There is a great difference between the political philosophies employed by hobbies and Machiavelli. First of all is that Machiavelli was a man of action while Hobbes was a scholar. Machiavelli argued that the society is dived in to two the plebs and the nobles this applies to every state. He further argues that these two groups of people differ in their aims and interests. There lower class does not allow the upper class to oppress them but the upper class wants to oppress them. He further argues that this must occur in very healthy republic. He notes that the friction between the two is what leads to all legislation in a state. Machiavelli noted that the quarrels between the lower class and the upper class were what made Rome maintain its freedom. On the other had Hobbes theory can be considered too be of two parts – theory of social contract and his theory of human motivation. In his theory of social contract, Hobbies argues that for us to have peaceful society and avoid state of nature we must be in social contact with each other and allow the government to make decisions for all the people. This idea seemed to limit individual freedom but it was the only way to ensure safety for all citizens in the society.
Despite Machiavelli book ‘’The Prince’’ being written many years ago, it has had a huge effect on the modern day politics. Many modern rules and laws have been created from Machiavelli’s political ideology. There have been a lot of modern day progresses which can be traced back to this book both in states technologies and governments. However many states are still having conflict amongst themselves just like what Machiavelli discussed in his book. Like he argued in his book the modern day rulers are still seeking for power, alliances and who to invade. On the other hand the theory of social contract by Thomas Hobbes argues that the society must be under the control of the government for people to experience peace. In the modern days we are not experiencing this in the United States but if we can have a clear understanding of the word sovereign past its definition, we can agree that the theory can be related to the modern political thoughts
The political philosophies introduced by Machiavelli have been of more importance in developing diplomacy and grand strategy. It has brought a lot of changes in the political practice and political theory. Therefore it is more convincing and one can agree to it. On the other hand Thomas Hobbes social contact theory is not that worse off. It is also convincing and more evident in the society today.
Work Cited
Wootton, David. Selected Political Writings. Brantford, Ont: W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Moore, Andrew.
Shakespeare between Machiavelli and Hobbes. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2016. Internet resource. Services Library, 2013. Print.
