Some Tips and Suggestions for the Paper

The purpose of the paper is two-fold: (1) to introduce the relationship between Machiavelli’s ideas in The Prince and Hobbes’s ideas in Leviathan and (2) to serve as a scholarly writing sample using references (footnotes) and citations. The paper-topics or questions for these papers are basically essay exam questions. The papers will also serve to introduce the new readings that are assigned for the date the paper is due. In this case, the reading assignment is chapters 14 and 18 of Leviathan. You should also read chapter 13 of Leviathan if you have not done so in POL 210.

For Tuesday’s paper, pick one of the following questions to answer:

Based on Leviathan chapter 14, Does Hobbes agree with Machiavelli's statements in the Prince that princes/sovereigns need not keep their promises?

Based on Leviathan chapter 18 (and 20), does Hobbes agree with Machiavelli's assertions about the rights or powers that princes/sovereigns should have?

1. If you pick the first question, focus on Leviathan chapter 14. You will find that Hobbes discusses rights (freedom to do specific things), contracts (an exchange of rights/freedoms with someone else), and covenants (promises to be kept in the future) in considerable detail. He also discusses when and in what circumstances promises should be kept and when they should not be kept. Machiavelli, too, discusses promises and when they should and should not be kept. Then,

· Quote or (preferably) paraphrase a couple of Hobbes’s remarks and a couple of Machiavelli’s remarks about keeping promises and properly cite them with footnotes, as described in the “Rules for One-Page Papers”;

· Simply compare and contrast Hobbes’s remarks about when promises should and should not be kept with Machiavelli’s remarks about the same subject;

· Draw a short conclusion or answer: do Machiavelli and Hobbes agree in their remarks or do they disagree in their remarks about when promises should be kept? State the conclusion/answer either in a short introductory paragraph or a short concluding paragraph—

not both.

That’s it.

2. If you pick the second question, focus on Leviathan chapter 18 (In the first few paragraphs of chapter 20 Hobbes makes it clear that whether a sovereign or prince has acquired power through the freely given consent of a society or through the forced consent of a conquered population, the sovereign/prince rightly possesses the rights listed in chapter 18.) In chapter 18, Hobbes discusses all or the rights or powers that a sovereign/prince may exercise. Throughout the Prince, Machiavelli, too, discusses what a prince/sovereign should—and therefore may—do. Then,

· Quote or (preferably) paraphrase a couple of the key rights of sovereigns/princes that Hobbes describes and a couple of the distinctive powers of princes/sovereigns that Machiavelli describes and properly cite them with footnotes, as described in the “Rules for One-Page Papers”;

· Simply compare and contrast Hobbes’s remarks about the rights of sovereigns/princes with Machiavelli’s remarks about the same subject;

· Draw a short conclusion or answer: do Machiavelli and Hobbes agree in their remarks or do they disagree in their remarks about what sovereigns/princes may rightly do? State your conclusion/answer either in a short introductory paragraph or a short concluding paragraph—but not both.

That’s it!

Oh, yeah, and BE SURE TO PROOFREAD!!!