The high expectations of the king act as the greatest example of al-Farabi's optimism of human nature. He states that: "This man holds the most perfect rank of humanity and had reached the highest degree of felicity. His soul is united as it were with the Active intellect.He is the man who knows every action by which felicity can be reached.He should, in addition, be of tough physique, in order to shoulder the tasks of war." In addition to these expectations, a king had to be a prophet and philosopher. Realistically, al-Farabi's expectations are unattainable and don't account for human error, thus making them optimistic.
In contrast to Confucius and al-Farabi, Indian political advisor Kautilya adopted a more pessimistic view of human nature. In his pessimistic outlook of ideal society, lies an anticipation of invasion and disturbance. This is reflected in his preemptive planning to defend Chandragupta's kingdom. He describes fortresses on the outside of the kingdom as well as in the center of 1410 villages, which is suggestive of anticipated attacks: "There shall be constructed in the extremities of the kingdom forts manned by boundary-guards whose duty shall be to guard the entrances into the kingdom." This defensive planning in his ideal society is indicative of a pessimistic view of human nature because it expects something bad to happen.
In respect to the similarities of ideals, Kautilya and al-Farabi's views were fundamentally similar because their societies were centered around a hierarchical structure of society. In the case of Kautilya's vision, Indian society would conform to the principles of the Dharma and would subsequently base the division of property on its principles. For example, the villages would consist of "families of agricultural people of Shudra caste" and the priestly Brahmin caste were ".granted Brahmadaya lands yielding sufficient produce and exempted from taxes and fines.
