The contractualists concerned: Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau

Abstract

This is an analysis about the pioneering authors of contractualism. Therefore, this article is divided into a few sections: the first aims to make an introduction to the topic exploring the set of elements that constitute the modern state, intending still make a brief distinction between the theory of naturalistic and contractualists. The second is a retelling of the Hobbesian theory of the passage of the state of nature to civil society, where there is the “domestication” of man’s nature. In the third section, which is at issue is the theory of liberal John Locke, who has on private property and freedom at the heart of the social contract. In the fourth and ultimate section works the theory of the social contract of Rousseau, which is one of the most significant and influential authors in political theory and major influencer of the French Revolution.