The correct answer is: B. Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, writer, playwright and poet of the Renaissance period. He was for many years an official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned by Italian scholars. He was Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his masterpiece, The Prince, after the Medici had recovered power and he no longer held a position of responsibility in Florence.
The Prince is a political treatise by Niccolò Machiavelli. The work is not a systematic treatise on statecraft, but rather a collection of 18 “precepts” on how to acquire and maintain power. The Prince was controversial upon its publication in 1532, but it has become one of the most influential works of political philosophy ever written.
The Prince is divided into 26 chapters. The first 11 chapters discuss the different types of principalities and how they can be acquired. The next 15 chapters discuss how a prince can maintain power. The final chapter discusses the role of fortune in human affairs.
The Prince has been interpreted in many different ways. Some scholars have seen it as a cynical work that advocates the use of any means necessary to achieve power. Others have seen it as a work of satire that is meant to be read ironically. Still others have seen it as a work of political realism that offers a clear-eyed view of the world.
Regardless of how it is interpreted, The Prince is a powerful and thought-provoking work that has had a lasting impact on political thought.
The other options are:
- A. Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, critic, and socialist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest dramatists in the English language, and is often referred to as “the greatest English-language playwright since Shakespeare.”
- C. V. S. Sharma was an Indian politician and freedom fighter. He was the first Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
- D. Ãmile Zola was a French novelist, playwright, and journalist. He is best known for his novels of the Rougon-Macquart series, which chronicle the lives of a French family from 1851 to 1870.