Locke, Hobbs, and Rousseau
...ly the case as he explains that he believes that if both parties follow social contract, then strict governmental obedience should be exhibited. Rousseau showed individuals that they had liberties because society agrees that everyone has such rights and liberties. Rousseau was the first person to explain this implied contract. John Locke’s main political beliefs are social contract, natural rights, government by consent, and right of evolution. Locke believed that, contrary to Rousseau, that primitive man was in a peaceful state of nature. He thought that every man must protect himself and that moral rights are essential. Locke began to develop his theory of private property by explaining that the right to property is natural and that a man should can go out and claim his own (his theories are explained in his famous book in the second of his Two Treatises on Government). Locke coined the phrase, “life, liberty, and estate.” The government must follow the moral rights inherent in individuals and in communities. Similar to Rousseau’s plan, a government can be dissolved by a violation in trust from the government in which case the people must create a new government. John Locke was the spokesman for the middle-class man. His genuine moral beliefs and keen intellect allowed him to be a successful philosopher. Thomas Hobbs deductively explores laws of nature. These laws are explained in his book, Leviathan, in which he compares the state of nature to a large person. Hobbs claims that every action has an ultimately self-serving purpose and while it may not seem like it, everyone wants to escape from the rest. Hobbs suggests that all humans are equal as the we...