Philosophical Views on Governance: Machiavelli vs Montesquieu

Prompt 1:

The first philosopher is Niccol Machiavelli. He believed that rulers are the gods on earth and should know the goodness in people. He wrote a book called The Prince. The philosopher said “The ends justify The means.” (Khatri 2016) He thought that the government should know right from wrong and do their best to be better people. He thought that a strong military would make a strong government. The reason he thought that if the military was strong the government would be strong too because the government controls the military. The second philosopher is Baron de Montesquieu. His interpretation of how the government should run. He did not want a body of government to dominate another, so he wanted a separation of powers. “He argued that a government should promote religious liberties.” (Khatri 2016) He did not want the government to become a dictatorship and that is why he

He wanted the government to protect individual rights and liberties. If the government did not protect them people could rebel against the government. He “believed that people were entitled to unalienable rights: life, liberty, and property.” (Khatri 2016) Locke wanted the people to be treated equally to one another. He also wanted to white males to own their own property. All Locke wanted was to have a good government and not have people rebel against the government The last philosopher is Alexis de Toqueville. He wrote a book on “Democracy in America.” (Khatri 2016) Alexis wrote about religion, press, money, class structure, and racism to give people more information about those topics. He “believed America’s emphasis on a justice system is of great benefit of our society.” (Khatri 2016) Alexis thought that religion and the way we deal with different beliefs makes a nation great. He thought that because it was a good thing to do is accept other religions. The book was also to put emphasis on all the issues that were going on in that time