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Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, And The Social Contract Theory

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Throughout history, many civilizations have had ideas on how to properly manage a society. These ideas go as far back as ancient Greece and the philosopher Socrates, but the most notable and widely accepted ideas on this come from the philosophers Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Their ideas about how a society should be run were known as social contract theories, and although their ideas were different, they all had a common theme that would shape today's definition of the social contract. A Social Contract is basically an agreement between the members of a society to work together for mutual benefit. All the philosophers deemed a social contrast necessary for a properly functioning society.
The English Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, lived through the English Civil War. This experience negatively influenced his perception of people, which shows in his theory. According to the video “Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau and the Social Contract Theory”, by Alex Y, Hobbes believed that all humans were inherently evil. His view of the state of nature is that it is “nasty, brutish, and short”. Hobbes thought that people were not fit to rule themselves, and that “having a bad king would be a lot better than having a war or revolution” (Alex Y). His ideal form of government was an absolute monarchy, because of his belief that humans are innately terrible. He thought that a king would be able to protect the people from themselves. Hobbes’ social contract theory was that

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