence treatment is said to be Machiavellian, though the absence of noise can be scary; ethically, isn’t the absence of something neutral?
A Machiavellianist concept, perhaps? However, only to a limited extent. In the face of problems, in the face of failures, have no negative reaction whatsoever and just treat it like a barrage of events that cannot be undone, continue with your day like a man with a ton of power that lies within the self, and attempt to prevent it from happening again.
One is that people assume to get gifts and unconditional love from/to those whom they love to an overly inflated level of expectations, and another is over-reliance on maintenance of that love as it will indeed fall over time or even change into the opposite of love: hate, if it is suddenly terminated. The third is that love is controlled mainly by other people, as it, by definition, is something that occurs in other people’s minds, which thus demonstrates love is unpredictable and undesirable. Honestly, the fear when a teacher you love so much betrays you is very high. Even teachers rely on the Machiavellian principle of generating fear through strictness (they might SOUND nice, but try to predict their motives.)
They manipulate students to think they are at fault, even when the teacher is teaching poorly! Unlike real Machiavellians, I don't think they are that detached. In reality, their job is to teach, not to gain much other than money. In reality, I realized that teachers aren't as Machiavellian as I thought. On second thought, it's probably the education system, not the teachers. But it turns out it's hard to blame an abstract entity, so teachers may be getting more blame than they deserve... Sorry, the world is not just...
Category:Philosophy Category:Psychology Category:Sociology Category:Manipulation