The Ideal Utopian Society Illustrated In Machiavelli's The Prince

The concept of existing in an ideal utopian society is an objective that a reasonable amount of people strive toward. Many individuals form a sense of idealism in which they aim for unrealistic notions of republics and principalities rather than focusing on more practical and rational matters. Machiavelli discusses this conception in his piece, The Prince, where he finds that people should focus on current and realistic matters that should be done, rather than more fanciful matters that people generally tend to strive toward (53). Through doing so, Machiavelli believes that one will ultimately be able to preserve their character rather than meet their downfall (53). The central idea of one focusing on current and practical issues rather than …show more content…
Machiavelli finds that it is in the nature of human beings to generally be self-seeking, having egocentric tendencies. He attempts to emphasize this idea, implying that it is innate in man to be “ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, and greedy for gain” (Machiavelli, 58). In relation to the central quotation, Machiavelli believes that it is not in human nature to always act with goodness, stating that it is neither possible to have [all positive attributes] nor to observe them all completely, because the human condition does not permit it” (54). As Machiavelli believes that it is not in human condition to always act within goodness, his assumption as to why the majority of individuals do not act within this realm begins to form a more well-constructed reasoning. Two related concepts to human nature that Machiavelli focuses on are virtú and Fortuna. Fortuna, which deals with fortune or luck that one has, is said to have a great effect on one’s position as prince according to Machiavelli. Those who have great fortune still need great virtue in order to be successful, as luck alone cannot fully build a state (Machievlli, 23). Virtue, or virtú, is an amoral concept, that refers to the skills and abilities that people hold. All beings are born with innate traits, such as sex and class, however, it is our responsibility to use our own skills to prosper. Machiavelli …show more content…
The idea that human nature is responsible for negative attributes such as ungratefulness and greed is a large assumption that Machiavelli makes. He infers that these are innate qualities in human beings and thus part of the human condition. The debate on whether attributes and behaviors such as greed and violence are innate or learned is a controversial one, with many polarized opinions and studies on the topic. Machiavelli has what appears to be a more settled stance that these previously mentioned attributes are indeed just part of human nature which can be viewed as either a positive or negative implication. If one views behavior such as violence as a learned behavior rather than an innate one, then it becomes more plausible for them to reject Machiavelli’s approach and analysis of human nature and topical matters related to it making it a negative implication. One who has a negative implication may view the central quotation as having less ground as they may believe that it is incorrect to imply that it is human nature to generally act outside goodness. One can argue that people have learned from society to not act within goodness as social norms and values could assist in the attribution of traits such as greed. Similarly, a positive implication could be found if one agrees with the notion that behaviors such as violence are just human nature. If one has a