PhilosophersNicolas Machiavel
Nicolas Machiavel
Power is judged by its effects, not good intentions.
Political realism · Humanism1469 – 1527 ItalyPolitical realistRepublicanDiplomat and civil servantHistorian
Inspirations
Tite-Livethe history of Rome
Polybethe cycle of regimes and mixed government
Cicéron against the always virtuous prince
criticHeirs
Thomas Hobbes against the tumults of republics
criticSpinoza political realism in the service of liberty
Jean-Jacques Rousseau "the book of Republicans"
Frédéric II de Prussethe Anti-Machiavel (1740)
criticSimilar and opposite philosophers
how it is computedClosest
Thomas Hobbes Without a state, life would be solitary, brutish and short.
88 %Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Bishop and orator, he reads universal history as the work of Providence guiding the empires.
86 %Viktor Frankl Psychiatrist and camp survivor: we find meaning by giving ourselves to a cause, and happiness comes as a by-product.
86 %Paul Ricœur We are the same in two ways: by our character, and by keeping our word; the story of our life holds the two together.
86 %