The Contributions of Nicolo Machiavelli and John Locke to Political Thought

John Locke was perhaps one of the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke discusses the move from a state of nature and perfect freedom to a then governed society in which authority is given to a legislative and executive power. His major ideas included liberalism and capitalism, state of nature, state of war and the desire to protect one’s property.

What would the American government be like today if it was not for the mind and political theory of John Locke? Some historians and philosophers believe that without John Locke our government would only be a shadow of what it is today. Arguably, one of his most important political and philosophical works was his Two Treatises of Government. There he argues that the function of the state is to protect the natural rights of its citizens, primarily to protect the right to property. John Locke, in many eyes, can be viewed as one of the father’s of Democracy. He embraced many of ideas in his theories on the state of nature and the rise of political society today. In Locke’s political society,

John Locke was born in 1632, in Wrington, England. He studied medicine at the University of Oxford, but he eventually became the great philosopher everyone remembers him as (Connolly, n.d.). In 1688, King William III, supported by the Whigs, took the throne of England from King James II in what is known as the Glorious Revolution (UK Parliament, n.d.). Locke had a strong connection with the Whigs in England, so he wrote the Second Treatise on Government as a justification for the revolution. Throughout the Second Treatise on Government, Locke claims that an individual is born with the rights to “life, liberty, and property.” He believes that it is the governments purpose to preserve these rights with laws which favor neither the rich nor poor. In addition, these laws must be designed for “the good of the people.” Lastly, “[the government] must not raise taxes on the property of the people, without the consent of the people…” (Locke, 1688)

Though Locke, Machiavelli, Rousseau and Hobbes all represented varying opinions on human nature and its relationship to government, each of them contributed groundwork for present-day political theories. And while each philosopher shared common concepts in philosophy, the parallels in politics and government were quite

Socrates and Niccolo Machiavelli are two of the most renowned influential political theorists in history. Their most acclaimed works, Apology, and The Prince appropriately created the basis for various political ideologies that are still being used in today’s society. Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513 as a gift to the Medici family who controlled Florence at the time. The Apology was written by Plato in 399 BC who was one of Socrates students and admirers. Most of our knowledge on Socrates philosophies and theories originate from the writings and dialogues of Plato. Machiavelli and Plato lived during times of uncertainty, violence and political fragmentation however they both had different perspectives on what makes a good prince.

John Locke, who was a 17th century philosopher, helped influence many of the ideas that formed the basis of the American revolution. The United States of America would not exist with the same level of rights, government, and the same quality of life if John Locke had not influenced the constitution and the declaration of independence. With his writings, such as the Two Treatises of Government, and A Letter Concerning Toleration, and with his philosophies on problems during his time such as slavery, the role of the government, equality of the individual, and property rights, John Locke dramatically influenced several of America’s founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

John Locke was born in 1632 at Wrinton in Somerset, England. He opposed the views of Thomas Hobbes and thought that people were born neither good nor evil. He believed that people's characters were solely based on their experiences and their environment. He also believed that people could learn from their experiences and change their characters for the better. He believed that people had three Natural Rights- life, liberty, and property. In Locke's eyes, the purpose of the government was to protect the people's Natural Rights. He thought that if the government was not doing this job, that the people had the right to overthrow it. Although it may seem that Locke would support a democracy, he was not a democrat. He believed that laborers were of a lower status that the middle and upper classes and had no place meddling in the affairs of the government. He believed that the poor had neither the education nor the inclination to make political decisions responsibly. This was a popular belief of the time. Many of Locke’s political ideas, such as those relating to natural rights, property rights, the duty of the government to protect these rights, and the rule of the majority, were later embodied in the United States

John Locke was an incredibly encouraging figure in the development of the ideals and methods of political functioning in the United States of America. John Locke applied many of his studies to write one of his most famous and moving works. “The Second Treatises of Government” is the document which ultimately struck the United States in their creation of the Declaration of Independence. In Locke’s work he had focused on the idea that governments shouldn’t be dictated by anyone person, but ultimately should be a united entity in which everyone in the country has a say in what is happening. For example, John Locke believed that the government should be in charge of deciding who should be the leading figure of power and protecting their citizens’ “Life, Liberty, and Property”. He also believed that if the government failed to fulfill their duties of protecting their people and establishing a limit of power for the leading figure of the country, it was the responsibility of the citizens to “overthrow the government.” John Locke kept a similar mindset to that of Hobbes when it comes to the government and its power. Locke’s work and ideas would go on to be highly influential upon Thomas Jefferson during the process of writing the draft of the Declaration of Independence. In this document Jefferson kept very close ties to Locke’s ideas to create what he believed would be the ideal government.

John Locke’s political philosophy has had a lasting impact on multiple influencers throughout history. With praises from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and countless others, Locke’s radical views on government have inspired many of the ideals of the American Revolution that we hear about today. “His influence in the history of thought, on the way we think about ourselves and our relation to the world we live in, to God, nature and society, has been immense” (Uzgalis). It’s safe to say that without Locke’s writings we wouldn’t have many of the political ideologies on natural and human rights that we hold so dear. Ironically, his complete body of work known as The Two Treatises of Government was published anonymously, and John Locke only acknowledged ownership in his will.

John Locke “proved to be the most influential philosophical and political thinker of the seventeenth century” (Kagen 213). He lived in a period of great political change; Locke’s upbringing came to influence his philosophies, and these ideas had much significance in regards to the Enlightenment.

John Locke was born on August 29th, 1632 in Wrington, Somerset. John’s father was a lawyer and a small landowner. He fought on the parliamentarian side during the English civil war of the 1640s. John attended elite Westminster School. Between 1652 and 1667, John enrolled in Christ Church, Oxford where he was a student and a lecturer. He attended Christ Church so he could study medicine. Medicine has played a large role in his life and he was always fascinated of it. John received an outstanding education because of his father’s connections and allegiance to the English government. He, later on, became a highly influential philosopher, writing about political philosophy, epistemology, and education. John Locke’s writings helped found modern Western philosophy.

Machiavelli establishes in his work The Prince that there are two types of government; either republics or principalities, and The Prince will focus on principalities. He states that principalities come in two types; hereditary principalities, and new principalities. Government power therefore comes from fortune or strength, by a state 's own army or along with the army of another. Government requires a strong ruler who uses coercion, but who also knows how to be cunning; someone who can be both “a lion and a fox”. Machiavelli never discusses elections or accountability among leaders, therefore his model is created from manipulation. Locke, in his work The Second Treatise of Civil Government takes a completely opposite stance, denouncing absolute rule and defining political power as the right to make laws for the protection and regulation of property; these laws are backed by the community, for the public good. He favored the social contract between the state and society, and encouraged the concept of dual accountability. The main similarity in opinion over rulers between both theorists claimed elites should be in charge of the state. Machiavelli believed government to be

"Machiavelli identifies the interests of the prince with the interests of the state." He felt that it was human nature to be selfish, opportunistic, cynical, dishonest, and gullible, which in essence, can be true. The state of nature was one of conflict; but conflict, Machiavelli reasoned, could be beneficial under the organization of a ruler. Machiavelli did not see all men as equal. He felt that some men were better suited to rule than others. I believe that this is true in almost any government. However, man in general, was corrupt -- always in search of more power. He felt that because of this corruptness, an absolute monarch was necessary to insure stability. Machiavelli outlined what characteristics this absolute ruler should have in The Prince. One example of this can be seen in his writings concerning morality. He saw the Judeo-Christian values as faulty in the state's success. "Such visionary expectations, he held, bring the state to ruin, for we do not live in the world of the "ought," the fanciful utopia, but in the world of "is". The prince's role was not to promote virtue, but to insure security. He reasoned that the Judeo-Christian values would make a ruler week if he actually possessed them, but that they could be useful in dealing with the citizens if the prince seemed to have these qualities. Another example of Machiavelli's ideal characteristics of a prince

However, that said, some of his ideas continue to attract philosophical engagements even by the so-called first rank philosophers. This qualifies the incorporation of some of his ideologies into any comprehensive philosophical survey. This paper therefore zeros in on his political ideals that have culminated into what is known as Machiavelli’s political philosophy of ‘Machiavellism’ (Meinecke, 1965). The paper seeks to explore his political ideologies in general. Further, the paper seeks to establish based on any real evidence whether Machiavelli is indeed a ‘break’ in the political philosophy or otherwise. In keeping with the latter

Niccolo Machiavelli is considered the father of modern political science. Living in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century's, Machiavelli was a citizen of the city-state of Florence where he served as a secretary to the city council and as a diplomatic envoy for 14 years. The Prince was published five years after his death and is regarded as his most famous work. The Prince is an articulate and precise explanation of the way to use the lesson of history in politics as an example to learn and build ideas from. The Prince can be broken up into four parts. Firstly, Machiavelli explains how a prince gets a state. Secondly, he explains how a prince holds on to a state. Thirdly, he