Hobbes Locke Rousseau Comparison Essay

These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to surrender).

These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to surrender).

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Hobbes borrowed a concept from English contract law: an implied agreement.

Hobbes asserted that the people agreed among themselves to “lay down” their natural rights of equality and freedom and give absolute power to a sovereign.

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| Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau on Government Starting in the 1600s, European philosophers began debating the question of who should govern a nation.

Less than 100 years after Locke wrote his Two Treatises of Government, Thomas Jefferson used his theory in writing the Declaration of Independence.

Although Locke spoke out for freedom of thought, speech, and religion, he believed property to be the most important natural right.In 1690, Locke published his Two Treatises of Government.He generally agreed with Hobbes about the brutality of the state of nature, which required a social contract to assure peace. First, Locke argued that natural rights such as life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up by individuals.For him, it was not just an agreement among the people, but between them and the sovereign (preferably a king).According to Locke, the natural rights of individuals limited the power of the king.Hobbes called this agreement the “social contract.” Hobbes believed that a government headed by a king was the best form that the sovereign could take.Placing all power in the hands of a king would mean more resolute and consistent exercise of political authority, Hobbes argued.The title of the book referred to a leviathan, a mythological, whale-like sea monster that devoured whole ships.Hobbes likened the leviathan to government, a powerful state created to impose order.Hobbes warned against the church meddling with the king’s government.He feared religion could become a source of civil war.