Hobbes And Locke: A Comparative Analysis

In order to develop a thorough understanding of a concept, it is imperative to define the concept in a concrete manner, therefore, the definition for political theory must be defined to make a judgement on the best point of departure for it. Political theory is the understanding of the world in the state it was naturally supposed to be combined with how it is now and forming the laws and legitimacy of government from that state. In this paper, I will posit that the state of nature is the “best point of departure” for political theory because it is able to work from an original and current assumption that allows for flexibility in the workings of a state rather than fixing upon a straight trajectory, like that of real history, and able to provide …show more content…
The Hobbesian state of nature is a thought experiment where he makes assumptions of how the world originally was and how the state came to be; on the other hand, the Lockean state of nature was a real thing. Lockean state of nature acknowledged the flaws of humans where they have limited knowledge. Only God knows all things and that it was God who gave all things to rational men. Religion played an integral role in understanding the Lockean state of nature. Through the theorists’ state of nature, they provided a concrete justification for government – Locke for the preservation of private property and Hobbes for diffidence. On the opposite side of the spectrum lies real history which Marx advocates for. In real history, Marx suggests that it starts from feudalism, where the aristocrats own the means of production, then transforms into capitalism, where the bourgeoisie own the means of production and ultimately moves towards communism, where the universal class owns the means of production. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx uses historical materialism as his methodology which subscribes to the idea that each historical development contains observable …show more content…
From the Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, I put forth the argument that the state of nature permits us to see the world as it is right now so that we could mold and form an efficient and non-despotic government in the state. When we are able to see the world as the way we are living in, we understand the core values in that society. Lockean government which builds from the state of nature coincides with the society he was living in at that time. In his time, property rights were crucial in the lives of many, thus, it formed the core of government that he had in mind. Of course, Locke’s state of nature contained the law of nature but because there was no third party enforcement, it was unable to stop people from entering the state of war. Due to the anarchic feature of the law of nature, Locke was able to justify the legitimacy for government. As stated in the previous paragraph, Hobbesian state of nature is a thought experiment which provides copious opportunities to build up an efficacious government. Through this thought experiment, I will highlight that its flexibility supports the testing of different governments. In a sense, Hobbesian state of nature is similar to the idea of survival of the fittest where different types of government and states