Abstract:

The difference between the themes of Machiavelli’s The Prince and Discourses on Livyshows a “dislocation” between the “monarch” and the “people”. How to reduce this “dislocation” has always been a new “political dilemma” since modern times. Gramsci realized the possible reconciliation between the “monarch” and the “people” through the unity between “modern proletarian party” and “nation-people”. Based on political theology, Schmitt’s “sovereignty decision” re-positioned the relationship of “creating” and “maintaining” and that of “revolution” and “order”. Althusser interpreted Machiavelli’s “political dilemma” as a “revolutionary utopia”. In modern China, Machiavelli’s “political dilemma” is expressed as a “paradox” between “freedom” and the “state”. This “paradox” has constituted the keynote of the symphony of Chinese political thought over the past century, and remains as an intellectual dilemma to be overcome today.

Key words: Machiavelli, political dilemma, freedom, state