Machiavelli or Aurelius

[deleted] · 2018-01-27T19:40:41+00:00

You can take lessons from both.

Stoicism allows you to not be clouded by your emotions (and be less reactive to life) thus you can be more effective at practising machiavellianism.

RedPillIsTruth2 · 2018-01-27T19:23:04+00:00

I assume you're referring to The Prince. If so, it should be noted that the book is satirical

LordThunderbolt · 2018-01-28T06:02:11+00:00

What? You're trying too hard. Machiavelli just talked about simple stuff like how to manage people. He didn't write deep life philosophy. You can easily read and apply both.

aurelius_shrugs · 2018-01-28T16:46:26+00:00

One is the sychophantic and condescending advice of a failure on how to rule; the other the private musings of a philosopher king. Choose your authorities wisely.

TheRedPillRipper · 2018-01-27T23:21:56+00:00

You're taking philosophies literally as opposed to abstractly. Aurelius espouses "the good" but if for example you have to nuke North Korea to prevent WW3? What's the "good and noble" action?

I personally apply whichever philosophy gets me to my goals quicker. In a previous life I had a very successful alternate means of income. I've made life long brothers from those days however in my current life those relationships could become costly so I've distanced myself to mitigate my exposure to risk. But I'm okay with what I've done and what I'm doing.

It's a matter of conscience. As long as your actions are congruent towards your goals and you're not plagued by issues of conscience then you're good. If your actions give you cause for concern, ethically or morally then listen to your conscience.

At the end of the day the only person you have to justify your actions to is yourself.

Title	Machiavelli or Aurelius
Author	drsherbert
Upvotes	5
Comments	6
Date	January 27, 2018 6:53 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/7tep6m/machiavelli_or_aurelius/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/machiavelli-or-aurelius.122827 https://theredarchive.com/post/122827

Comments