What is the purpose of Government? A Marxist and Hobbesian Comparison . – PO-245- Charles Corr
It may seem peculiar to compare the purpose of a government from a Marxist and
Hobbesian perspective. They appear to have polar opposite arguments. Thomas
Hobbes argues for the necessity of absolute submission to a sovereign, while Karl
Marx advocates for the development of a classless society. However, during the
transitionary period between capitalism and communism, Marx argues for a
Proletarian Dictatorship to arise and guide society towards its classless destination.
Therefore, this essay will investigate the different reasons Marx and Hobbes gave for
the purpose of an authoritarian government. This essay will begin by reviewing both
thinkers' perspectives of human nature. It is important to do so because their
perceptions of human nature will rationalise the necessity of the authoritarian nature of
government. As both thinkers perceive human nature differently, their justification for
an authoritarian government differs. It will then explain that because both thinkers
have different perspectives on human nature, their arguments for an authoritarian
government differ due to how the authoritarian nature will be utilised for different
purposes. In essence, the different means for authoritarianism are justified because of
the different outcomes it produces.
Marx has a very positive conception of human nature and believes that it is not
fixed but moulded by the social and historical context that individuals live in. For
Marx, human socialness is one of the foundations of human nature that separates them
from animals. Humans had to develop certain psychological skills like consciousness
and language because they did not have the physical adaptations that animals have to
be well-suited to survive in nature (Fetscher, 1973). Marx argues that “…language is
practica l consciousness, as it exists for other men… language, like consciousness, only
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