Comparison of Social Contract Theories of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau

 Comparison of Social Contract Theories of  Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau

1. The State of Nature :

Principal works Leviathan (1651) : Man egoistic moved by fear, power glory political equality of all no question of right or wrong. Just or unjust war of all against all, life, nasty, brutish and short.

Civil government(1690) : A state of good will, mutual existence and preservation state of peace not war governed by law of nature but state became necessary to have one standard-ized interpretation of law of nature.

Social contract(1762) : Men in state of na-ture equal self suffi-cient and contended, lived life of idyllic, happiness man actu-ated by impulse and not reason, origin of property creates in-equality necessity of state.

2. Law of nature :

Principal works Leviathan (1651) : In state of nature there was no civil law, law of nature was regulative of human action, law of nature conceived differently by Hobbes to mean dif-ferent things on dif-ferent occasions i.e.(a) it was dicate of right reason for pres-ervation of life. (b)     It was based on prudence which dic-tated that everybody should try to secure peace by sacrificing natural right by convenants and it must be respected.

Civil government(1690) : Law of nature does not represent natural impulse but a moral law based upon rea-son to regulate hu-man conduct.

Social contract(1762) : Law of nature based on instinct sociabil-ity resulting from feeling and not from reason.

3. Natural Right :

Principal works Leviathan (1651) : Natural right depends upon ones

Civil government(1690) : Right inherent in man by nature; natural rights of man are to life, liberty and property.

Social contract(1762) : Man is free in the state of nature and enjoys all rights incidental to his person.

4. Social Contract

Principal works Leviathan (1651) : The individual gives up all his rights expect on ie right of defence and self preservation to a common sovereign, social contract creates a common wealth and a sovereign (one, few, or many) contract uni-lateral and not bind-ing on sovereign.

Civil government(1690) : Men enter into social contract that is create a state to have a common agency for  interpretation and execution of the law of nature. Individuals surrender some but not all the rights. Not clear whether locke an contract creates civil society or only gov-ernment. Govern-ment limited in au-thority and not abso-lute.

Social contract(1762) : State results from a contract between individuals in their personal capacity and individuals in their corporate capacity. A, B, C and D etc. in their individual capacity surrender all rights to A+B+C+D etc as a corporate whole.

5. Sovereignty

Principal works Leviathan (1651) : Hobbesian sovereignty is unlimited, indivisible, inalienable, absolute above law, source of law, justice, prop-erty above state and church has no right of revolution against sovereign.

Civil government(1690) : Locke does not conceive of a sovereign state. His govern-ment is limited to performance of its duties. The inherent right of man to life, liberty and property, represents a limita-tion on government. Locke conceives of popular and not le-gal sovereignty.

Social contract(1762) : The corporate whole that is people as a whole are sovereign. Thus Rousseau believes in popular sover-eignty. People are the legal sovereign. Sovereignty resides in the 'general will'of the people. The characteristics of this sovereignty are its unity, indi-viduality, perma-nencies, in alienabil-ity and its absolute and unrepresentable character. The gov-ernment is depen-dent on the sover-eign of the people.Rousseau distin-guish between the sovereign state and subordinate govern-ment.

6. Liberty :

In the state of nature liberty depends upon the state and is guaranteed by the state. It is a gift of the state and can be abrogated by the state. It cannot be quoted against the authority of the state.

A man has certain rights inherent in him ie rights to life, liberty and property which the state can-not deprive him of

In the civil state in-dividual liberty is a gift of the sovereign state. It must be rec-onciled with the ab-solute authority of the state and cannot be quoted against the same.

7. Individual and the state :

Principal works Leviathan (1651) : The Hobbesian in-dividual owes ev-erything i.e. rights peace and law to the state and is there-fore best in the state. He must obey the sovereign and pay taxes. Individual has some kind of liberty even in the civil state i.e. (a)        Liberty not to kill himself if asked to do so by the sov-ereign. (b)        Liberty to life which enables him to resist the sover-eign if the latter at-tacks his life. (c)      Liberty to refuse allegiance to a sovereign who cannot save his life or to a deposed sov-ereign.