· 1) Machiavelli was concerned mainly with Political Philosophy inspired by his scientific and empirical knowledge. This means that he used his knowledge which he derived from his experience of affairs.
· The public often criticised him for his frank acknowledgement of evil doing in the world. Machiavelli was very honest about political dishonesty and felt that it was important to tell others of this dishonesty.
· Machiavelli was a Florentine which meant that while he was in his twenties Savonarola dominated Florence: ‘’all armed prophets have conquered and unarmed ones failed.’’ After Savonarola’s execution Machiavelli was given a post in the government in 1498 and worked on very important diplomatic missions until the Medici gained power and arrested him in 1512 for having always opposed them but was later acquitted where he lived in retirement in the country where he became an author. During his retirement he wrote ‘The Prince’ which had the key theme ‘Man is the measure of all things’ this comments on history and contemporary events of how principalities were held and lost. The principalities were a sovereign state ruled by a Monarch.
· Few rulers were legitimate during this time; even religious figures such as the pope were corrupt. '' This lead Machiavelli to give advice to future rulers:
- Always support the weaker side in conflict as this then means that the more powerful side is destroyed.
- Centralised regimes are difficult to conquer but easy to hold.
- ''Armed prophets succeed, unarmed ones always fail.''
- Importance is that all of this is observed evidence empirical evidence.
· Caesar Borgia who was the son of Alexander VI was a man of high praise but he had a few problems:
1) The death of his brother meant that he became the sole beneficiary of his father’s dynastic ambition.
2) To conquer by force of arms territories which after his father’s death should belong to him and not the Papal States
3) To manipulate the College of Cardinals so that the next Pope should be his friend.
· Machiavelli was intimately acquainted with his evil deeds and stated that a new Prince should derive precepts (orders).
· Another novel which Machiavelli wrote was ‘Discourses’ which was written in order to please the Medici. In regard to the Sovereign State relating to the Church ‘The Prince’ is defended by religious customs who keep their Princes (leaders) in power despite their actions, good or bad: ‘They are upheld by higher causes which the human mind cannot attain to.’’
· Within his novel he begins to list different types of men in a sort of hierarchy based on their morality. For instance the best he said were the founders of religion and the founders of monarchies or republics and then literary men. Destroyers of religions, republics, kingdoms and enemies of virtue are considered bad. Machiavelli believed that religion should have the most prominent place in the State since he thought that religion was the ‘social cement’ of the state. When I speak of virtue it is crucial to understand that Machiavelli means virtue here in the context that it means to have pride, principle and aggression. To be ruling and controlling.
· The Perfect character for being a leader, according to Machiavelli is clever and unscrupulous (having moral principles) He states that a ruler will perish, however, if he is always kind, must be cunning as a fox and fierce as a lion.
· Princes should keep faith when it pays to do so but not otherwise. Alexander VI always deceived men and therefore always succeeded in his deceptions. This indicates that although it isn’t necessary for a leader to have all mentioned qualities but it is important that the leader must ‘appear’ to have them all. Most importantly they should be religious.
· He never based any political argument on Christian grounds. Northern writers such as Locke argue as to what happened in the Garden of Eden, they believe that there is proof that certain power is legitimate.
· Three certain Political goods are national independence, security and well ordered constitution. To achieve a political end power is necessary: ‘Right will prevail.’ Power often depends upon opinion and therefore upon propaganda. The advantage in propaganda is that it seems more virtuous than your opponent and that is therefore to be more virtuous. Sometimes victory goes to the side with more of what the public considers to be virtue. For example power such as injunctions control propaganda which equals virtue. Machiavelli took the men of the city to be corrupt and is guaranteed to be dishonest and have self-love. It is proven by Machiavelli that Politicians will behave better when they depend upon a virtuous population than when they depend upon one which is indifferent to moral considerations.
· Overall his political thinking is shallow however the evolutionary view of society is no longer applicable and must be replaced by a more mechanistic( theories that explain phenomena in physical or deterministic terms) view.
2) Hobbes’ Leviathan
· Hobbes was an empiricist (the view that experience of the sense is the only source of knowledge) Like Locke and Hume and also an admirer of mathematical method and its applications inspired by Galileo.
· Continental philosophy derived much of its conception of nature of human knowledge from maths and is known independently from experience.
· His theory of the State deserves to be carefully considered because it is the most modern of any of the previous theories.
· Hobbes brought up his uncle and acquired a good knowledge of Classical Civilisation such as ‘The Medea’ by Euripides which he translated into Latin iambics at the age of 14 and attended Oxford the next year where he was taught scholastic logic and a philosophy of Aristotle.
· Hobbes believed that there must be an all powerful leader in charge of a State to keep order within the State. He constructed the idea of a 'Leviathan' who was a Biblical monster of unstoppable power. Hobbes used this idea of a Leviathan in order to expresses his idea that order can only be restored on the current state of constant war: ''Every man against every man'' is to have a powerful leader like Leviathan. Hobbes then expanded this idea by introducing a contract or covenant which states that all citizens must give up their power to him so that he can become all powerful. However, it was also stated that if the leader failed to protect his State then he must be replaced.
· The opinions expressed in the Leviathan are Royalist. This means that he supported a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom.
· In 1628 he drew up a ‘petition of Right’ by the Government which he published to show the evils of democracy. The leviathan pleased no one due to rationalism that uses reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief or conduct. It offended most of the refugees and its bitter attacks on the Catholic Church offended the French government and so Hobbes was forced to flee to London. Here he made an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the power of a superior. Hobbes abstained from political activity for the time being.
· Life he said was nothing but a motion of the limbs and automata (study of abstract machines) is artificial. The commonwealth which he calls the Leviathan is a creation of Art. The sovereignty (power, dominion and authority over an area) is also an artificial soul. The covenants by which leviathan is first created take the place of God’s fiat( to command something to be done without material) when he said ‘Let us make man’
· The succession of our thoughts is not arbitrary which means to be based on random choice, but governed by laws. Hobbes was a Nominalist which is a philosophy which adopted the doctrine of Dominalism, a doctrine holding that abstract concepts have no independent existence but exist only as names.
· ‘Incorporeal Substance’ he reckons is nonsense when it is objected that God is an incorporeal substance since God is not an object of Philosophy and many philosophers have thought of God as corporeal.
· Unlike Plato, Hobbes believes that reason is not innate but is developed by industry.
· All men are naturally equal in a State of Nature, before the Government, every man desires to preserve his own liberty but to acquire dominion over others. Both are dictated by impulse of self- preservation. In a state of nature there is no property, justice or injustice, only war and force which are two cardinal virtues.
· He believed that all men are naturally equal; therefore they all have a right to self-defence since we cannot trust our senses.
· Hobbes considered why men can’t just be like Bees and Ants since Bees live in the same hive and don’t compete since there’s no desire for honour and don’t use reason to criticise the government. The covenant must confer power on one man since the covenant made by citizens is to obey a ruling power which the majority choose.
· Hobbes prefers a monarchy government; he can tolerate Parliament but not a system where power is shared between King and Parliament.
· In the state of nature there is no property therefore it is created by the government which controls its creation as it pleases. A sovereign may be despotic which is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power, much better than anarchy. A monarch will follow his private interest when it conflicts with the public and an assembly. A monarch can hear advice from anybody secretly whereas an assembly can only hear advice from its members publicly. Therefore if assembly is divided the civil war is inevitable.
· Leviathan raises debate over the best form of the state and the other as to its powers, powers of the state should be absolute. Hobbes obsessed with the fear of anarchy since every community risks anarchy or despotism ( a gov where one person has absolute power)
· Against Hobbes- always considers the national interest as a whole and assumes that all citizens’ interests are the same.
3) Locke
· Locke was an apostle of the revolution of 1688. His work ‘The essay concerning Human understanding’ made him most famous in 1690.
· Similar to Hobbes, Locke also went to Oxford where he learnt that he disliked both scholasticism (method of critical thought dominated by teaching academics) and the fanaticism (belief or behaviour which is wildly excessive) of the independents.
· He was influenced by Descartes and spent his life dedicated to literacy. Should be treated as founder of philosophical liberalism and also the founder of empiricism in theory of knowledge. The first book of the ‘essay’ is focused on arguing against Plato and Descartes that there is no innate ideas or principles. Hobbes believes our ideas come from our experience such as sensation and perception of the operation of the mind.
· The first treatise of Locke's attacks the concept of the ''Divine Right of the Kings'' with the idea that God had given Adam the right to rule: ''Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air...'' (Genesis) Locke unlike Hobbes believed that everyone enjoys the State of Nature such as natural freedom and equality but people must also obey Natural Laws and Moral Laws that everyone knows intuitively: ''Interwoven in the constitution of the human mind.'' Locke said that there must be laws in order to prevent mayhem in the State but none of these laws should be too personal, therefore he proposed a concept of government by consent. He insisted that taxes couldn't be levied without the people's (parliament) consent. Citizens could rebel if their government ceased to respect the law. This means that Locke suggested that the right of revolution was one of the natural rights of man. Locke dominated the Political Philosophy of the American Revolution. However, Locke agreed with Hobbes that if your political leaders don't obey the law then it is your right to replace them.
· He was very fortunate that when he completed his work, it was at the time when his government shared the same political opinions as him in both practise and theory. He therefore made an impression on future politicians and philosophers and his political doctrines remained embedded in American Constitution and were also used in a dispute between the president and the congress.
· He also had an immense following in France due to Volitaire since the French also believed in an intimate connection between his theory of knowledge and his politics.
· ‘Revelation must be judged of by reason.’
· ‘Right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ which he envisioned to be property.
· The state of nature was very important to him; he believed that it consists of divine commandments which are not reinforced by a human legislator. Men prosper from the state of nature by the social contract which instituted civil government.
· Locke promotes the idea of a state of equality but however says that captives in a just war are slaves by the law of nature since every man has a right to punish attacks on himself or his property. Even by death. Inconsistency as we are encouraged to be virtuous by natural law but then in some circumstances are permitted to kill.
· Property is very important to him since it’s the reason why the institution of civil government exists.
· Locke had the idea that the mind is like a ‘blank slate’ when you are born and we learn what is right and wrong etc. through our experiences and reason which is already in our brains. He was against innate knowledge unlike Plato.
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