Political Pessimists: Hobbes and Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes each had negative opinions about human nature which varies a great deal from the general consensus

about human nature today. These views became the basis for their theories on politics, treatment of people and government.

Machiavelli believed that "men in general...are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours," however their "love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose" (Prince, xvii, p. 32-33). This means simply that Machiavelli believes that men are extremely selfish and will do what they must to get what they want. Machiavelli believes that self interest drives men in all aspects of life; therefore he assumes that regardless of what a person should do, unless the action is in accordance with their interests, they will not do it. Machiavelli said "[the people] will all think of their own interests...for men will always be false...unless they are compelled by necessity to be true" (Prince, xxiii, p.45-46). Gregory Kavka called Machiavelli's opinion on human nature: "predominant egoism" which "says that self-interested motives tend to take precedence over non-self-interested motives in determining human actions Ð'... non-self-interested motives usually give way to self-interested motives when there is a conflict." (Kavka, 64) In this way, Machiavelli did not mean that men always acted out of self-interest but that a ruler should not count on someone actually acting because of another factor. Machiavelli also believed that a ruler should appeal to this negative view of human nature by installing fear and love in their people. However, he said if both could not be achieved, fear would be better. By saying this, Machiavelli is implying that a ruler must appeal to their subject's sense of fear in order to keep them from doing something out of their self-interest that may not benefit the state.

Hobbes' opinion however varies from that of Machiavelli. He believes that humans are

sophisticated machines whose every action and function can be described in mechanistic ways (or in a very straightforward and clear-cut manner). Hobbes' complete theory hinges on the fact that wants and appetences develop in the human body and are felt as discomforts which must be overcome. He believes, therefore, that each of us act in such a way as to alleviate the discomforts that we feel. To Hobbes, because our bodies are machines, he believes that we have no choice but to act in this manner, in our own self-interest to ease the discomfort. Also, Hobbes believes that human life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Therefore he believes that because life is so brutal and unforgiving, human beings will act in their self-interest as much as possible in order to preserve their life and attempt to improve their quality of life. Hobbes took this theory to the utmost extreme when he said that humans never do anything for the good of other people unless we think it will help us somehow in the end. This means that eventually the world would fall apart because everyone would be deceitful and uncooperative. Enlightened self interest, however, was Hobbes' answer to the problem. The answer was for people to form alliances because it would give people security and stability. Hobbes also believed that it was very important to install fear in the hearts of the people. Since the people always act in their self-interest, the only way to try to ease this is for them to be afraid of the consequences of their actions, which in turn reduces the appeal of the self-interest.

Hobbes and Machiavelli both believe that people act out of self-interest. However, Machiavelli believes that people mostly act out of self interest, but not necessarily always. Hobbes believes that people always act out of self interest. Machiavelli believes that fear and love should be installed in the people whereas Hobbes believes that fear only should be installed. Machiavelli believes that men inherently have bad qualities whereas Hobbes believes that because life has bad qualities, men react in certain ways. Machiavelli believes the solution to the problem is predominant egoism whereas Hobbes believes it to be Enlightened Self-interest.

Because of these negative views of human nature and life, Machiavelli and Hobbes each had strong opinions on how a government should be ran, how people should be treated and how politics should be. Machiavelli wrote in Prince about how a monarch should rule. He believes that the prince should side with the people. In this way, he would be calming the people into submission, since it is in their self-interest. Machiavelli also believes that when people have freedom, there is much more room for rebellion. Lastly, Machiavelli held that it was acceptable to be cruel as long as the cruelty was efficient and quick. These beliefs all stem from the fact that people, to Machiavelli act in their self interest. However, in the Discourses Machiavelli defends democracy saying that because people think they are contributing to society and are able to help serve their self-interest, they are less likely to revolt. Machiavelli upheld this concept because of stability, not as we today see democracy as preserving our rights.

In Hobbes' The Leviathan, the speaks of a large unified sate with at least a million people living within it. The state would have a powerful, centralized capital. Because of his views on human nature, Hobbes believes that in the State of Nature, the world would be in a complete state of war because everyone would be serving their own interest and therefore be against everyone else. This is why he believes that nationstates will be the wave of the future,