full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Pazit Cahlon and Alex Gendler: What "Machiavellian" really means

Unscramble the Blue Letters


From Shakespeare’s plyas to modern TV dramas, the unscrupulous semehcr for whom the ends always justify the mneas has become a familiar character type we love to hate. So familiar, in fact, that for centuries we’ve had a single word to describe such characters: Machiavellian. But is it possible that we’ve been using that word wrong this whole time?

The early 16th crnutey statesman Niccoló Machiavelli wrote many works of history, philosophy, and drama. But his lasting notoriety comes from a brief political essay known as The Prince, framed as advice to current and future monarchs. mlcvalehiai wasn’t the first to do this– in fact there was an entire tradition of works known as “mirrors for princes” going back to antiquity. But unlike his predecessors, Machiavelli didn’t try to desibrce an ideal gvremnneot or exhort his aeuidnce to rule jutsly and virtuously. Instead, he focused on the question of power– how to acquire it, and how to keep it. And in the decades after it was published, The Prince gained a diabolical reputation. During the European Wars of Religion, both Catholics and Protestants blamed Machiavelli for inspiring acts of violence and tnyrany committed by their opponents. By the end of the century, Shakespeare was using “Machiavel” to denote an amoral opportunist, leading directly to our popular use of “Machiavellian” as a synonym for manipulative valiilny.

Open Cloze


From Shakespeare’s _____ to modern TV dramas, the unscrupulous _______ for whom the ends always justify the _____ has become a familiar character type we love to hate. So familiar, in fact, that for centuries we’ve had a single word to describe such characters: Machiavellian. But is it possible that we’ve been using that word wrong this whole time?

The early 16th _______ statesman Niccoló Machiavelli wrote many works of history, philosophy, and drama. But his lasting notoriety comes from a brief political essay known as The Prince, framed as advice to current and future monarchs. ___________ wasn’t the first to do this– in fact there was an entire tradition of works known as “mirrors for princes” going back to antiquity. But unlike his predecessors, Machiavelli didn’t try to ________ an ideal __________ or exhort his ________ to rule ______ and virtuously. Instead, he focused on the question of power– how to acquire it, and how to keep it. And in the decades after it was published, The Prince gained a diabolical reputation. During the European Wars of Religion, both Catholics and Protestants blamed Machiavelli for inspiring acts of violence and _______ committed by their opponents. By the end of the century, Shakespeare was using “Machiavel” to denote an amoral opportunist, leading directly to our popular use of “Machiavellian” as a synonym for manipulative ________.

Solution


  1. century
  2. villainy
  3. government
  4. plays
  5. audience
  6. machiavelli
  7. tyranny
  8. describe
  9. justly
  10. means
  11. schemer

Original Text


From Shakespeare’s plays to modern TV dramas, the unscrupulous schemer for whom the ends always justify the means has become a familiar character type we love to hate. So familiar, in fact, that for centuries we’ve had a single word to describe such characters: Machiavellian. But is it possible that we’ve been using that word wrong this whole time?

The early 16th century statesman Niccoló Machiavelli wrote many works of history, philosophy, and drama. But his lasting notoriety comes from a brief political essay known as The Prince, framed as advice to current and future monarchs. Machiavelli wasn’t the first to do this– in fact there was an entire tradition of works known as “mirrors for princes” going back to antiquity. But unlike his predecessors, Machiavelli didn’t try to describe an ideal government or exhort his audience to rule justly and virtuously. Instead, he focused on the question of power– how to acquire it, and how to keep it. And in the decades after it was published, The Prince gained a diabolical reputation. During the European Wars of Religion, both Catholics and Protestants blamed Machiavelli for inspiring acts of violence and tyranny committed by their opponents. By the end of the century, Shakespeare was using “Machiavel” to denote an amoral opportunist, leading directly to our popular use of “Machiavellian” as a synonym for manipulative villainy.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. acquire
  2. acts
  3. advice
  4. amoral
  5. antiquity
  6. audience
  7. blamed
  8. catholics
  9. centuries
  10. century
  11. character
  12. committed
  13. current
  14. decades
  15. denote
  16. describe
  17. diabolical
  18. drama
  19. dramas
  20. early
  21. ends
  22. entire
  23. essay
  24. european
  25. exhort
  26. fact
  27. familiar
  28. focused
  29. framed
  30. future
  31. gained
  32. government
  33. hate
  34. history
  35. ideal
  36. inspiring
  37. justify
  38. justly
  39. lasting
  40. leading
  41. love
  42. machiavelli
  43. machiavellian
  44. manipulative
  45. means
  46. modern
  47. monarchs
  48. niccoló
  49. notoriety
  50. opponents
  51. opportunist
  52. philosophy
  53. plays
  54. political
  55. popular
  56. predecessors
  57. prince
  58. protestants
  59. published
  60. question
  61. religion
  62. reputation
  63. rule
  64. schemer
  65. shakespeare
  66. single
  67. statesman
  68. synonym
  69. time
  70. tradition
  71. tv
  72. type
  73. tyranny
  74. unscrupulous
  75. villainy
  76. violence
  77. virtuously
  78. wars
  79. word
  80. works
  81. wrong
  82. wrote