In the years that preceded the 1789 French Revolution, the period of the eighteenth and late seventeenth centuries was known in historical and philosophical terms as the Age of Enlightenment. While it is certainly true that this definition is not all encompassing or conclusive, the very name "Enlightenment" embodies the spirit of the time. In this, at least the way the age was conceived by both those living in it, and later historical evaluations of the era, one of the most predominant new ideas had to do with the very nature of humans, the way government should operate, and the way that government should relate to human nature.
In a sense, then, Europeans were sensing that they were living in a new age an age in which the past was termed a time of barbarism and intellectual and philosophical darkness. There was a new sense of progress, and an idea that all things were discoverable through the intellect using the tools of science and philosophy. Similarly, the Enlightenment changed the ideas about natural law and natural rights. With this came a greater spirit of individualism, and the idea that all things were possible for humans.
This paper will concentrate on social contract theory, and on the Enlightenment in the guise of three of its foremost writers and philosophers: John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes. The paper will concentrate on Locke's ideas on natural rights, Rousseau's social contract, and Hobbes' work on government and the human responsibilities of living in a society. Underlying the theses of each author will be the notion that these three thinkers were not only influenced by Enlightenment thought, but that they themselves acted to propel the notions of social contract theory and influence countless traditions of political and social thought.
John Locke was born in 1632 in England. He grew up during dramatic changes in the country, and during his early years witnessed a civil war, the...