Philosophical Ideas

The individual in society does not have absolute freedom, showing that something has been lost from the state of nature. Locke sees human beings as having agreed to give up certain rights and powers through some form of agreement. Society is thus formed when men cede certain powers to a central authority. Private property rights are to be protected by this state that has been created. Locke traces the concept of private property from the time when God gave the world to Adam and his posterity. Property for Locke seems to symbolize rights in concrete form, as something a human being can conceive of as distinguishable from him or herself even though they may be also seen as a pa

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behavior does not further the interests of the state. If the Prince must instill fear to make the government work and to accomplish his aims, Machiavelli accepts this need. Machiavelli would agree with Hobbes that humankind needs to be controlled, and both would see fear as one way of instituting such control. This is the reason why Hobbes believes the state was created--the social contract was intended to protect human beings from one another, and the state is the instrument of that protection. Fear of the state and its sanctions is a deterrent to activities that are deemed not to be socially desirable. Fear motivates people to do what is right for the state and to avoid doing what is wrong. 4. John Locke sees human nature as essentially good, and therefore he sees the social contract as a matter of choice based on a rational perception of self-interest and of the advantages that accrue from such an association. Locke refers to the state of nature, the prepolitical condition of humankind that existed prior to the social contract and the development of government, and Locke finds that even in the state of nature there were certain rights held by every person simply because they existed, those rights being life, liberty
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Approximate Word count = 1615
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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