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Below you will find general biographical and historical information about the varoius philosophers
you have to choose from. Read ALL of the information on this page so that you may choose a philosopher that truly interests you and so that you fully understand Social Contract theory. After you choose a philosopher, proceed to the "Philosophers" page in order to examine a major work that the philosopher you chose wrote.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Hobbes continued with the Filmerian tradition by arguing that a distinct relationship exists between the state and the family, that in essence the family is the state writ small. To Hobbes, as with Robert Filmer, who wrote in the late sixteenth century, husbands rule their homes like minature monarchs; their power is absolute. According to this theory, if subjects have the right to rebel against their monarch, then women and children would have the same right to rebel against their husbands and parents, respectively. The Roundheads could never offer an argument that effectively challenged this assertion. It would take another philosopher, John Locke, to finally be able to break the assumed relationship between state and family, thus allowing for the subjects' right to rebel.
  Background Information for Thomas Hobbes:
Thomas Hobbes wrote LEVIATHAN during a time of political turmoil in England. During the 1640's England experienced a Civil War between Royalists, those that supported the king, and Roundheads, those that suppported Parliament. The English Civil War resulted in England's king, Charles I, a Stuart, losing his head and England being ruled by Parliament, under Oliver Cromwell, from 1649 through 1660 (note, however, that Cromwell died in 1658). This period (1649-1660) is known as the Interregnum and ended when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. It was during the Interregnum that Hobbes wrote LEVIATHAN in order to argue the need for absolute government. Hobbes had not been in favor of the Parliament's seizing of power and felt that the chaos brought about by the civil war was too destructive and unsettling. In order to defend his position, Hobbes uses his understanding of man's existence in the State of Nature and Social Contract theory, making him the first philosopher to examine these themes in any great detail. The State of Nature is man's existence in an environment without any government. Due to a variety of reasons, primarily dependent on which philosopher is examining man's state in this environment, man will enter into a social contract; this is the creation of government. Government derives its power from the people; however, according to Hobbes that power is absolute and cannot be overthrown. If you choose Hobbes you will read excerpts from LEVIATHAN. Before reading the excerpts, however, you may wish to think about what the title of the work reveals about Hobbes' poltical views. You may wish to examine the Book of Job in the Bible, Chapters 40 and 41.

Background Information for John Locke:
John Locke, like Hobbes, was a Social Contract theorist (see Hobbes above). However, unlike Hobbes, who believed in absolute government, Locke beleived that rebellion was justified in certain cases. Locke wrote, again like Hobbes, at a time of political strife in England. After being out of power for eleven years (1649-1660), the Stuarts regained the throne in 1660 when Charles II returned from France and was crowned king. After Charles' death in 1685, his brother James II became king of England. Due to James II's pro-Catholic leanings and his policies toward Parliament, certain factions in England invited James II's daughter, Mary, and her husband William to come to England and seize the throne. This occurred in 1688 which ushered in the "Glorious Revolution." James II fled to France and William and Mary became king and queen of England, the only dual monarchy in England's history. The debate in England, however, over whether or not subjects could rebel against the government was still unresolved. In response to this debate, John Locke wrote "Second Treatise on Government." In this work, Locke re-examines the State of Nature and the Social Contract. He concludes, unlike Hobbes, that when government fails to protect certain natural rights, the subjects have a right to rebel against the government. If you choose Locke for this assignment, you will read excerpts from his "Second Treatise." Keep in mind that ultimately this work is a defense of the right to rebel; it had a significant impact on Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Background Information for Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
Rousseau was a French philosophe writing during the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in Western Europe, and its colonies, during the eighteenth century. Reason was the driving force behind the Enlightenment as philosophers began to assert man's ability to use reason in order to find scientific laws and principles that guide man and society. The Enlightenment was a natural evolution of the Age of Science that was a part of the seventeenth century as philosophers extended their understanding of science and applied it to man and institutions (social, political, and economic) established by man. An important result of the Enlightenment was the rise of Classical Liberalism: the belief in written constitutions, natural rights of the individual, limited government, a free market economy, and the people's consent to be governed. Such beliefs feuled the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799) and provided a political ideology antithetical to the dominant political structure at the time, and through the nineteenth century: monarchy. Classical Liberalism also served as the antithesis to Fascism, during the 1920's and through World War II (1939-1945), and Communism during the Cold War (ca. 1945-1991). Rousseau's writings reflect many of the principles of both the Enlightenment and Classical Liberalism as he turns to reason in order to "scientifically" examine man's nature and the institutions that man is part of and particiaptes within. If you choose Rousseau you will read excerpts from THE SOCIAL CONTRACT. You will want to keep in mind that Rousseau views man in a better way than do Machiavelli, Hobbes, and even Locke. Try to examine how his different views about man's nature affect the way man behaves in the State of Nature, why man enters into a social contract, and how man is best governed.


John Locke (1632-1704)
John Locke was able to do what the Roundheads were unable to do during the English Civil War (1640's); Locke successfully defended the right to rebel. He was successful primarily because he broke from the Filmerian/Hobbesian tradition of claiming that the state and family were intricately linked. Such a connection made it difficult for the Roundheads to justify their civil war because if the family is a microcosm of the state, then reason dictates that if subjects have a right to rebel then women and children have the same right to rebel against their husbands and parents, respectively; this was something the Roundheads could not accept. Locke is the first theorist to break the connection between state and family. By arguing that the state and the family are not related, he is able to justify the right to rebel against government without advocating the same right for women and children. Locke does, however, admit that in some cases women do have the right to rebel against their husbands, especially if thier lives are threatened.


Jean-Jacque Rousseau (1712-1778)
Rousseau makes a clear break with Hobbes and Locke in that he views man as being inherently good. To Rousseau, man naturally wants to help his fellow man. Such a view leads Rousseau to construct a vastly different existence for man in the state of nature and a different motivation for man to enter into a social contract.