A Study On Machiavelli's And Hobbes' Thought Of State

When Leo Strauss discussed the best regime,he listed two kinds of solutions: the classical and modern ones.He believed that Niccolò Machiavelli was the founder of modern political philosophy,and it was Machiavelli who initiated a comprehensive rebellion against the western classical traditions.However,Machiavelli's solution had to be revised because of violent radicalness and repugnance.Thomas Hobbes undertook this task with an approach in which Machiavelli's main purpose can be basically guaranteed,but Hobbes emphasized the importance of rights in his concept of natural law.Hundreds of years after Hobbes,the framework of the western system was still basically Hobbesian,and the western liberal political system was pushed to its peak by later generations.Even the work of great John Locke was mainly to prove the rationality of western politics(especially British politics)after Machiavelli and Hobbes.Machiavelli and Hobbes both wanted their countries,which were undergoing a period of major changes,to be politically powerful.The similarities of their thoughts of state are: evil human nature,monarchy and violent rule.However,the political problems faced by each country are different,so the focuses of their thoughts were not the same.Based on these facts,this paper lists four pairs of opposites: reason and passion,“national reason” and “natural justice”,anti-evil for good and contract for good as well as pure realism and moderate realism.Digging into these four aspects of Machiavelli's and Hobbes' thought of state shows a critical-inherited relationship of these two politicians.More importantly,as for moral value,this paper gives a pair of concepts: “non-moral value” for Machiavelli and “de-moral value” for Hobbes which was transformed from the former.In this transformation,natural law plays a role.Therefore,by analyzing Hobbes' break with Aristotelianism and noble virtue as well as Hobbes' preference for regime,this paper indicates that the key to the continuation and changes of the wave of modernity is the changing connotation of the concept of natural law.Finally,this paper argues that,on one hand,we need to reflect on the lack of tradition;on the other hand,we need to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of modernity.These two points are of vital significance for maintaining the confidence in our own cultural traditions.