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The Prince Vs Machiavelli's

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Despite their different opinions on the role fear should play in preserving a political order Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes both assert that fear is an important element of functional societies. Machiavelli’s The Prince primarily focuses on preserving and expanding a ruler’s position, while Hobbes’s Leviathan primary focus is on constructing an ideal commonwealth to escape the “state of nature”. Machiavelli believes that a ruler should use fear as a tool to maintain his position of power, while Hobbes believes that the use of fear should be to ensure the sanctity of contracts in a Commonwealth, the most important contractual obligations being the obligation between sovereigns and their subjects. Hobbes’s belief that fear should be used …show more content…

According to Machiavelli, a ruler should use fear as a tool to maintain the power of a prince, instead of as foundational piece for the construction of a political order. In The Prince, Machiavelli defines fear as the fear of punishment for not obeying the law of a ruler. Machiavelli states that "Fear is held by a dread of punishment that never forsakes you," (Machiavelli 67). According to Machiavelli, it is ideal for the subjects of a ruler to fear the ruler because he can enforce the punishment that he can enforce upon his subjects. Machiavelli upholds that fear of a ruler is essential for the successful maintenance of a political order and that a prince should actively seek to cultivate an image of fear to maintain his power. According to Machiavelli, “when the prince is with his armies and has a multitude of soldiers under his government, then it is above all necessary not to care about a name for cruelty because without this name he never holds his army united or disposed to any action" (Machiavelli 67). Machiavelli promotes rulers practicing cruelty because it inspires fear in a ruler. Essentially, This fear makes his subjects easier to control because they fear the retribution the ruler may bring down upon them for disobeying one of his laws or …show more content…

However, Hobbes’s also states that "The obligation to the sovereign is understood to last as long and no longer than the power last by which he is able to protect them can be relinquished by no covenant" (Machiavelli 124). This suggests that a sovereign’s power in a natural Commonwealth comes from his ability to protect the people from the “state of nature”. The subjects of a natural Commonwealth do not necessarily need to fear a ruler to believe that he possesses the ability to protect them from their true fear, a return to the “state of nature”. This indicates that while fear of a ruler might be a useful tool for a ruler to use to enforce his authority, it is not absolutely necessary for the preservation of a political

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Then for Machiavelli he talks about how a prince should show no fear instead for him to show that he is the one with power. That a prince's people should fear him. Both authors go on to talk on how their people react based on the prince and princesse act. The authors then go on to explain how they should view and run their people. Both authors also reflect the fact that the way their people are going to act towards them is mainly based off of how they treat them.

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Machiavelli argues the perfect prince will be both feared and loved by his people, and if unable to be both he will make himself feared and not hated. Machiavelli believes it is much safer to be feared than to be loved because people are less likely to offend and stand up against strong characters, also people are less concerned in offending a prince who has made himself loved. Accordingly, Machiavelli believes generosity is harmful to your reputation and the choice between being generous or stingy, merciful or cruel, honest or deceitful, should only be important if it aids the prince in political power. All in all, Machiavelli believes the ruler must be a great deceiver and do what is essential to uphold power over the

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The Age of Absolutism The Age of Absolutism was a period of prosperity in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. While at this time many countries had absolute rulers, these rulers were able to make a lot of progress in advancing their nations. These rulers are some of the greatest rulers these countries have ever had and helped lead to the prosperity of this era. During this time period, a majority of the rulers were absolute rulers, having absolute power over their country.

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In The Prince (1532), Machiavelli lists elements a prince should have. The biggest thing Machiavelli cautions against is breeding hatred. He claims that “[…] a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavor only to avoid hatred” (Machiavelli 82). Hatred will lead to loss of control. If the civilians hate the prince, then they have control over him.

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Machiavelli then states that it is difficult for a prince to be both, so choosing feared is the better option. If a prince is loved, then his subjects won’t feel bad about turning their backs on him because there won’t be very bad consequences if any. If a prince is feared, his subjects won’t even think about going against the prince’s orders because they fear the consequences that will

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How Princes Should Act Chapters 16 to 23 of The Prince are concerned with answering a number of questions a ruler may have when conducting the affairs of state and since a ruler acts out of necessity for the state, the advice given reveals what Machiavelli believes about the state (Nederman (2014), chapter 2). Machiavelli regularly employs historical examples or analogies in order to explain the political utility of decisions made by rulers and is much less concerned with the perception of a ruler by the subjects. Since the perception of the ruler is of little concern, legacy should not be a concern for a ruler because the only legacy worth remembering is the continued success of the state. This is however not usually the case because the masses are more likely to remember a person for their vices; Adolf Hitler and Germany comes to mind as an example where the state grew stronger but the leader is remembered as indisputably evil.

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It provided insight on how to rule and ensure safeness for their nation. He talked a lot about cruelty being the key to maintaining peace and achieving a successful nation. Since Machiavelli’s main concern at the time was to unite Italy, he felt that being feared and listened to instead of loved and ignored would help keep everything

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In the support of that thesis, Machiavelli advices rulers to always ask themselves whether such a policy is helpful to fulfill their objective of sustaining power. According to him, it does not matter for the ruler to be considered as cruel by his subjects. As long as the effect is to retain the state power and prevent the downfall of his reign; such kind of consideration does not have any impact in itself. Thus no ruler should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and to keep control of the state. A wise ruler chooses to be feared rather than loved since the need to be loved makes him dependent on others as opposed to the fundamental rule, to achieve independence from the favor and recourses of anyone else

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Machiavelli believes that you have to balance mercy and cruelty, because if you are too merciful then your people will not respect you or have

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The best place to begin for this where he answered the question which is better to be loved or feared Love or Fear Which is to be better loved or feared? This question is an important one and Machiavelli answer for it is great. “One ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved” (Machiavelli 61). This leads to one of his core beliefs which is that, he believes humans are awful creatures and will seek out

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In the hypothetical commonwealth, subjects have particularly restricted liberty and have to follow several strict commandments (Hobbes 98-104). One commandment in particular is quite bothersome to me, as it states that subjects cannot speak out negatively against their government (the sovereign) (Hobbes 100). Furthermore, if a subject was to violate the law they could even face death (Hobbes 100). This type of censorship of different political ideologies seems similar to that of corrupt regimes in contemporary society. The idea of having to live in a society in which I would have to fear critiquing those in power because doing so would endanger my life is deeply unnerving. In my eyes, the use of fear to maintain political order should not extend past using it to create a security and safety for the multitude.

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Evidently, Machiavelli explains, "A prince, therefore, so as to keep his subjects united and faithful, should not care about the infamy of cruelty" (Machiavelli 65). Also, he believes that too much mercy will create disorder whereas killings and robberies would occur too often. What is different about Machiavelli's beliefs, is that he thinks being mean is an extremely effective way to rule. Although mean may seem as a lousy way to call a ruler, he thinks that rulers should not be bothered by the word. Machiavelli believes that a prince should not establish a reputation for generosity or he will destroy his state.

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With it, he justifies absolute monarchy, his ideal political regime. According to him, the sovereign needs unconditional obedience — the sine qua non condition for a state of peace, unless he is unable to keep the people safe. His Leviathan is created by the union of men, the head being the ruler and the body the people: “For by art is created that great ‘Leviathan’ called a ‘Commonwealth’ or ‘State,’ in Latin civitas, which is but an artificial man, though of greater stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection and defense it was intended; and in which the ‘sovereignty’ is an artificial ‘soul,’ as giving life and motion to the whole body”. Authority is what is preserving the state: “Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.” Hobbes is trying to reinstate this sense of unity in political community even though he paints the absolute monarch as a god, rising above the covenant.

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Hobbes, one of the greatest political theorists of all time, believes his idea of how a society should be governed is superior to any other form of governing because his has been developed through a scientific approach. It seems, however, that his ideas are formed not so much by science but by the events of his time, especially the English Civil War. Hobbes believed the Sovereign of a society did not necessarily have to be a single individual (like the Monarch) but could also be a group of officials (like the parliament), what was essential to Hobbes was that all people be in awe of the Sovereign’s power. The power held by the Sovereign must be sufficient to cause fear in the minds of the individual men. This seems rather outdated but what

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Both of these highly influential authors had different opinions on ruling that would shape how people would rule during their time and for rulers to come. One of Machiavelli’s major points in The Prince was that it was better to be feared than to be loved. He said this was because while both ways can be useful tools to help one rule, men are less likely to turn a ruler if they were afraid of punishment. Machiavelli had little faith in the common man and had this to say about them, “They are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive and deceiving, avoiders of dangers, eager to gain”(pg.353).

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