EVOLUTION

OF
POLITICAL
THOUGHT
                                   
    BADABAGNI SAI SANJEEV
                 [Group-11]
Definition of political thought

 Political thought, or political philosophy, is the study

of questions concerning power, justice, rights, law,
and other issues pertaining to governance. Whereas
political science assumes that these concepts are
what they are, political thought asks how they have
come about and to what effect.
History of political thought
 The history of political thought dates back to
antiquity while the history of the world and thus
the history of political thinking by man stretches
up through the Medieval period and the
Renaissance. In the Age of Enlightenment, political
entities expanded from basic systems of self-
governance and monarchy to the complex
democratic and communist systems that exist of
the Industrialized and the Modern Era. In parallel,
political systems have expanded from vaguely
defined frontier-type boundaries, to the definite
boundaries existing today. The history of political
thought has often overlapped with the history of
philosophy
Some famous Political Thinkers are
 • Plato
 • Aristotle
 • Niccolo Machiavelli 
 • Hobbes
 • John Locke
 • John Stuart Mill
 • Karl Marx 
 • Gramsci
 • Hannah Arendt
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

ITALY[1469-1527]
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

■ Machiavelli born in 1469 in Florence, Italy, is considered one of the

main founders of modern political science.
■ His famous book The Prince, sought to abolish religious or other
emotional factors from political practice. 
■ He is an outstanding example of a “Renaissance man,” because of
his work as a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and playwright,
but, foremost, a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. 
■ Machiavelli believes that politics should be argued from a strictly
political viewpoint, eliminating theological and moral arguments. 
■ He greatly opposed to the church, believing that it causes men to be
humble, and thus weakening their ability to lead.
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

■ Machiavelli’s name has become synonymous with the devil largely because of his
argument that evil means were sometimes necessary to achieve desired ends, that
cruelty, deceit, terrorism, ruthless use of force and treachery were all permissible,
desirable, on occasion. 
■ Machiavelli had little interest in spiritual matters, none in theological. His was a
public, not a private philosophy. 
■ His interest in religion was solely political. A prince did not have to be religious, but
it was important for him to appear so.
■ Much of Machiavelli’s writing is considered with the need for a strong army, for a
national militia, and the bringing to an end of the mercenary system. 
■ In taking a state the conqueror must arrange to commit all his cruelties at once, so
as not have to recur to them every day, and so as to be able, by not making fresh
changes, to reassure people and win them over by benefiting them.
THE PRINCE
■ Machiavelli wrote The Prince when he was 44 years old, but it
was not published until five years after his death. 
■ The Prince's contribution to the history of political thought is
the fundamental break between political Realism and political
Idealism. 
■ wrote that “how we live is so far removed from how we ought
to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be
done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin than his
preservation.” 
■ believed that a prince should make himself feared and avoid
hatred.
two methods of
fighting: 
 one by law, and the other by force. 

 Although he says “the first is of men, and

the second of beasts,” moreover, he also
says that “it is necessary for a prince to
know how to use both.” 

 His beliefs require the prince, or leader, to

be a public figure above reproach, while
privately acting without moral standards to
achieve state goals.
 : asks the question
whether it is better to
be love more than
feared, or feared more
than loved. The reply is,
that one ought to be
both feared and loved,
but as it is difficult for
the two to go together,
it is much safer to be
feared than loved, if
one of 
HE WHO WISHES TO
BE OBEYED MUST
KNOW HOW TO
COMMAND.
          -MACHIAVELLI.
                     THANK YOU.