The concept of liberty has been explored and defined by political theorists for centuries. Two such political thinkers are John Locke, who wrote Two Treatise of Government, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote The Social Contract. Locke and Rousseau have both similar and different ideas on how society should be constructed and how liberties should be granted or protected. Locke, for example, sees property as man's labor and should be secured while Rousseau views property more negatively, blaming it for the cause of men to leave his perfect State of Nature. Their view of the human character influences their perception of liberty and the creation of a government from the State of Nature. Rousseau has a more optimistic view of human nature when compared to Locke. Their approaches to the view of liberty determine their ideas of what a State of Nature and a Social Contract constitutes, since Locke believed in defending negative liberties while Rousseau wanted to protect positive......
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Approximate Word Count: 1352
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |