Lao Tzu and Machiavelli’s View of “The People”
Lao Tzu and Machiavelli’s View of “The People”
Azhar A. Sapargaliyeva Professor Hammerbeck Introduction to Critical Issues 18 September 2012 Compare Lao Tzu’s and Machiavelli’s view of “the people�. How does each author’s conceptualization of “the people� affect what kind of government they support? Life experience, culture, language, time of living and many other factors affected Lao Tzu’s and Niccolo Machiavelli’s views on how an ideal leader ought to govern a country. These views, expressed in their texts, reflected on how these writers perceived the fellow men. Lao Tzu is a Chinese philosopher and founder of Daoism.He is the author of a philosophical document called “Tao-te Ching�. Niccolo Machiavelli, is a 15th century aristocrat and a writer, mostly famous for his political treatise, “The Prince�. This essay will attempt to analyze both authors’ views on human nature and the way these views affected the types of government supported. As mentioned above different lives of Lao Tzu and Machiavelli influenced their images of human nature.
