Comparing Hobbes, Locke, And Jaques Rousseau

During their lives, three philosophers, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jaques Rousseau, put forward their thoughts on the human race. In some of their works, they specifically wrote about their beliefs on how the human race behaves without the presence or influence of politics, and also why and how we enter into political society. This non-societal behaviour occurs in what is known as the “State of Nature”, and this entering into political society is known as a ‘social contract’. Each of the three philosophers account the State of Nature differently, and these accounts therefore reveal different elements about their respective theories of human nature, and why we enter into the social contract. Three key works that reflect the beliefs of each philosopher are Hobbes’ Leviathan, Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, and Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origins of Inequality. Hobbes’ Leviathan preceded the others, and set the groundwork on which Locke and Rousseau were able to build their ideologies from.

Hobbes was the first of the three philosophers to put forward the idea of a social contract as the basis of government. A social contract is specifically “an implicit agreement among individuals to create and respect the apparatus of law, in exchange for certain benefits” (H. Hamilton-Bleakley, Oct. 29, Lecture). In other words, individuals agree to give up parts of their power to a political sovereign in exchange for benefits like safety and political stability. During Hobbes’ time, when the Protestant Reformation was occurring, this political stability was a main concern, which prompted Hobbes start thinking about society, raising questions as to what life was like before civil society, and what reasons there were for entering into a political organization. Throughout Leviathan, Hobbes tackles these questions