Niccolo Machiavelli's Political Philosophy

Machiavelli was born in 1469 in Florence, Italy and was a politician and philosopher. Machiavelli lived in a time in which the government was constantly overthrown. He worked for the Medici family, and when they were overthrown by the French, Machiavelli became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Republican Government. However, in 1512 the government was once again overthrown by the Medici family, for which they later saw Machiavelli as a traitor. In his effort to getting back to politics, Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a gift to Lorenzo Medici. The Prince is a guide for princes on how to maintain power according to the principles and theories by Niccolo Machiavelli. Many of these principles were based on how to lead people as a consequence

Hobbes’ political theory was based on fear because he lived afraid for most of his life. He was a tutor to a wealthy English family for which he had an alliance with the English Monarch. Because of his connections with mathematicians and scientists, he developed a strong scientific mind into deductive reasoning (starting with a theory or hypothesis and then proceed to make observations). Known as an empirical scientist, Hobbes used the Scientific Method to further develop his political thoughts.Hobbes was a moral relativist and believed that how we respond to something determines if it is good or bad. Hobbes believed human nature is inherently evil and that people are self-interested and in constant desire. He describes the natural state as the condition we are in before influenced by society, and according to Hobbes this place is a caos because people are only interested in doing what benefits them (a war of all against all). Hobbes believed in social contract (a voluntary agreement among the people to ensure common welfare) and because it was war-ridden and a terrible condition, the only solution was a single ruler who made all decisions. The Leviathan, Hobbes’ greatest piece of work, is based on the “Theory of Social Contract” and a single ruler representing the people, and serving as a mediator to find solutions to problems people could not because of their evil human nature. According to

Machiavelli’s principles are similar to Hobbes’ yet completely different from Locke’s. Machiavelli believed the purpose of the government was to maintain power and ensure the survival of the state, and Hobbes believed in the protection of the state and the importance of stability and peace. On the other hand, Locke believed the government was meant to protect the natural rights (life, liberty, and property) of the people. This is a concept Machiavelli would not agree with because he would say that people do not have any rights and their opinions do not matter. Locke would say the people possess the ultimate power and that they have the right to resist and unjust society, whereas Machiavelli and Hobbes would disagree with this idea because the ruler is the ultimate power he must maintain power over the people. They all agree that there is some sort of inconvenience with human nature. Even though Machiavelli and Hobbes believed human nature is bad, they disagreed in the social contract theory (which is the idea of how society would operate or behave without a government). Machiavelli did not believe in social contract and Hobbes believed it’s a terrible condition, while Locke believed that both human nature and the social contract were good only with few inconveniences. Lastly, Machiavelli was an objective realist