The Sophist Thrasymachus and Niccolo Machiavelli: the question of a political mask

ENThe article compares the ideas of the sophist Thrasymachus and Niccolo Machiavelli. Both political thinkers are portrayed from an anthropological perspective, which emphasizes universal components of political life, i.e. political existence of the stronger and the weaker and political role of the dominant and the submissive. The underlying thesis is that they both believed in morality as subordinate to political realities. The reader will find a counter-argument stating that Machiavelli analyzed only conflict based politics and did not foresee consensual politics. On the other hand, the author claims that the interests of the ones who have power inevitably imply the issue of a conflict. Conflicting powers create hierarchy just as existence of hierarchy causes conflicts. Wherever there are two groups of people, the question of ruling rises inevitably. Disputes over power and ruling order start with conflict not with consensus. Thus the question of a political mask springs out of universal structure of a political life. [From the publication]