Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is the State of Nature, according to Hobbes?
One of fear and selfishness, life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short; People are at war.
Why do men engage in the Social Contract, according to Hobbes?
They have a natural desire for security, order, and self-preservation, thus resulting in them voluntarily surrendering all their rights and freedoms to some authority to protect and preserve their lives.
What is Hobbes’ form of social contract?
Monarchy
What is the State of Nature, according to Locke?
State of peace, goodwill, mutual assistance, and preservation. Men had all the rights which nature could give them, therefore it is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one’s life as one best sees fit.
Why do men enter the Social Contract, according to Locke?
Because of the insecurity of property in the state of nature stemming from:
1. The absence of established law
2. The absence of an impartial judge.
3. The absence of natural power to execute natural laws.
For Locke, what is the form of the Social Contract and what is its purpose?
Form: Civil society
Purpose: To uphold and protect the natural rights of men through valid and binding laws.
What is the State of Nature, according to Rousseau?
State where people are all equal and noble savages.
What is the form and purpose of the government, according to Rousseau?
Form: Constitutional Government
Purpose: To properly enact the general will or the surrender of rights not to a single individual but to the community as a whole.
Why did there stem a need to enter the Social Contract, according to Rousseau?
The invention of private property led to a state characterized by greed, competition, vanity, inequality, and vice. Along with this, the creation of modern civilization led to the loss of the original freedom, happiness, equality, and liberty existing in primitive societies.
