The Role of Religion in Confucian Works and Machiavelli's "The Prince"

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The Role of Religion
Both Confucian works and The Prince have different accounts on the role of religion, with Niccolo Machiavelli mostly focusing on the political philosophy. The Confucian works were written after the death of Confucius, and they have inspired Chinese culture as they offer guidance on how one ought to live. Followers of Confucius lay emphasis on the need to show sincere intentions in order establish order in the state and family life. Confucianism also highlights on the need to project the authentic self as this facilitates development of nature through creating harmony with heaven and the earth. Conversely, Niccolo Machiavelli pointed out that through increasing power within the Church, the leadership structure was able to rule over people, while also encouraging factionalism to wield more power,. However, Machiavelli also points out that it is necessary to use virtuous rule in order to maintain power.
The differences between the two texts are evident as Confucian works first delve into the need to find harmony with nature. At the center of this concept is the need to find ‘Dao’ which relates to lead nature. Essentially, one should be careful and cautions of what they cannot see or hear. In The Prince, religion does not a prominent role, and Machiavelli mentions that the role of money also strengthens the Church as the Popes could exercise political power, “Alexander the Sixth arose afterwards, who of all the pontiffs that have ever been showed how a pope with both money and arms was able to prevail,” (Machiavelli 831). To Machiavelli, the role of religion was relevant to the extent that the religious players wielded and exercised power through the Catholic Church during the time.
Another different perspective in the two texts, is that Confucius mention role of ritua...