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Critical Review - Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes


            In Hobbes' work, "Leviathan," the reader is informed of his ideas and theories on the creation of a city-state in which its people are freed from the "state of nature." Hobbes' state closely follows the idea of the "bourgeois man," we can see evidence of this in the way he describes the roles of the citizens within his state. While looking at the way Hobbes' constructs his theories, we can look at the question of whether or not his bourgeois theories are a means for a sustainable and prosperous society. There are many scholars who have published their theories on whether or not Hobbes' bourgeois mentality would be a viable means of structuring a city, many of which point out the flaws of Hobbes' work, while others have a more supportive view on Hobbes' bourgeois theories. .
             Those who are not in favor of Hobbes' bourgeois society, compare it closely to those societies that are built on the principles of capitalism, and the thought that such a society will inevitably collapse because of the structure it was built upon, as well as Hobbes' disregard for moderation in the pursuit of power by status or monetary gain in Leviathan. On the other side of the argument, we can look at Hobbes' advocacy of moderation in the bourgeois society, limiting competition between persons within the society and offering a vision of a civil commonwealth in which people are protected against those whom relentlessly seek power. .
             In C.B Macpherson's article, Hobbes' "Bourgeois Man," he argues that Hobbes' commonwealth puts an extreme emphasis on pride, or vainglory being among the most basic of individual drives that we hold has humans, and further dives into the idea that Hobbes' Commonwealth is a society that is based upon Commodity Fetishism or a society in which social relationships between citizens are solely based on production of the commodities and money created and exchanged in market trade, these are not relationships that are based on an actual person but the length to which a single person can contribute to increasing the amount of capital being generated in the market.


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