Profane Approaches and the Force of Immorality in Politics: An interpretation of Maquiavelli and Hobbes

Abstract

This article has the objective of linking books like The Prince and Leviathan with analyzinge the concepts of power and leadership. In both classic cases, the interpretation of Maquiavelli and Thomas Hobbes is made through a specific conception of “the political”, where the reproduction of power and domination structures constitute the main determinants for controlling a State, political actions and the permanent divorce from moral considerations. As a matter of fact, all the ethical aspirations to manage power in society only represent that area of personal options deeply held at the bottom of individual conscience with no impact at the level of the realist practice of profane politics. The reproduction of power in the hands of leaders is aligned with the logic of effectivity, mainly has to do with concrete results behind politics as a practice, and the instrumentalization of social demands within a dominated society.