Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince  is an extended analysis of how to acquire and maintain political power. In The Qualities of a Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli discusses the attributes that he believes make for a good leader. Although Machiavelli wrote The Qualities of a Prince centuries ago, some of the qualities he advises a prince to have can be adapted to the leaders of today. Some of these qualities include being generous and being feared by the public. Machiavelli’s philosophy is basically to become a good leader you must do anything even it is immoral and wrong. He first writes that a prince’s duty concerning military matter must always think of war only, even in times of peace. They must know their surroundings exactly so they can defend and make effective strategies to counter the enemy’s attack. They must also know historical battles so they will be able to learn their tactics and improve on it. He then talks about the prince’s path: should the prince be genero...

-Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in a small town called Stagria . His parents died when he was still young, and he was raised as an orphan. He is considered as one of the greatest and most influential of Plato’s students. He established his own school at Athens. Philosophically, the works of Aristotle reflects his gradual departure from the teachings of Plato and his adoption of a new approach. Unlike Plato, who delighted in abstract thought about a supra-sensible (supra=above) realm (region/a domain in which something is dominant) of forms, Aristotle was intensely concrete and practical, relying heavily upon sensory observation as a starting-point for philosophical reflection. In his famous book Poetics (330 B.C.), Aristotle defines tragedy as an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude . Tragedy is an imitation of such average human world that is full of problems and struggles. It is a depiction of such human ...

- Plato (427-347 BC) Plato is a classical Greek philosopher who is regarded as the father of all philosophies. He is one of the world’s best known and most widely studied philosophers. He was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle . He was influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans. Plato’s most famous work The Republic is generally regarded as providing his own philosophy. He regards objects perceived through the senses as merely copies of ideas. He talks about the domain of idea object and art where ideal only is truth, object is imitation and the art is imitation of idea. He believes that human beings are rational by birth. Hence, for him our knowledge is innate or inborn. In the present essay, he argues that men and women should be treated equal. He considers that nature has provided different degrees of intelligence and capacity to men and women. If women are trained like men they may rise up and do like men. The thesis of this essay is tha...

Deconstructive criticism is a mode of criticism that was developed during the 1960s (1967-present) by  Jacques Derrida  (1930-2004). Jacques Derrida is arguably the most well-known philosopher of the contemporary period. He was a French philosopher credited with being the father of deconstructionism . Experts consider Derrida to be a vital contributor to the fields of modern philosophy and literary criticism . Derrida questioned the central-seeking tendency of western philosophy and developed this mode of criticism. A method of reading and theory of language that seeks to subvert (bring down), dismantle and destroy any notion that a text or signifying system has any boundaries , margins , coherence , unity , determinate meaning , truth or identity . Deconstructive criticism rejects the traditional assumption that language can accurately represent reality . Deconstructionist critics regard language as a fundamentally unstable medium. Since literature is made up of words...

Structuralism is a psychological approach that emphasized studying the elemental structures of consciousness. The term “structure” as we know it is a term that evokes/provokes the idea of order. Structuralism in the field of linguistics is based upon the realization that if human actions/productions have a meaning, there must be an underlying system of distinctions and conventions which makes this meaning possible. So, structuralism is a set of theories in the humanities, social sciences and economics. It can be described as approach in academic disciplines in general that explores the relationships between fundamental principal elements in language, literature, and other fields upon which some higher linguistic, social or cultural “structures” and “structural networks” are drawn. Through these networks meaning is produced within a particular person, system or culture. The meaning then frames and motivates the actions of individuals and groups. Like New Criticism , Structuralis...