ld not work if people were driven by the desire to acquire more power and wealth as they would not be content staying in one place without the ability to move up. Plato writes about an ideal society while also recognizing that what he believes is the natural instinct of man will never allow that society to happen.
Thomas Aquinas is also an idealist. Aquinas states that “Granted that the world is ruled by Divine Providence…the whole community of the universe is governed by Divine Reason.” (ST, I-II, 91.1). He explains the concept of eternal law wherein power is given divinely. He goes on to say “the very idea of the government of things in God the Ruler of the universe, has the nature of a law. And since Divine Reason’s conception of things is not subject to time but is eternal, according to Prov. viii, 23…this kind of law must be called eternal.” (Ibid.). It is through eternal law that God can govern his subjects. As humans have free will, they stray the perfect governance of God and follow natural law. Natural law is just the way in which humans interpret and follow eternal law. This theology is idealist as it is unrealistic that humans will follow the natural law perfectly and strive to do good and avoid evil. He also states that political society is created to meet the needs of human nature rather than by human’s own ingenuity.
Machiavelli is more of a realist as he sees the world through a pessimistic view. He sees people as self-interested and calculating rather than what people ought to be. He speaks frankly about the downfalls of mankind and their He writes about how one should go about getting and maintaining power in the realm of greedy self-interested individuals. Like Plato, he argues that “a wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men” (41) or in other words, only some are suited to lead. Similarly, to Plato, Machiavelli believed in lying for the sake of the greater cause. While Plato wrote about the noble lie, Machiavelli states that a good prince has the five qualities: mercy, faithfulness, humanity, religiosity, and uprightness. He goes on to say that the prince did not necessarily need to meet these criteria he just needed to “appear to have them.” He is essentially saying that lying is ok if it is for the greater good.
Machiavelli speaks very bluntly about the nature of man and what is needed to be successful and while this may seem pessimistic, it is much more realistic than the philosophers that came before him. His pessimistic but also realistic pint of view is evident when he says “Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater secu
