POLSCI 3VV3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Res Publica, Class Conflict
Document Summary
No one at the time he s writing is going to be a democrat there are republicans, though! Machiavelli gives us a version of republicanism, but also rethinks what republican is in a distinctly modern way. Pretty similar not too concerned with morality, he s concerned with what works. Machiavelli s view in chapter ii is opposite aristotle: everything good will disintegrate. The point of institutional design is to create something that will counteract natural human corruption as much as possible. Problem: everything collapses, human affairs in general are subject to entropy. For machiavelli, assume the opposite: men are naturally bad (92). Aristotle: democracy is more about freedom than it is about equality. Democracies are about freedom in two senses: public/political freedom citizenship. This one is first: private/individual freedom ( live as you like ). Tends in the direction of not being ruled at all. Machiavelli talks about a third freedom: political independence (as freedom).