raint on the king. Hobbes also broke away from the Divine Right of Kings theory. He felt that if you followed this theory, then divine rule took precedence over royal law. He wanted the monarch’s rules to be law. So there needs to be a social contract drawn by the people. The people agree to obey the government in return for protection. Machiavelli and Hobbes knew they were making a conscious break with past thought and concrete reality, and that this was required to actualize the human good. In the future they saw a self-legislating and self-grounded concept of reason. As for Machiavelli, we see the emergence of a modern relation to temporality. The past is delegitimized. The present is just work for the future. From the beginning modern humanity has been expelled from the present. Machiavelli’s transition to a better human future required primarily a political program. Hobbes wanted his countrymen not to look to the examples of Greek and Roman republics. He felt that these ideas were a danger to the monarchy and he was right. They clearly indicate that the political atmosphere was undergoing a great deal of change.The classical thought of the ancient philosophers involved virtues and morals. The idea of the philosopher king was influential. Machiavelli’s perfect leader had a cruel disposition and would seize power at all costs. This is quite different from Socrates’ point of view. A moral and just person was thought to be the best ruler. Machiavelli basically rejected the classical tradition of philosophy. He used realism and rejected utopianism. In Hobbes’ we find his ruler is a representative of the people, while a bit more moral that Machiavelli, he still feels the need for an absolute monarch who will control everything. There is no talk of morals and virtue in his perfect ruler. These things have been put to the wayside. In Aristotle’s teaching there were places for ce...
