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What is Hobbes, Plato and Machiavelli's view on liberty respectively? Plato has successfully shown the inherent weakness of liberty in its potential to collapse into tyranny, he has failed to recognize that this weakness can be minimized, and hence I, personally, dont share his low opinion of democracy. Before I begin my discussion of Plato's argument for the inherent weakness of democracy in The Republic, I have to clarify what is meant by democracy (liberty) in this context. By democracy Plato is not referring to modern democracy, which he would have perceived as alien. Nor is he referring to the democracy of Athens in this argument.
In this argument, Plato characterizes democracy as being the extreme of popular liberty, where slaves - male and female - have the same liberty as their owners and where there is complete equality and liberty in the relations between the sexes (563 b). Democracy as the extreme of popular liberty is further illustrated as follows: Then in democracy, I went on, theres no compulsion either to exercise authority if you are capable of it, or to submit to authority if you dont want to; you neednt fight if theres a war, or you can wage a private war in peacetime if you dont like peace; and if theres any law that debars you from political or judicial office, you will none the less take either if they come your way. Its a wonderfully pleasant way of carrying on in the short run, isnt it? In the short run perhaps. And isnt there something rather charming about the good temper of those whove been sentenced in court? You must have noticed that in a democracy men sentenced to death or exile stay on, none the less, and go about among their fellows, with no more notice taken of their comings and goings than if they were invisible spirits. (557 e- 558 a) But it is clear that while the argument against democracy was not referring to Athenian democracy but perhaps instead to the Form of democracy, Plato's motivation for constructing an argument against democracy stemmed from his experience of Athenian democracy: Plato's argument for the inherent weakness of democracy in its potential to collapse into tyranny is strongly linked to his metaphysics, in particular his Theory of Forms.
In Plato's ideal city the rulers are the Philosopher Rulers who have undergone the education sufficient for them to gain access to the Form of the Good, which allows them to know what justice is and hence to be able to rule the city justly (479 e- 484 e). Hobbes argued that the commonwealth secures the liberty of its citizens. Genuine human freedom, he maintained, is just the ability to carry out one's will without interference from others. This doesn't entail an absence of law; indeed, our agreement to be subject to a common authority helps each of us to secure liberty with respect to others. (Leviathan II) Submission to the sovereign is absolutely decisive, except where it is silent or where it claims control over individual rights to life itself, which cannot be transferred to anyone else. But the structure provided by orderly government, according to Hobbes, enhances rather than restricts individual liberty. Whether or not the sovereign is a single hereditary monarch, of course, its administration of social order may require the cooperation and assistance of others.
Within the commonwealth as a whole, there may arise smaller "bodies politic" with authority over portions of the lives of those who enter into them. The sovereign will appoint agents whose responsibility is to act on its behalf in matters of less than highest importance. Most important, the will of the sovereign for its subjects will be expressed in the form of civil laws that have either been decreed or tacitly accepted. (Leviathan) Criminal violations of these laws by any subject will be appropriately punished by the sovereign authority. Despite his firm insistence on the vital role of the sovereign as the embodiment of the commonwealth, Hobbes acknowledged that there are particular circumstances under which it may fail to accomplish its purpose. If the sovereign has too little power, is made subject to its own laws, or allows its power to be divided, problems will arise. Similarly, if individual subjects make private judgments of right and wrong based on conscience, succumb to religious enthusiasm, or acquire excessive private property, the state will suffer.
Even a well-designed commonwealth may, over time, cease to function and will be dissolved. Machiavelli's love for liberty is also evident when looking at his life. Machiavelli came from a republican family and had a position in the government of Florence. He was very concerned with maintaining the Florentine republic, and he worked to form a militia to protect it.
After the republic fell in 1512, he was jailed for a month and tortured as a suspect in an assassination plot. As a republican, he was not trusted by the Medici in power, but he always strived to find a way back into politics. In The Prince, Machiavelli represented himself differently in hopes of gaining a position in government. This depiction of Machiavelli as a supporter of corrupt totalitarian rule is unfair because Niccolo Machiavelli strongly favored republics.
The modern view of Machiavelli can also be seen as unjust because of his love for Italy. Machiavelli had many hopes for Italy and spent most of his life working towards them. He supported the republic, but he wanted most of all for the people of Italy to be happy. He was very patriotic and wanted Italy to reach its full potential.
While he did not support the often immoral and totalitarian rule of the Medici, he felt that by having a position in government he could make it better. Niccolo Machiavelli understood the reality of the chaotic situation in Italy. He had seen corruption, deceit, and ruthlessness in government and knew how and why it existed. Few others have analyzed how to be an effective dictator because it is rather distasteful. But Machiavelli accepted the predicament and tried to understand the political and personal interactions that kept it going. In writing The Prince, he was not examining right or wrong.
He was simply setting down what he knew in the hope that it would benefit the Prince and the country. He hoped that by helping the Prince rule more effectively, he might help Italy achieve the greatness he hoped for. During Machiavelli's lifetime, Italy went through many changes and years of turmoil. When he wrote The Prince, Machiavelli most wanted stability. He wanted Italy unified under a single ruler.
The final chapter of The Prince, "Exhortation to Free Italy from the Barbarians, " encourages the Medici to this end. Machiavelli wrote: "THIS BARBARIAN OCCUPATION STINKS IN THE NOSTRILS OF ALL OF US. Let your illustrious house then take up this cause with the spirit and the hope with which one undertakes a truly just enterprise so that under the banner of your house the country may be ennobled" (Machiavelli 78). Machiavelli's hope for a unified Italian state far outweighed his dislikes for the Medici. "To Machiavelli, man's mission in this life, and his first duty, is patriotism toward the glory, greatness, and liberty of the fatherland. " The Prince was his way of helping to bring about the changes he felt were necessary. He was not advocating corrupt, immoral totalitarian rule but a powerful ruler to give Italy stability and security.
Machiavelli is unfairly remembered as something he was not. The western view of Machiavellianism is one of power, ambition, and corruption. Instead, Niccolo Machiavelli was a republican and a patriot. He supported the republic in his writing and in his actions.
He loved his country and worked fiercely to protect it. The term "Machiavellian" should represent liberty and patriotism. He supported the republic and loved his country. Bibliography: 1) Plato's 'The Republic'; 2) Hobbes's 'Leviathan' (Chapter XXI, Of the Liberty of Subjects) 3) Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Discourses' (Book II, Chapter II)
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Research essay sample on Niccolo Machiavelli Athenian Democracy
