7-2 Final Project Theoretical Analysis

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May 24, 2024

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7-2 Final Project: Theoretical Analysis POL – 313 – Political Theory & Application Eitana Yisra'EL April 20, 2024

Karl Marx and Thomas Hobbes Among the political theorists we will examine in this course, I am choosing to analyze the ideologies of Karl Marx and Thomas Hobbes. These two political theorists hold contrasting perspectives on the relationship between the people and the government which I find interesting to compare. While Hobbes argued that individuals should voluntarily relinquish their inherent freedom to collective authority, with the aim of preserving and promoting a harmonious community; Marx advocates for a society based on communal principles and favors communist ideas mainly due to his personal experiences of poverty and the isolating effects of living under a ruler. Karl Marx Karl Marx, born in 1818 in Trier, Rhineland, was a comprehensive figure of the Enlightenment age. He was a revolutionary, philosopher, sociologist, historian, and economist, recognized for his theories that laid the foundation for Marxism. Marxism is the ideology that argues the economic interactions in a capitalist society are primarily driven by the conflict between the capitalist class and the working class, and that this conflict will eventually lead to a revolution. The critique of capitalism and its flaws continues to be his predominant perspective. Marx firmly believed that the capitalist system would inevitably experience self- destruction because of the fundamental disparities between the working class and capitalism. Due to the systematic subjugation of the working class, he asserted that the workers will eventually get weary and revolt against their oppressors, seize control, and construct a society free of social hierarchy. Mankind/Human Nature

“Marx believed that morality is primarily derived from an evaluation of what human beings are and what, given their nature, is advantageous for them to prosper.” (Jones, 2016) He believes that humans themselves are inherently natural beings. He argues that human nature is not an abstract structure, but rather an innate quality present in every person. Therefore, the ethical or unethical nature of any human action is defined by the interests of the particular social class it benefits. This implies that the primary factor to comprehend about an individual was not their internal or ethical existence, but rather their position within a socioeconomic hierarchy. Marx regarded government as the embodiment of the collective interests of the ruling class. He had the belief that the government serves as an additional instrument to segregate and subjugate the lower socioeconomic class, similar to the way he believed capitalism operates. Capitalism Marx formulates his comprehension of capitalism as an economic system. He described it as a system of manufacturing based on the exploitation of wage labor for the purpose of accumulating capital. He criticized capitalism as a system that creates a division between the proletariat, or working class, and the bourgeoisie, or capitalist class. “In Marx’s 1844 manuscript ‘Antithesis of Capital and Labouré’, he makes the point that capitalism brings about ‘immorality, deformity, and dulling of the workers and the capitalists.” (Jones, 2016) Marx argued that within a capitalist society, the proletariat is subjected to oppression by the capitalist system. Although the working class is responsible for producing the goods necessary for the market, it is the capitalists who possess absolute power, and inevitably, there will be a conflict between them. Marx contended that as a result of this divide, the capitalist system was unavoidably fated to undergo self-destruction because of the devaluing of a man’s labor. Marx argues that capitalism diminishes the value of workers and turns them into a simple commodity. He insists that the

constant retention of workers in this position results in their dehumanization, both in terms of their mental and physical well-being. Justice Marx perceived the law as a tool utilized by the ruling class of society to maintain its control over the governed population much like capitalist do to the working class. “Morality and justice, for Marx, are both historically dependent valid at any particular time.” (Stoian, 2014) Due to adverse societal conditioning and a lack of steady and adequate opportunities to fulfill their needs and desires, he believes that individuals are unjustly penalized by the criminal justice system under capitalism. In order to mitigate the inherent flaws, present in every system striving for equal justice, Marx argues that instead of pursuing absolute equality, it would be necessary to embrace a degree of inequality. He suggests that the idea of justice is a legal idea that changes based on how things are made. Liberty Marx holds the belief that liberty is solely present in the real world and is a result of the progression of history. He maintained that the removal of historical context from the concept of liberty results in its transformation into a meaningless and vague idea, hence diminishing its fundamental worth. According to Marx’s interpretation, liberty is the entitlement to engage in actions and behaviors as long as they don't cause harm to others. Marx contends that when individuals possess a sense of entitlement, they begin to perceive others as potential obstacles in the way of their freedom. Therefore it is essential for each individual to possess a personal and exclusive area that is restricted to others (i.e. private property), where they can find solace and decompress. “The practical application of man’s right to liberty is man’s right to private property.” (Jones, 2016)

Revolution “Marx believed that capitalism is a volatile economic system that will suffer a series of ever-worsening crises—recessions and depressions—that will produce greater unemployment, lower wages, and increasing misery among the industrial proletariat.” (Britannica, 2024) This critique of capitalism from Karl Marx led him to believe that a revolution was both needed and unavoidable in order to drive society forward. He argued that due to the oppressive actions imposed by the capitalist class against the working class, the workers would eventually get weary of this oppression, unite, and initiate a revolution against capitalism, resulting in the workers assuming control of the market. Marxists acknowledged that bourgeois revolutions can occur in any capitalist society and are very probable. The primary objective of a bourgeois revolution, according to Marxists, is to convert the capitalist state into a state controlled by the working class, instead of being dominated by capitalists who are considered to dominate a majority of society. Relationship between citizens & State Marx proposes that there is a distinct separation between the citizens and the state. He believes that it is the laws that establish the connection between individuals and nation states. He argues that the state serves as an additional tool for one social class to exert its domination and create power over another class. This system was designed to establish and uphold a hierarchical structure, capable of handling conflicts and ensuring the dominance of one class over the other. Rather than being a tool for capitalism, Karl Marx advocated for a government that would actively support the transition from capitalism to socialism, and eventually to communism. He proposes that the government should function as a means for the working class, use its authority and assets to redistribute wealth and resources and foster equal rights. According to

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