Here we look at the Social Contract theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Social Contract theories look at what the relationship between people and their government should be. Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau base this on their views on life in the state of nature. Is it nasty, brutish, and short like Hobbes believed? Or are people born with a Tablua Rasa as envisioned by John Locke and therefore, the social contract should aim to protect people's life, liberty, and property. Rousseau, on the other hand felt that people are born good, but society corrupts - so if you strip away society, people can live collectively in harmony, as envisioned in his social contract theory.

Sources:

Noesgaard, D., Yoshida, D., Colless, R., Phui, L., & Fielding, J. (2010). Understandings of ideologies. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Image sources:​

March of Peace, By Dhārmikatva - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31621666 ​

Speed Limit, Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash ​

Library, Photo by j zamora on Unsplash​

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