MACHIAVELLI VIEWS ON HUMAN NATURE

INTRODUTION

' Every thinker is a product of his times, that means his thoughts are influenced by the prevailing environment of time and ultimate objective of that particular thinker, Thus. it is also true for Machiavelli.

Prevailing Environment

He belongs to Italy during the transitional period( End of Medieval Period and Emergence of Modern Period).
During this period only Nation-States were emerging in Europe, which was
However; Italy was divided into smaller kingdoms. And was not a United Nation-State.

Objective of Machiavelli

But Machiavelli wanted the Unification of Italy, and later observed that Church is the biggest impediment in the Unification of Italy because the church was interfering in the politics.
herefore he was hating the Church and wanted to separate the religion and politics, thus he is also regarded as the father of Secularism in Europe.
Hence, he wanted the Prince to rule so that gradually Prince could unify Italy.
Machiavelli also believed that Psychology and history are better guides to politics rather than Philosophy. Thus he emphasized that Prince must understand the Fundamental qualities of human nature to rule the kingdom in a better way.

Machiavelli's works:

The prince - in this book Machiavelli has advocated the rule of the prince who is ruling as an iron hand. Strong Prince ruling with an iron hand is required for a society that is corrupt.
Discourses in this book he has advocated Republican form of Government like Aristotle. However, the Republican form of Government only where people are having virtues.
Machiavelli- empirical approach.

Machiavelli's View on Human Nature

Machiavelli has given the pessimistic view of human nature, according to him humans are essentially bad. In his words " Men by nature are ungrateful, deceitful, coward, fickle-minded and avaricious".

1. Ungrateful: Man by nature is ungrateful because he soon forgets the favor done by the Prince. Thus is better for the Prince 'to be feared than loved
2. Deceitful: Men are self-interested and self-centered by nature, they are always demanding and if demands are not fulfilled by Prince, then they use to betray the Prince. Hence, Prince should not blindly trust anyone and should not anyone for granted.
3. Coward: Men are also cowards by nature, they are fearful. They fear the loss of things that give happiness to them. Thus, Prince can exploit this feeling of others. Prince can convince them that they are secured only in his rule. In this way, he can ensure stability.
4. Fickle-minded: Men change the side easily on the cost-benefit analysis. Prince can also exploit this behavior of men, he can bring people to his side, who are on the opposite side by offering them bribes.
5. Avaricious: it simply means men are extremely greedy, they always run behind materialistic things, Prince can promise them materialistic happiness and in this way can ensure the continuation of his rule.
However, on the account of the Pessimistic view of Human Nature, he is criticized by Sabine that "Machiavelli was narrowly dated and narrowly located". In other words, his account of human nature is not universal, it is based on his experience of Italy.

But Dunning supports Machiavelli's view by saying "It is a paradox that everyone practices Machiavelli in politics, but no one acknowledges himself as Machiavellian."

We can also observe the similarities between ancient political thinkers of India i.e.Kautilya who was around 1500 years before the time of Machiavelli.
Kautilya has also given a pessimistic view on Human Nature, even Kautilya is more pessimistic than Machiavelli himself. In the words of Max Weber " Kautilya is more Machiavellian than Machiavelli himself."

Thus, we can't completely ignore the Machiavellian View of human nature, as Sabine said that he is narrowly dated and narrowly located.

MACHIAVELLI VIEWS ON HUMAN NATURE