Marcelina H. answered • 04/11/25
French and Political Science Major with a minor in TESOL
Machiavelli’s Prince and Hobbes’ Leviathan are somewhat contrasting figures. Whereas Machiavelli’s founder is an individual who comes to power by his ability or good fortune (in the case of hereditary rulers), Hobbes’s founder is neither an individual nor does he come into power in any way other than being collectively willed into existence by the people who enter into the social contract. The imagery of Hobbes’s Leviathan is that, in proportion to the sovereign acting as the head of the body politic, the people form the body. As a whole, the Leviathan is essentially a metaphor for the state. While it is the primary goal of the Prince, as conceived by Machiavelli, to maintain a stable and secure state, he must be ready to carry out anything necessary to achieve this end. The function of the Leviathan, on the other hand, is less to ensure his own survival, and more so to detract from the state of nature by providing a better alternative.
