Which Social Contract Related Ideas of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are Applicable and Valid Today and Why?
Introduction
Social contract is one of the famous enlightenment ideas discussed in the branch of philosophy. Despite the existence of different versions of social contract theory, there are three most-known revolutionary theorists – Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau – whose ideas about social contract have influenced the political settings of most modern societies. At its core, social contract theory addressed two main questions: a) how and why did humans decide to establish states?; b) how much power should the state be allowed to exercise over the citizens? (Gauthier, 1977). Even though Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau have presented a similar answer to the first question, they have contradicting perspectives while answering the second question. Hereby, this paper aims at presenting a systematical explanation of how Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau defined the social contract theory and how their ideas have influenced the political settings of modern societies.
