Thomas Hobbes believed that in a state of nature, life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short due to people's natural inclination towards violence and self-interest. To escape this, individuals must surrender their freedom to an absolute sovereign who maintains order and security through rule of law. John Locke believed that individuals are born free and equal, and have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. To protect these rights, people form civil societies and establish limited governments. Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that while humans are naturally good, the development of private property and unequal social structures have corrupted human nature and increased inequality. He advocated for direct democracy with elected representatives to balance the

1. PHILOSOPHERSCAILEIGH BROATCHSEPTEMBER 24 2010

2. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)Thomas Hobbes believed that nature is characterized by fear, violence, and danger. These are the characteristics of extreme individualism, where people are look out for only themselves. He rejects free will in favor of determinism, a determinism which treats freedom as being able to do what one desires. His main concern is the problem of social and supporting order: how human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict.The war between the King and the Parliament bought realizations when a republic was formed. A strict Puritan (a belief that the Church of England was too tolerant with Catholic Church and the English Reformation should have been able to go father and that the English people were to tolerant with Catholics) with the whose government tyrannized the people and brutally punished anyone who said anything about disagreeing. Hobbes believed that in war there is no growth for culture, industry or society. Therefore, he did not believe that it was possible for freedom and security.He believed that a individual should give up his or her freedom for security.Because the security of individuals – individual sovereignty- central authority. The Leviathan. The Leviathan is the most complete expression of Hobbes's philosophy. It begins with a clearly materialistic account of human nature and knowledge, a rigidly deterministic account of human preference, and a negative vision of the natural state of human beings in ever-lasting struggle against each other. It is to escape this grim fate, Hobbes argued, that we form the commonwealth, surrendering our individual powers to the authority of an absolute sovereign. For Hobbes, then, individual respect to even an chance government is necessary in order to forestall the greater ‘evil’ of an endless state of war.

3. John Locke (1632-1704)John Locke was widely known for his time in history when he was ‘the Father of Liberalism’ Rational, intelligent and reasonable people had power, individuals needed to be reasonable and rational to have any sort of power. Government action had to be justified and they protect life, liberty and property. He assumed that the sole right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people established a civil society to resolve conflicts in a civil way with help from government in a state of society. People had to give up natural state of freedom to enter a civil society.Inalienable rights that society should be a community of political equals – who respect each other equally. Many people today call these ways modern democracy that is rationalizedLocke was the first to believe in the concept of consciousness, he proposed that the mind was a blank slate when you were born, and it was your duty to fill it. He believed that knowledge is instead determined only by experience. He liked to believe that in the future, humans would unite and create a single nation, because humans depend on one another.

4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)Jean –Jacques Rousseau believed in common good; that humans were naturally free and equal in principal. As well that society was greater than a single individual. According to Rousseau by joining together, civil society should be able to abandon their claims of right, and still stay free and individuals.Private property and ownership led to jealousy and corruption. As society developed, division of labor and private property required for the human race to adopt laws. Man is prone to be in competition with his fellow men, and yet, he will still depend on them for survival. Rousseau believed that the governments achieved more power because of the growing knowledge and the smothering of individual liberty. He proposed that material progress had damaged the possibility of bondage between individuals and replaced it with jealousy(ownership), fear and suspicion; all in forced by the governments tight reign. Rousseau believes in representative democracy, and that a small group of politics should be elected by a larger group of citizens.Human Bering are left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation. Rousseau thought society was greater than the individual. Through the individual's involvement in society, one could succeed. He believed that humans were rational (like Locke) and believed in a state of nature. Now, a state of nature is the imaginative idea of a world without government. We would still have a modern society but not an government. With that in mind, Rousseau believed human beings would be rational and run society for the greater good if a state of nature existed.