Hobbes Vs Kant

As time passes ideology and government change, for the better or worse. Kant, Marx, and Hobbes all lived in a different world with their own set of set of difficulties and opinions. I believe none of them are truly correct in their ideas of humanity and government, and by understand their beliefs in relation to the time period we can better understand all of their works while at the same time formulate our own perspective on the issue.

Before delving into their beliefs we need to first understand the world in which they came from. Thomas Hobbes lived during a time of civil unrest, during the English civil war, and throughout his life had a negative view on humanity. Due to this, he published the “Leviathan” in 1651. Many years later in the

18th century, Kant would be born into a wealth household in Prussia. From a young age he received rigorous education and would go later go on to become the father on modern philosophy though his continued analysis of the world. Later on in the prior century, Karl Marx would also be born in Prussia into a wealthy family. Though unlike Kant, he would develop a great interest in the lower class and would later go on to write the “Communist Manifesto” and become the father of communism. All of these people experienced life in different ways, thus developing different ideologies that applied to their world, but do these ideas still apply to today.
We know that a society, and in turn a government, is just a group of people with similar or likeminded ideas; however, why do we form a society and what makes use different then all the rest of the animals?
To have a better understanding of government we must first break down what it’s made of, us.
What exactly makes us human? Kant and Marx both agree that our intellect has defined our humanity, but in different ways. Marx looked at the world in a material way and stated that we are human because of our ability to transform nature from one thing to another. We don’t just live in the world, but we also have the ability to change it through labor and intellect. On the other hand, Kant stated that we are more than animals because we are able to come together and reason with each other. He also believed that people were inertly good and, unlike animals, most of the time be reasoned with. In contrast, Hobbes viewed humans as being a sophistical machine that acts on its animal instincts to survive. When our bodies have a desires, such as food and water, and we set out to find ways to satisfy these problem. Although, a moral dilemma occurs when someone else has something we desire.
According to Hobbes, within nature there is no such thing as morally right and wrong.

We live by the law of nature and act accourding to our own best interests without regard for others. This would directly go against Kant’s categorical imperative and belief that morality is black and white with no exceptions. The categorical imperative stated that an action is moral only if it can become a universal maxim and is done out of duty. Likewise, stealing an item from someone would go against Kant’s belief of not using people as a mean, which Marx would also agree with. Both Marx and Kant did not won’t people to be taken advantage of, but in contrast with Kant, Marx would agree with Hobbes that there is no such thing as moral rules. Marx claimed that morality was created by the ruling class to keep themselves in power. In this same way Hobbes said that society, not nature or God, created the rules on what is moral. Likewise, what is morality right was always changed with time depending of who ruled. Because of this Marx wanted to figure out was not what morally right in this society, but how people should act to create a new one in which there is an equal playing field for everyone to agree on what is moral.

Even though Marx criticized capitalism and government in general, he know they were a necessary evil, but unlike Hobbes and Kant who believed government was here to stay, Marx felt that once the time was right, government should be abolished

completely.