Conduct of War: Thomas More and Niccolo Machiavelli

Conduct of War: Thomas More and Niccolo Machiavelli

Thomas More, in his creation of Utopia, brings to life a world where the best and worst qualities of a society are to be found. Looking at their conduct of war, More paints a picture of society that sees war as being incredibly below humans, even with his claim that "humans are more addicted to it than any of the lower animals." Throughout the narrator's, Raphael, explanation of warfare in Utopia More constantly shows a society that neatly contrasts with the ideas of war that Niccolo Machiavelli gives in his work The Prince.

While Machiavelli provides an argument against how the Utopians have chosen to proceed with their wars, he gives a contradicting statement showing their conduct to be justified. Machiavelli offers much advice on how a prince must be "good," but not good in the traditional definition of "good.' He argues that to be an effective prince it "is necessary ...to learn how not to be good." In regard to the Utopians they have taken this lesson and turned it towards their philosophy of warfare. The "good" thing is to use one's own troops in war, as this helps to maintain the security of the state. They, valuing human life as they do, have opted to use mercenaries,