Introduction
Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy, on May 3, 1469. He was a political philosopher and diplomat during the Renaissance period, who became famous for his political discourse “The Prince” published in 1513 that is a keystone to modern political philosophy. It is this piece of work that made him be aptly referred to as the father of modern political theory.
This essay aims at bringing out the similarities and contrasts of Niccolo Machiavelli’s viewpoint with those of Hobbes, Rousseau and Montesquieu, who are also meant to be renowned philosophers. This will in turn vary the significance of their contributions towards the development of the study of political theory.
To achieve this end, I will systematically divide this paper in three sections. Firstly, I will endeavor to highlight the significant aspects of the political philosophy advocated by each of the four philosophers. Secondly, I will attempt to bring out the shared similarities and divergent perspectives between them and lastly buttress the importance of their efforts in the advancement of the field of political philosophy.
Starting with Machiavelli, it is clearly evident in his manuscripts that he favored policies that would encourage self preservation tendencies of the ruling elite. He came up with strategies that would distract the subjects into focusing entirely on self advancement and aggrandizement thereby, warding off mass political activism (Machiavelli, 35-56).
The Renaissance period in Italy when political standoffs were intense and violent pitting dominant states, like the Papacy, Florence, Naples, Milan and Venice, against each other inspired him to develop his theories mostly captured in “The Prince”.
Machiavelli also believed that for any survival of a state, a virtuous and patriotic spirit should be engendered in its citizenry, especially in the politically active ones, and that a government is made strong by tussles triggered by open debate and participation. The adjective “Machiavellian” has been used in a derogatory way since that time as a fitting description of a cunning and a self serving politician.
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes is also widely regarded as one of the greatest political philosophers of all time. The complete expression of Hobbes’s philosophy found in his leading works ‘Lethiavan’ begins with a clearly materialistic description of human nature and knowledge. It gives a firm deterministic account of human preference and a cynical vision of the consequently natural state of human beings in the unending struggle with each other.
According to Hobbes, it is an attempt to break off from this state of affairs, thus we should form the commonwealth and surrender our own powers to the authority of supreme sovereignty. That is why as far as Hobbes was concerned, individual obedience to whatever form of government with the reigns of power was necessary in order to forestall the greater evil of war (Hobbes, 48-104).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean Jacques -Rousseau was born in Geneva on June 28, 1712. Rousseau’s most dominant work is “The Social contract” that describes the relationship of man with society. In the work, he describes the state of nature as that which lacks for morality and that is lawless.
According to this philosopher, morality and politics go hand in hand, and none can be separated from the other. In this case, the lack of morality within a state results into the virtuous malfunction of that state making it loose its right to genuinely rule over the public. Another key principle brought out by Rousseau is that of freedom and which he believes the state must preserve (Rousseau, 98).
Rousseau also argues that the growth of science and art did not benefit man in any way. On the contrary, he believed that the advancement of such knowledge would only reduce the liberty of man and lead to the rise of a powerful government. According to this philosopher, such advancement brought about fear, suspicion and jealousy (Rousseau, 170).
Charles de Secondat Montesquieu
Another great political philosopher of high standing was Montesquieu who was regarded as the philosopher of Enlightenment. He saw autocracy and particularly despotism as a time bomb for any government exhibiting such dispositions. He was of the argument that this could be prevented only through the formation of a system whereby the various bodies practiced judicial, executive as well as the legislative power, and where these were also placed under the law.
Montesquieu was also of the view that most laws in many countries could be made less oppressive, and in such a way, they would be not only liberal but also humane. He called for the eradication of slavery and religious discrimination which he believed should be replaced with commerce and trade (Montesquieu & Lowenthal, 68).
Comparison between the philosophers
Having had an insight of the kind of philosophies that Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau and Montesquieu advanced, we can, therefore, concur that all of them were of the same view in the establishment of a government and the maxim that should be attained by power as well as authority. In other words, each of them thought they had a remedy on how to run a successful government.
The philosophers agreed in the nature of man and in the desire to exist in a society that was ordered and dependent. Additionally, they held the same view of man as a conniving, evil and self-centered being whose greed and individualism had to be exploited to the advantage of the ruling class.
Any stark contrasts in their theories can be attributed to the different periods, ideologies and circumstances each of them was finding during the time of their existence. In the case of Niccolo Machiavelli, for example, his life was mostly based on a period of upheaval in Italy.
The upheaval can be attributed and described by the unrest, failed loyalties and many battles. On the other hand, Hobbes philosophy was mainly influenced by the civil war in England. This war had more influence than any other factors to the extent that most of his famous works were war based and intended to draw a correlation between the scientific revolution of that era and the development of politics.
The three men can be seen to have far fetched influence ranging from the thirteenth century down to the eighteenth century. This has been recorded through their various highly noted vocations. Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau Montesquieu had many things in common though the word politics acted as the bridge between them.
The men had differing ideas in the political arena. According to Machiavelli’s ideas, authoritarianism was the order of the day, the factor that could not merge with democracy. From their ideas, I can assert that the perfect view of a prosperous society falls amid Hobbes’s cynicism as well as Montesquieu optimism. Nowadays, it is a fact that Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau and Montesquieu did not only influence, but shaped modern political theories by their views.
Works Cited
Hobbes,Thomas. The Leviathan. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub, 1968. Print.
Machiavelli,Niccolo. The Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy. NY: Penguin Pub, 1984. Print.
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, & Lowenthal, David. Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans & Their Decline. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1999. Print.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. On The Social Contract. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987. Print.