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Western Political Thought

Notes amidst chaos to free institutions. While in the Prince Machiavelli highlighted the importance of the
security and unity of the state as the primary concerns of a ruler, in the Discourses the theme was
liberty and republicanism.
Human Nature

The individual, according to Machiavelli, was wicked, selfish and egoistic. He was fundamentally
weak, ungrateful, exhibitionist, artificial, anxious to avoid danger and excessively desirous of
gain. Lacking in honesty and justice, he was ready to act in a manner that was detrimental to the
community. It was only under compulsion or when there was personal gain that an individual
was ready to do good. Being essentially antisocial, anarchical, selfish, greedy and sensual, the
individual would readily forgive the murder of his father, but never the seizure of property. He
was grateful to the extent of expecting benefits and rewards. The individual was generally timid,
averse to new ideas and compliants. He desired power, glory and material well-being. Elsewhere,
Machiavelli observed that the desires for novelty, fear and love dictated human actions. Individuals
establish a government with the strongest and the most courageous becoming lawgivers and
leaders as they desire personal safety and security of possessions. Like Aristotle, he believed that
the government made the individual just and fair.
Machiavelli conceived human beings as being basically restless, ambitious, aggressive and
acquisitive, in a state of constant strife and anarchy. They were discontented and dissatisfied, for
human needs were unlimited, but fortune limited their possessions and capacity for enjoyment.
Under such circumstances, politics got “plagued by the dilemma of limited goods and limitless
ambition”. By making scarcity the focal point of his enquiry and political theorizing, Machiavelli
“helped to launch the redefinition of the political association, a redefinition which by starting with
the legitimacy of conflict of interests, would end by doubting that such an association could afford
to pursue final solutions in the handling of conflicts”.
Interestingly, Machiavelli presumed that human nature remained constant, for history moved in
a cyclical way, alternating between growth and decay. This enabled one to discern general laws of
political behaviour with a view to maximizing one’s gain. He observed that there was not much
difference between how individuals lived and how they ought to live, for the one who sacrificed
what had to be done in favour of what ought to be done normally sowed the seeds of destruction
rather than preservation.
Furthermore, Machiavelli pointed out that the human mind tended to glorify the past, decry the
present and hope for a better future. Like Aristotle, Machiavelli characterized the individual as a
political animal. While Aristotle implied the innate sociability of the human being, Machiavelli
referred to the individual’s love for power, reputation, keenness to establish superiority over
others, and the innate desire to control and dominate others. However, Machiavelli confined these
traits to the elite. He did not, like Nietzsche, deprecate the abilities of the non-elite, nor did he, like
Hobbes, see the desire for power and domination as a universal aspiration.
Machiavelli recognized the importance of order provided by a stable, lawful political community
consisting of public-spirited and virtuous citizens. Such an arrangement fulfilled the human need
of being admired, respected and remembered. A ruler who preserved the state without undermining
or flouting laws or inflicting harm attained fame and respect. On the contrary, the absence of civic
virtu led to moral degradation and corruption.

Analysis of Corruption and Civic Virtu
Anticipating Rousseau that civilization meant corruption, Machiavelli observed that it would be
possible to achieve mammoth tasks among people who were simple and pure, rather than those
living in cities, for they were bad and conniving. Normally, a republic, established when individuals
were good, had a greater chance of surviving than that which was founded when individuals
were mean and crafty.

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