Thomas Hobbes and the Social Contract When analyzing the modern social contract theorists‚ one must take into account the conditions that the philosopher was living in while devising his social contract. Each theorist: Jean-Jacques Rousseau‚ John Locke and Thomas Hobbes all have the same idea but each has his theory rooted in very different beliefs. Rousseau formulated his theory in the middle of the French Enlightenment and the same theory breathed life into the intellectual basis for the French
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when there are no original ideas‚ new assertions of political dogma‚ or even a true declaration of independence contained in this brief document. In fact‚ most of the document itself seems to have been plagiarized‚ or at least pulled heavily from John Locke‚ enough that “Richard Henry Lee said the Declaration had been ‘copied from Locke’s treatise on government.” (Stephens 55) Why‚ then‚ is it considered to be the foundation on which American Democracy stands‚ and why did it effectively unify a burgeoning
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Rousseau’s Social Misunderstanding In The Social Contract‚ Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposes a utopian type social contract that all citizens are informally entered into. In this contract‚ Rousseau calls for the people to sacrifice their natural freedoms in order to receive a greater and more beneficial state of civil liberty. Civil liberty being the state of being subject to laws that are for the benefit of the community opposed to the individual. Rousseau claims that these sacrifices will result
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Rousseau’s The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract‚ or Principles of Political Right (1762) is an analysis of the contractual relationships which may be necessary for legitimate government‚ and is an explanation of how these relationships may combine principles of justice and utility. Rousseau argues that civil society is based on a contractual arrangement of rights and duties which applies equally to all people‚ whereby natural liberty is exchanged for civil liberty‚ and
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A person cannot talk about John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau first defining what each contract theorist means when he talks about the state of nature. For Locke‚ his state of nature involves “ungoverned humans pursuing their individual interests with respect for one another’s rights and even cooperate with one another with their interests overlap” (Portis‚ p. 103). These ungoverned humans are rational‚ resources are unconditional‚ and there is no threat from any external source. In Rousseau’s
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John Locke said that it is very important for society as well as a place for government to have a grasp and control on its people‚ by being able to us land and private property as limits toward various extents. For Marx‚ he was on the other hand very against
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The purpose of a Social Contract is to keep society in order. Ways of keeping society in order are human rights‚ the constitution‚ police departments‚ and education in which all contributes in having a progressing society. Human rights have to be protected which are the first 13 or 14 amendments that’s states people’s rights. If humans didn’t have any rights of their own we would feel enslaved due to that we have no freedom. The Constitution contains laws that every human being has to follow unless
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The two passages dealt with religious tolerance‚ each from a different perspective. The first passage‚ John Locke’s "A Letter Concerning Toleration" from 1689‚ was written from the viewpoint of a man under a king’s rule in England. The second passage‚ "The Blind Men and the Elephant‚" is a Buddhist parable. Locke’s reasoning for religious tolerance is all over the place. He first explains that no man has any right to enforce his beliefs on another man‚ stating that faith comes from within one’s
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govern themselves. With a “caring” and “fair” ruler they could be saved from the burden of their own judgement. In contrast‚ Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke‚ Baron De Montesquieu‚ Mary Wollstonecraft‚ and Jean-Jacques Rousseau thought that people were born pure and only were bad from the “corruption of society”‚ thus they should have a say in
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John Locke proposes that with the creation of private property (wealth) man is better off despite the inequality wealth creates. Prior to money or private property‚ man was just surviving on the earth worried about where to get food‚ shelter and water. However‚ with the creation of private property or wealth man is rewarded for his labor and has the means to obtain more readily those things he needs to live without waste so as not to offend the equality of man within nature. I agree with Locke that
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