Machiavelli and Hobbes

Two of the best known modern philosophers who have taken up questions regarding man and politics or man and his life in civil society are Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Machiavelli (1998), writing almost a century before Hobbes, produced in The Prince, a treatise which essentially asserted that morality has little or nothing to do with politics. Hobbes (1994) rejected Aristotle's teleological view of the universe, asserted that human life in the state of nature before the formation of society was harsh and brutal, and further argued in Leviathan that society created the notion of justice, but did not necessarily guarantee that rulers or leaders would behave justly.

The purpose of this essay therefore, is to answer a series of questions regarding Machiavelli's formulation of human nature, virtu, and politics and to assess that theory. Secondly, a discussion of Hobbes' dissatisfaction with Machiavellian political theory and the radicalization of Machiavelli's insights will be provided.

Machiavelli (1998) lived in Renaissance Italy in an era characterized by the competing forces of chaos and corruption on the one hand and an enormous burst of artistic, scientific, and philosophical innovation on the other. In writing The Prince, Machiavelli (1998) offered an important thesis, asserting that there is nothing moral about politics and that the Aristotelian linkage between politics and ethics had no reality in th

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Machiavelli (1998) does not argue in favor of a despotic form of government in The Price or argue against the viability of republican forms of government. Like Hobbes (1994) after him, he recognized that certain forms of government might be preferable to others to the extent that they contained mechanisms that prevented tyranny from emerging. At the same time, Machiavelli (1998) recognized that attempting to force government (or princes and leaders) to behave according to the codes and tenets of Aristotelian (or religious) ethics was essentially futile as well as impracticable. Machiavelli's (1998) attempt to establish a modern political theory was centered on his understanding of the political situation in his native Italy -- then an assortment of what amounted to city-states or provinces led by war-like ambitious men and dynastic entities intent upon extending when possible their own sphere of influence. Set against this was the power and might of the Roman Catholic Church, which played as significant a role in secular affairs at that time as it did in spiritual affairs. Machiavelli (1998) therefore recognized that what we might today call the "dictator" or "strongman" was the likely "prince" who put private moralit
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Approximate Word count = 1829
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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