Sociology and Contractualism: a Critical Reading of Hobbes and Kant

Abstract

The present essay aims to establish a sociological criticism of the contractarianism theory.   This article focuses on the problematization of the philosophical and political contributions of two of the greatest exponent of natural laws: Thomas Hobbes and Immanuel Kant. In the first part, we analyze the concept related to the state of nature as a metaphor for the market society, developing Marx’s critic to the theoretical separation between State and civil society. Later, we consider the notion of social contract and its importance in legitimating the moral order. For  this purpose, we will go back to Emile Durkheim’s contributions to the concept of categorical imperative developed by Kant as well as to some critical aspects developed from the structuralism’s sociological point of view. Finally, we will attempt to determine the current validity of the contractual theory, both in its possibilities and in its explanatory limitations.