The Racial Contract Character Analysis

Charles W. Mills

Mills, a Caribbean social and political philosopher, is the author of The Racial Contract. Born in Jamaica, Mills received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of West Indies as well as a… read analysis of Charles W. Mills

Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes was the 17th-century English philosopher who first accounted for the origins of society through a social contract in his 1651 book Leviathan. He famously argued that people live “nasty, brutish, and short” lives… read analysis of Thomas Hobbes

John Locke

Locke was an influential 17th-century English philosopher and doctor who developed a theory of the social contract (the idea that people voluntarily form societies as a means of protecting their rights) in his Second Treatise… read analysis of John Locke

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau was an influential 18th-century Swiss-French philosopher who developed a democratic theory of the social contract. Famous for imagining people in the state of nature as “noble savages” and criticizing the inequalities that… read analysis of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Immanuel Kant

Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher who is widely considered the founder of modern philosophy. He argued that an ethical community must be based on people recognizing their mutual rationality and therefore their inherent equality… read analysis of Immanuel Kant

Minor Characters

Jules Harmand

Harmand was a French theorist. In the early 20th century, he defended European colonialism based on the racist assumption that white people are inherently superior to non-white people.

The Racial Contract Characters

Charles W. Mills

Thomas Hobbes

John Locke

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Immanuel Kant