Kant, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau on Society and Governance
Kant’s Third Question and the Concept of Finality
14. What do you expect? This is the third question of Kant’s philosophical project, and it plays a role in the concept of finality. Purpose can “think” reality in a manner appropriate to the needs of human beings. What can I expect to achieve? Happiness. The only guarantee that we will achieve happiness is God. The hope for happiness is the object, not of morals, but of religion, understood as “natural religion” or rational faith.
The Triumph of Good
In humans inhabit two conflicting principles: the principle of good and the principle of evil, which are fighting to dominate. The evil principle leads us to subordinate the rule of law to self-love, and it lies in the fragility of human freedom to practice moral law. But it is legitimate to expect a triumph of the good principle. This victory is not possible outside of an organized human community, based on moral principles. The constitution of an “ethical community” is all that can free us from evil.
Perpetual Peace
“Perpetual Peace” is primarily the ultimate meaning of progress and history. It should also be the target of the political order.
Kant’s Philosophy of History
15. Kant stated in his booklet “Ideas for a Universal History in a Cosmopolitan Key” his concept of the philosophy of history. What are the three key features or aspects of this interpretation of history? When we look at human history, we realize that it is full of horror, madness, and evil. If history depended only on men, it would make no sense. Therefore, Kant believes it is necessary to assume a hidden agenda of Nature that leads human history to a “continuous progressive evolution of morality and reason.” The means that nature uses to develop reason and morality is the unsocial sociability of men. Kant believed that humans experience two trends: a tendency to live in society and a tendency to individualize and break from others. This tendency to impose oneself on others is the cause of the first steps from barbarism to culture, allowing us to excel continuously.
A perfect human society will not be possible until there is peace among states. Nature has placed mankind on the path to peace by showing that wars can only lead to catastrophe, destitution, and poverty for nations.
Kant on Just War and Pacifism
17. What is the Kantian position on just war? What is your bet? What did Kant think of armies? Kant rejects the just war theory and advocates for a legal commitment to pacifism. In other words, he tried to demonstrate that war is neither fair nor reasonable, and that the only sensible thing is to end violence forever.
The State of Nature
19. How do you define the state of nature? The state of nature is the condition in which humans existed before the state, law, and authority.
Hobbes’ State of Nature in “Leviathan”
20. What are the characteristics of the Hobbesian state of nature, as reflected in his “Leviathan”?
- Hobbes begins by considering a hypothetical situation in which there is neither a state nor a common authority.
- The situation in the State of Nature is described as follows:
- All human beings are equal and do not have any need to “be together.”
- All have the same natural right: every man is entitled to everything, without limitation, and natural right matches power.
- Driven by competition, insecurity, and glory, humans live in a permanent state of war of all against all.
- Therefore, there is no security, no industry, no crops, only misery.
- Even as there is no injustice, there is no law.
- It seems that if power is divided equally, chaos and war ensue.
Locke’s State of Nature in “Treatise on Civil Government”
22. What are the characteristics of the state of nature according to Locke, as described in his “Treatise on Civil Government”? In the state of nature, all human beings are free, equal, and independent. There is a right to property: life, liberty, and possessions (whose ownership is based on work). In addition, the law of nature requires mutual respect: contrary to what Hobbes said, there is no right “to all” based on self-power, and there is no war of all against all. Individuals, however, have the right to punish offenders of the laws of nature.
Transition from State of Nature to Civil State According to Locke
23. How does one change from the state of nature to reach the state of civilization, according to Locke? The civil state is created by a contract between humans to better protect property rights. The contract involves giving up certain rights, notably those to make laws and punish offenders. The supreme power is the legislative power, which includes the judiciary. The other power, subordinate to it, is the executive. Locke, therefore, proposed the separation of powers to limit the monarch and guarantee the rights and freedoms of the individual. Absolutism seems contradictory: the absolute monarch has no higher power of appeal; therefore, he lives in a state of nature and is not part of civil society. Another feature is that the transfer of rights is always revocable, and the two powers must always act in the public good and be controlled by citizens. Resistance to power is a right that is never relinquished. Locke is as wary of popular sovereignty as he is of the absolutism of the monarch.
Rousseau on the State of Nature and the Social Contract
25. “According to Rousseau, how do human beings live in the civil state? What solutions did Rousseau propose for this situation? Man is less happy, less free, and less good; therefore, we must reject the idea of “progress.” Humans lose their freedom, and inequalities arise when property rights and the authority to safeguard them are established. Differences emerge: rich-poor, powerful-weak, masters-slaves.
Rousseau’s proposal is the social contract: it creates the “general will,” which is not arbitrary or mistaken for the sum of the (selfish) wills of individuals. It is the will of the community and looks to the common good. To obey the general will is to obey oneself. The political system proposed by Rousseau is direct democracy and assembly, where the sovereign is the general will (there are no representatives), and power is indivisible.
Kant on the Social Contract
27. What impact does the Social Contract have, according to Kant, on leaving the state of nature and entering the civil state? The social contract involves the complete submission of individuals to an authority, which is what Kant thought about Hobbes. But at the same time, it assumes that the individual is a co-legislator, that is, that no law can be adopted without his consent and that, therefore, the ruler has to make laws as if they emanated from the general will, which brings Kant closer to the thought of Rousseau.
Kant’s Preliminary Articles for Perpetual Peace
29. Kant, in the first paragraph of his book “Toward Perpetual Peace,” outlines the preliminary articles or minimum conditions for states to achieve perpetual peace. What are the six articles?
- “No peace treaty that was entered into with the secret reservation of a matter for a future war shall be valid as such.”
- “No independently existing state (large or small, it does not matter) may be acquired by another through inheritance, exchange, purchase, or donation.”
- “Standing armies should, over time, disappear altogether.”
- “No public debt must be issued in respect of foreign policy,” because it is used for war and inevitably leads to state bankruptcy.
- “No state shall forcibly interfere in the constitution and government of another.” Especially when a state is in an internal struggle, “while this internal struggle is not determined, the interference of foreign powers would be a violation of the rights of an independent people fighting an internal disease (…).”
- “No state at war with another should allow hostilities of a type that would necessarily make mutual confidence impossible in a future peace, such as the employment in the other state of murderers, poisoners, breach of capitulation, incitement to treason, etc.”