Essay Example on Rousseau and Hobbes: Life Perspectives in a Modern Society

Rousseau perspective and view of life is more realistic in a way that he addresses life from a perspective in which he explains how life is at the moment and more so the grace and livelihood that humans would have enjoyed in the society if mot being infiltrated by the constructs of civilization. His philosophy explains from a reactionary and reactive stand on how modernity and society has changed the way human coexist in different setups. Hobbes view of life is grim in a way that he majorly relates human actions to war and conflicts amongst themselves as each and every individual aim to establish or attain superiority, power and influence in the society. Rousseau's view explains how pre-civilization entailed noble men that focused on individual progress and happiness amongst themselves before the negative influence civilization corrupted mankind. This is true in a way as with time as each region, country or state continued to grow in size and power, subsequent rulers became corrupted with the idea that they can rule or take over other regions hence prompting war in different parts of the world. This clearly shows how Rousseau highlights the major role civilization played in corrupted human nature and motifs.

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Rousseau is not entirely simplistic in his ideas in Discourse of Inequality as we get to see how man has evolved and more so used civilization to vary in opinions, languages, personalities and even property. We get to see that the subsequent growth in individuals eventually led to formation of classes in the society as individuals started to be judged on what they have and what property they own hence leading to the eventual inequality amongst populations. The normal simple man did not have to worry about growth as he focused on things that completed his day such as food, rest and sex. Other elements such as hunger and pain were the only evils around this naive and simple constructs but we time we get to see how civilization revolutionized livelihoods in a way that individuals became obsessed with owning property hence leading to the disparity in the society as the rich and poor were able to be distinguished depending on what one owns. This led to individuals working for others specifically the poor were hired to work for the rich in order to earn a living and to be able to survive in the modern world. Rousseau's concept on inequality is more than simple as he enables readers to understand the history of mankind and more so how humans evolved overtime to coexist in a society that is divided and defined based on what property one possesses in the community.

Marx is too much of a utopian as he majorly focuses on ideologies that he believes can help overthrow the supreme rulers and bourgeois influence in the society in order to maintain fairness and stability. He believes the minority in the society which he refers to them as proletariat should take opportunities and claim power and use the respective influence they obtain to counter the wealthy members in the society into giving up their consequent influence and ownership of facilities that serve the production purposes of the respective state such as factories, hospitals, agricultural land and heavy machinery. Revoking of such privileges to only leave these respective class of individuals to manage private property is difficult to achieve and establish as these members control different sectors that guarantee they remain in power. Institutions such as media houses, political seats and electoral positions jeopardizes this idea of countering the bourgeois as the proletariat find it hard to claim their way to the top as some of their leaders are usually engulfed to join the bourgeois through schemes such as bribes or oppression by other executive forces in the political and electoral system.

Marx's violent revolution may not damage the vision laid out by the Manifesto as the proletariat may find themselves powerless when opting to use democratic policies and methods to overthrow the supreme rulers. The fact that the bourgeois are influential, they are more likely to bribe anybody that tries to overthrow them hence systems that are expected to be reliable such as referendums and electoral offices may be untrue to their intended purposes as officials such as judges can easily be bribed to jeopardize the whole system of revolution through democracy. The Manifesto focuses on overthrowing the bourgeois' influence in the political constructs existing in different states hence it is quite clear that the set channels by the government which are deemed as appropriate channels for citizens and individuals to be heard may not be effective as the proletariat may not achieve their goals and targets. Despite being able to win some elections, leaders from the lower class may still stand out to being powerless in major situations as he or she will be confined to rule and operate on terms that does not affect or challenge the bourgeois' influence in the society. One may fail to have total control of chambers or parliamentary seats as the bourgeois may still infiltrate their way through bribes hence making the rule of such leaders to be difficult as they may remain objected in specific policies and bills that they try to pass. Hence the need for violent revolution may be the better option as such actions may result in total change of power hence enabling reputable change in the society.

Mill is too much of an idealist as the realization of individualism and rights are increasingly difficult to attain the modern-day society as more individuals are obsessed with working to accumulate individual property and more so making decisions that majorly benefits his or her cause. This is because the fact that the world is growing into a hostile terrain in a way that many individuals feel that the government may not do much to properly satisfy their respective needs hence one needs to step up and make selfish decisions that majorly focuses on improving the livelihood of their families if not the people around them. This clearly shows how difficult it is for Mill's principles to properly come into full effect in the modern society as more individuals continue to believe that if one does not take care of him or herself, you will be more likely to find it hard to adequately survive in the current society. The fact that also rights are also being addressed into most of the limelight and platforms also addresses this concern as we get to see individuals only defend specific rights that only benefits their course. A case example of gay rights campaigns is majorly supported by gay members in the society as those individuals that feel those rights does not benefit them in any way avoid such situations and activism.

Conclusion

The human nature and state have been molded over time to sustain and benefit respective individuals in the society. The modern human is more likely to support courses that benefit their respective ideologies and strive for independence. Hence, we get to see how philosophers and scholars have enabled individuals to understand the evolution and development overtime in the human nature as we strive to coexist and survive in respective communities.