Hobbes, Locke, Marx

8/13/2019 Hobbes, Locke, Marx

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Political Theory

Hobbes, Locke, Marx


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Historical Background

Breakdown of Medieval Feudalism

Changes to Modern Economy

Political Changes


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Economic Changes

Increase in the use of money Loans, Credit, Investments, Easier transactions

Power transferred from the noble class (those withland and arms) to those with moneyfor

example, the merchants

Alliance of moneyed class with monarchs

Small self-contained estates with restricted trade

reorganized into large-scale nation states New political structure favorable to freer trade,

commerce, investment, and profit making


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Economic Changes

Decline of the guildsmerchants boughtraw materials and manufactured their ownproducts

New spirit of free enterprise and thedetermination to fend for oneself in acompetitive marketplace


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Economic Changes

Example: Jacques Coeur (1395-1456) Wealthiest Frenchman of his time; son of a merchant

Built ships and transported goods to all countriesbordering the Mediterranean

Sold every sort of merchandise

Owned lead, copper, and silver mines, a silk factory,and a paper mill

Operated a passenger service to the Holy Land

Had 300 representatives in Europe and Asia

Built a palace in France, was a patron of the arts, anda friend of popes and kings

Lent Charles VII huge sums of money to maintain hisarmy and drive the English out of France


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Political Changes

Nationalism

Sovereignty

Naturalism


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Political Changes Nationalism

Aggressive kings separated themselves fromfeudal lords and the church and created nationstates with a single centralized power (For

instance, Louis XI in France, and Henry VII andHenry VIII in England)

People began to see themselves as Englishpeople or French people

Printing in common languages, not just Latin

One centralized military (under the king) that fightsfor the nation


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Political Changes

Sovereignty

Denial of Aquinas claim that the secular stateis subordinate to the church and Gods eternal

law


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Political Changes Naturalism

Disregard the moral issues concerning theestablishment of state power (e.g., that laws have tofollow the laws of nature) and just focus on the facts ofpower and the practical means of attaining it (likeThrasymachus and the might-makes-right idea)

Political naturalism found great expression in Italybecause there were no medieval Italian kings to unifythings or share power with. Political life remained in

small-scale units, and wealthy ambitious individualswere freer to pursue what they wantedpower.


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Political Changes Naturalism

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) (Florence) Human nature: people are stupid and irrational and

incapable of governing themselves

People are moved by passionsambition, fear, envy,

desire for novelty and security, and the love ofwealth.

Christianity makes some people feeble and easy prey:exaltation of meekness, humility, contempt forworldly objects, controlled by religious passions

Government: a strong monarchy is needed to controlthe resulting conflicts among people

The good ruler maintains power and pursues his owninterests without getting caught and starting a

rebellionuse force (ruthlessly) and propaganda


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Social Contract Theory

What is the origin and nature of society?

How do governments get their authority?

Why should we obey governments? On what basis do governments have the rightto rule?

What is the origin of justice?

Where does justice come from?

Why should we obey the rules of justice?


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The most popular modern answer is that justiceand government authority are products ofsocial agreement.

We are obliged to obey the rules of justice, andthe government that enforces them, because we(in some sense) have agreed to do so.

It is as if we made a contract with the stateto

live together according to certain rules that,according to our best calculations, are ineveryones interest, including our own.


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When in the course of human events itbecomes necessary for one people todissolve the political bonds which have

connected them with another.Governments are instituted among Men,deriving their just powers from the

consent of the governed. (Declarationof Independence July 4, 1776)


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Main influences on social contract theory Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) English philosopher

(Leviathan)

John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher

(Essays on Civil Government)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) Swiss-bornFrench philosopher (The Social Contract)

Recent influence John Rawls, Harvard philosopher (A Theory of

Justice, 1971)


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Thomas Hobbes

(1) Human Nature (2) The State of Nature

(3) The Laws of Nature

(4) The Social Contract


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Hobbes View of Human Nature

(1) Human Nature

Egoists (act out of self-interest)

Competitive (people invade to get ahead)

Use violence for gain

Seek to control and dominate

Out for glory (people invade for reputation)

Distrustful (people invade for safety)

Quarrelsome


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Hobbes State of Nature

In social contract theory, there is a

conception of human interaction beforesociety. It is usually called the state ofnature.

Contract theorists use the state of nature to Explain the nature of society and its origin

Explain the need for government

Legitimize the authority of rulers Explain the origin of social justice

Its not a historical explanation about how

societies have actually arisen.


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Hobbes State of Nature

(2) The State of NatureA war of all against all

No developed culture, industry, arts, etc.

Constant danger of death and continual fear

No law, no right or wrong, nothing is just orunjust

Force and fraud are the cardinal values

No property (there is no mine or thine)

Everyone has a right to all things needed topreserve ones life

Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and

short


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Hobbes Laws of Nature

(3) Laws of Nature

What is a law of nature?

It is a general rule that, given through humanreason, forbids one to do what isdestructive of his life, or to take away oromit the means to preserve it.


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First Fundamental Law of Nature

First Branch:

Whenever possible, every person oughtto seek peace and follow it.


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Second Branch:

When a person cannot obtain peace,then he may seek and use all helps and

advantages of war.


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Second Fundamental Law of Nature

A man be willing, when others are so too, to

(A) Lay down ones right to all things

(B) Be contented with so much liberty againstother men as he would allow other menagainst himself.


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Third Fundamental Law of Nature(Justice)

JUSTICE: Men perform their covenants

made. Keep your word and honor yourcontracts.

Do not deceive for gain.

Keep your agreement to give up your right to

everything.

Breaking a covenant is unjust


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Hobbes Social Contract

Passions and Reason lead people out of

the state of nature

The passions that incline men to peaceare:

fear of death

desire for good living

hope to obtain good living through industry

Reason gives articles of peace that maydraw people into agreement.


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Hobbes shows how reason leads us to peace.

(1) In a state of nature, there is a condition ofwar.

(2) So in a state of nature, there is no security

for anyone of living as long as natureintendedhim or her to live.

(3) But reason forbids every person to do thatwhich is destructive of his or her life.

(4) So reason directs us to seek peace wheneverwe can.


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So why doesnt everyone follow reasonand leave the state of nature? Why dontpeople make covenants and leave the

state of nature? (see page 208)


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In the state of nature, people cannot trustothers to keep their covenants.

It may be advantageous for someone to

break a covenant

Others may not be rational

Others may not be aware of the laws of

nature


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There first must be some coercivepowerto compel people equally toperform their covenants, by the terror ofsome punishmentgreater than thebenefits they expect by the breach ofsome covenant.

People must first set up some civil powerthat can force people to keep theircovenants.


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Hobbes says that there is only one way toset up such a civil power.

People must give all their power to one man,or one assembly of men. They must reducetheir wills to one will.

They must make a covenant as if every manshould say to every man: I authorize and

give up my right of governing myself tothis man on this condition; that you giveup your right to him, and authorize allhis actions in like manner. (page 208)


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How does Hobbes define theCommonwealth? (top of p. 209)

One person, of whose acts a great multitude,

by mutual covenants one with another, havemade themselves every one the author, tothe end he may use the strength and meansof them all as he shall think expedient fortheir peace and common defense.


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Once this sovereign power is set up, thenthere is no longer a state of nature, but aCommonwealth, and people can be secure

in the covenants that they make withothers.


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Hobbes View of the Sovereign The sovereign can never do injury to any of his

subjects. The sovereign has the power to do whatever is

necessary to secure peace and common defense. No one can accuse the sovereign of injustice.

The sovereign cannot be put to death orpunished. He judges what opinions and doctrines can be

expressed or published in books.

He determines the rules that tell every man whatgoods he may enjoy and what actions he may do. He has the right of hearing and judging all

controversies concerning law.

He cannot be cast aside by a new covenant


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Hobbes View of the Sovereign

Hobbes addresses the objection that thecondition of the subjects is very miserableasthey are at the mercy of the sovereign.

What can force the sovereign to do what is right

and good for its people? Outside forces

The fear of conquest by a foreigner

The sovereign is made strong when its subjects are

made strong

Living under a sovereign is better than being ina state of nature, or civil war.


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Hobbes: The Purpose of Government

For Hobbes, people settle on governmentfor what main purposes?

1. To preserve their lives and avoid violence

2. To develop industry and culture for aneasier life

3. To live comfortably

4. To have security from invasion fromforeigners


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John Lockes Social Contract Theory

(1) Human nature

(2) State of Nature

(3) Laws of Nature (page 211) (4) Social Contract


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Lockes View of Human Nature

(1) Human Nature

1. People can cooperate with others

2. People are not necessarily egoists

3. People are competitive

4. People are able to be guided by laws ofnature


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Lockes View of the State of Nature

1. Perfect freedom, absolute liberty (but within thebounds of the laws of nature)

2. Equality: in power and jurisdiction (i.e., extent ofapplication of power)

3. People have property (It is just not protected verywell.)

4. There can be industry and culture

5. There is right and wrong (people just dont follow itvery well)

6. There is civil justice, but people do not apply it verywell. They have to take justice into their own hands.

7. For a long time, there was a state of plenty, so therewerent many quarrels. But things changed.


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Lockes Laws of Nature

(1) No liberty to destroy oneself

(2) No authority to destroy another (no

one ought to harm another in his lifehealth, liberty, or possessions)

The law of nature comes from reason


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Lockes Laws of Nature

But why is there no authority to destroyanother? People areequal and independent, and

Men are the workmanship of Godhisproperty

What are the exceptions to the law ofnature?You may kill to preserve your own life

You may do harm to do justice to an offender.


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Locke on Private Property

Locke on Property (p. 212)

Locke defends the idea of private property.

Problems for the idea of privateproperty

Natural Reason: everyone has right to self-preservation, so all have right to everything

necessary for self-preservation. Revelation: Bible, word of GodGod has

given Earth to mankind in common.


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Locke and Private Property

How should everyone come to haveprivate property in anything?

1. First, Locke rejects the explanation thatGod gave the world to Adam and his heirsin succession, excluding everyone else. Sohe rejects the idea that only one universal

monarch should have property. Lockerejects the divine right of kings.


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Lockes explanation of how someone canhave private property: Everyone has a property in his own person

The labor of a persons body and the work ofhis hands are his property

So when someone works on something, hemixes his labor with it. Others now have no

right to it. It becomes the workers property.It is removed from the common state ofnature.


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Locke puts a limit on private property

The Law of nature says: A person can haveprivate property only where there is enough

and as goodleft in common for others.A person must not take what cannot be used.

Do not waste.


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Lockes Social Contract

What must people do for a civil society toemerge?

People must give their consentto thefollowing:

Give up natural liberty

Accept the bonds of civil society

Be subject to the political power of another


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Lockes Social Contract Who rules society and what is Lockes

explanation of who rules? The consent of the majorityrules

The community is one body and must havethe power to act as one body

The body should move where the greaterforce carries it

By the law of nature: the will of the

consent of the majority should have thepower of the whole

Everyone has an obligation to submit to themajority if one consents to be in a

community.


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Locke: Primary End of Government

Why would anyone part with the absoluteliberty one has in the state of nature? comfortable, peaceful living

safety

avoid an uncertain lifeescape invasion by others

escape a life full of fears

mutual preservation of their lives, liberties,and estates (their property)

The chief end of government ispreservation of private property


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Government establishes what the State ofNature lacks. What are these things?An established and known law, a standard of

right and wrong (In the state of nature people do

not apply the law of nature correctly)A known and indifferent judge (Men cannot judge

very wellthey are more concerned with theirown cases and less concerned with others)

A power for law enforcement and execution ofpunishments (justice) -- execution ofpunishments (people will have difficulty executing

just punishments in the state of nature)


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What are the limits on lawmakers? equal protection under the law

laws must be for the good of the people

taxes only with consent lawmakers cant transfer (away from the

people) the power to make laws

People maintain the right to overthrow a

corrupt government

K l M (1818 1883) d


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Karl Marx (1818-1883) andFriedrich Engels (1820-1895)

Communist Manifesto (main ideas)

Class struggle is the engine of history

Capitalism is just one stage in historical

development

Capitalism will give way to communism

Communism will end the exploitation of one

class by another


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Marx: Historical Materialism

Capitalism is just one stage ofhistorical development: The history ofstate organizations has been a history ofclass struggle, of one class exploiting

another. History shows that each rulingclass will eventually lose its position toanother, due to its own internalcontradictions. Capitalism will bedestroyed by its own internalcontradictions.


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Marx identifies 5 historical phases

Primative Community

Slave State

Feudal State

Capitalist System

Communist Society


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The moving forces of history: Each stagehas a Mode of Production

Means of production: The material means

of production, the hardware, tools, machines,buildings, workers, etc.)

Relations of Production: property relations

under which a society produces,manufactures, and exchanges products.


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Each mode sets up class relations andclass struggle, where there are those whoare exploited and those who exploit.

Feudalism

Nobility

Church

Merchants

Guild Artisans

Serfs


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Feudalism breaks down because the

merchants (and guild artisans) grew innumbers and power.

They were able to throw off the yoke of

the nobles and the church.

A new mode of production is born:Capitalism

Two new classes are born: TheBourgeoisie and the Proletariat


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A new class struggle is created The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat

The proletarians are the workers in the

capitalist mode of production The bourgeoisie are the owners of the

means of production

This class struggle contains the seeds ofcapitalisms destruction


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Just as the feudal means of productioncontained the foundation for the rise ofthe bourgeoisie, the capitalist mode of

production contains the foundation for therise of the modern working class, theproletarians. As the bourgeoisie develops,

the workers develop and grow.

M Th P l t i


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Marx: The Proletarians The workers are just another commodity. They

must sell themselves for work. Labor is paid subsistence wages or just enough

to make workers (to keep them alive andreproduce).

They are exposed to all the changes of themarket. (If there is a surplus of workers, thenthey dont get much pay. The workers are put incompetition with each other.)

They become like machines. Because of the useof machines, the work of the proletarians haslost all individual character, and consequently allcharm for the workman. He becomes an

appendage of the machine.

h l


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Marx: The Proletarians

Masses of laborers are organized like soldiersand placed under the command of a perfecthierarchy of officers and sergeants.

They are slaves of the capitalists, of thebourgeoisie state, of the machine, and of the

over-looker, and by the individual bourgeoismanufacturer himself.

Differences of age and sex no longer have anydistinctive social value for the working class.

Women and children are workers just like men.As soon as the worker gets paid, the worker

must pay other portions of the bourgeoisierent for the landlord, for example.


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Alienation of labor (See page 285)


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What happens to the lower strata of themiddle class? They are pulled into theproletarian class. They cannot compete

with the large capitalists and must turn toworking for them. (What does Wal-Martand other such big stores do to

communities and small businesses?)


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Marx: Workers Unions

How does Marx explain the rise ofworkers unions?

As capitalist industry develops, the numbersof workers also grows. The strength of theworkers grows.

The workers begin to have serious conflictswith the bourgeoisie over their pay and

conditions. The workers then form unions to fight for

good wages and conditions.


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Marx: Unions

What is the ultimate significance ofunions?

The ultimate significance of unions is that

they undermine the bourgeoisie and lay thefoundation for the proletarian class.

Marx: The Dictatorship of the


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Marx: The Dictatorship of theProletariat

When the workers gain enough power andorganization, they must seize control of hemeans of production. The bourgeoisie will

not willingly give it to them. This will be atemporary period of dictatorship whenthe proletarians gain control of the means

of production.

M C i


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Marx: CommunismA new communist mode of production

arises and changes society where there isno more class struggle. A new way ofthinking about things emerges.

Marx says that the material conditions oflife determine ideas. When the materialconditions change, ideas or ways ofthinking about things change. In the past,

the ideas have always been those of theruling class who control the materialmeans of production.


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Marx: Communism

Communism abolishes what?

It abolishes private propertyin itspresent form; bourgeoisprivate

property. Bourgeois private property is(historically) the final expression of classantagonisms and the exploitation of the

many by the few.

M C i


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Marx: Communism Is there still property under communism?

Yes, but it is social property. Property is a social power, because it is a

product of many people. In its present form,

property is a social power that is in theprivate control of the bourgeoisie.Communism removes the class character ofproperty, but property remains social.

Laborers still get wages. A communist societychanges the life of the laborer. Labor is ameans to widen, to enrich, and to promotethe existence of the laborer. The laborer no

longer simply lives to increase capital.

Marx: Communism


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Marx: Communism Does communism, by ending private property, end

individuality and freedom, as the bourgeoisie claim?Yes, but just the individuality and freedom of the

bourgeoisie! The individuality and freedom of theworkers is expanded. Current private property is

already done away with for 9/10ths of thepopulation!

Communism deprives no man of the power toappropriate the products of society; all that it does

is to deprive him of the power to subjugate thelabor of others by means of such appropriation.This helps to increase individuality and freedom forthe workers.


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Marx: Communism

Under communism, and the abolition ofproperty, will universal laziness take over?

Marx: If that were true, then bourgeois

society would have stopped long ago.Under bourgeoisie society, those whowork acquire nothing, and those who

acquire anything, do not work.


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Marx: Communism

According to Marx, are the ideas, laws,culture, and the laws of nature that comefrom the bourgeoisie eternal truths?

No -- laws, ideas, and culture are just theproducts of the particular economicconditions necessary for the existence of

the bourgeoisie. (Was Locke speaking forthe new bourgeois class?)

Marx: Communism


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Marx: Communism

Marx talks about the abolition of thefamily and of education. What does hemean?

He means the abolition of the bourgeois

family and bourgeoiseducation becausehe claims that the proletarians have noreal familiesthey are torn apart in the

capitalist world, and children becomemere instruments of labor.

Marx: Communism


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Marx: Communism

Communism calls for new communities of

women. Under current conditions, womenare subjugated to bourgeois needs. Theyare workers, prostitutes, and mistresses.

Marriage is just a system of wives incommon! With the abolition of thebourgeois system of production, so will gothose communities of women (public andprivate prostitutes) that serve thebourgeoisie.


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Marx: Communism

What does Marx say about nations? The workers have no country.

Communism abolishes the bourgeoisie

nation state. The idea of the nation stateis a product of the bourgeoisie. When thebourgeoisie have been removed on aninternational scale, then there will be no

need for nations. The exploitation of onenation by another will end.

Marx: Policies in Manifesto


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Marx: Policies in Manifesto Heavy progressive and graduated income

tax Centralization of credit in the hands of the

state by means of a national bank

Centralization of the means ofcommunication and travel in the hands ofthe state.

Extension of factories and means of

production owned by the state Free education for all children in public

schools

Hobbes, Locke, Marx

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