Machiavelli And his View Of Human Nature

MACHIAVELLI AND HIS VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
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Introduction
In a book titled Darwin’s dangerous idea, Dennett (1996) argues that the idea of evolution through natural selection was a “global acid”. According to him, this idea ate through most things and destroyed popular convictions and nations, leaving in its wake the all transformed. The Prince by Machiavelli has also come to present a similar effect by mirroring humanism, political aspects, traditional virtues and Christianity in a state context. However, the book is more perspective with regard to its view on human nature.
In the book the Prince, Machiavelli offers a view of how a state ought to run or govern in his own perspective. His views greatly differ from those of the humanists that were existing in his time. Among some of these views are that the ruling prince ought to have an exclusive authority to determine each of the state’s aspects. In this perspective, he expected the prince to put in effect a regulation that could be used to serve his exclusive interests. Apparently, the major interests for the prince included acquiring, maintaining and widening his political territories (Heilbroner, 1999).
Machiavelli understands and presents human nature in a very different way and which contradicts the views and beliefs of the existing humanists in his time. According to his views and perceptions, he has strongly advocated for a secular society and has a feeling that morality is not essential and instead, it was an obstacle to an efficient governing of the state. As one analyst put it, Machiavelli's views are actually immoral and harsh but it should be taken into consideration that his views emanated from the concern of Italy, which was utterly unstable at that time (Heilbroner, 1999). This means that his perceptions were driven from the incompetence of Italy’s prince as the cause for instability of that nation. This paper essentially evaluates Machiavelli’s views on human nature, role and characteristics of a state in his own accord.
Machiavelli and Human Nature
According to Machiavelli, men are untruthful, ungrateful lot. They are “fickle, ungrateful, deceivers, liars and greedy”. He goes on to articulate that men are self-centered who would act for their own and not the state’s interest given the slightest opportunity. He posts that men cannot care even in the case when the prince lands in danger. This is why he reinforces the idea that the prince need to be feared by the citizens by arguing that men do not care to injure one who wants to be loved in comparison to another who wants to be feared. Since men are wreaked creatures, he argues, they will break the existing bond of love no matter what level it was for their own interest if an opportunity arose. This therefore makes fear be an effective element since it cements the trepidation of discipline.
Machiavel...