Political Philosophy is essentially the philosophy of how to arrange our political institutions such as our economic systems or social practices. This philosophy questions our governments and the nature and legitimacy of their practices. The most notable political philosophers include Karl Marx, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jaques Rousseau, Plato, Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche (one of my favorites), and so many more.

Here is a brief overview of all of these philosophers:

Before I start I would like to note that these philosophers explore many different philosophical subjects as they are all interconnected, but since this blog is about political philosophy, I will only be talking about their philosophies of politics.

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Karl Marx:

Marx is most famous for co-writing (with Friedrich Engels) “The Communist Manifesto”, he is what many people call the father of communism, which is a political system derived from socialism. Marx’s main influences include many German Idealists such as Hegel, Fichte, and Kant (which I will talk about in a later article about German idealism). Marx focused a lot on class struggle and his main point in the communist manifesto was that he believed we should eliminate classes, no more “bourgeoise” and “proletariat”. He believed this could only be accomplished with a revolution, where the proletariat (working class) rebels against the bourgeoisie (upper class). After the revolution, the workers would control the factors of production. Many people critique this theory as being too idealistic and an impossible Utopia that goes against the human nature of being selfish. Marx did however believe that capitalism is needed to achieve communism. Essentially, in order for communism to work, the working class must rebel, but the only way for the working class to rebel is for them to be oppressed under capitalism. Marx believed capitalism is a system that alienates people (Das Capital is his book on capitalism) because workers produce for the market but market forces control those goods and services produced and not the workers themselves. Most of his other critiques of capitalism root in this same issue. Many derivatives of communism came after Marxism, most notably Leninism in Soviet Russia, which famously failed and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Pretty much every state that has attempted communism has failed which is why it has become such a frowned-upon political system, but it is important to note that no society has yet to try out pure Marxism.

 

John Locke:

Locke famously refuted monarchy and the "divine right" of kings in the 17th century. His three main pillars, put simply, are life, liberty, and property. Locke believed those were the three basic rights anyone should have and that any leader that failed to protect those rights should be removed by the people. He is also the founder of British Empiricism which is a school of thought that claims that all human knowledge is based on experience and therefore rejects innate knowledge. In a more political sense, this ideology is used to judge political systems and decisions through impartial observation, meaning that they should be deemed legitimate to the extent of their observational evidence. For example, an Empiricist would claim communism to be an illegitimate political system as it has continuously failed in countries that adopt it.

 

Thomas Hobbes:

Hobbes is a famous absolutist; he believed governments should be authoritarian and effective in order to avoid civil war. Therefore governments should have absolute undivided power. The reason for this is because he describes human nature as the desire to preserve their lives and assets above anything else, because of this humans fear violence. He also believed that humans have no innate moral compass, and develop a sense of right or wrong with a strict set of rules telling what is right versus wrong.  Therefore, according to Hobbes, an authoritarian government, if effective, prevents violence in the case of wars, especially civil wars and creates strict moral compasses for all humans to follow. This theory on human nature is called "Hobbesian psychology". His most famous work "Leviathan: or The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil" (most people just call it Leviathan), published in 1651 talks about this philosophy. Leviathan is one of the most important and influential philosophical texts in politics. One of the key takeaways of Hobbesian psychology is the fact that this natural human state is an anarchy where power dominates and most people live in poverty and sad lives, which is why he believes humans' strongest desire is the preservation of their lives and assets. This school of thought has justified authoritarian governments in the name of safety. In Hobbes' point of view, liberty should be sacrificed for safety. However Hobbes also believed that even if a government's power is absolute, everyone should have equal rights. Therefore another reason an authoritative government is so important to Hobbes is that human nature is so "power hungry" and humans seek glory, therefore a strong government is needed to prevent that and to assure equal rights for everyone that cannot be taken away by things like civil wars. Therefore Hobbes is to thank for many of the rights we have today and is a great influence on governments and the importance of a centralized government. Although most governments today are not absolute, many take away from Hobbesian psychology that centralized, and effective governments are crucial to a functioning society in order to fight anarchic human nature.