A Comparatve Analysis of John Locke and Jean Jacques Roussea

John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau

Few philosophers in the history of early Western Europe spanning the 17th and 18th centuries have had as great an impact on world governments as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The two philosophers, despite having very different views, have both inspired fledgling governments and have brought about revolutions.

Locke believes there is a natural law, a moral principle that is inherent in the root of human nature. This law is like the law of gravity: it is there whether you recognize it or not. Humans, being basically good by nature, are born equal and free, with out the ties of government. Because humans were essentially good, there was no need of a government. However, during the course of time, the human’s need for the benefits of civility became necessary. It is at this point that people agree to “quit” the state of nature, and thereby give up their absolute freedom. Locke focuses mainly on the lack of any natural moral authority of one person over another. No one is born master, or captain, or chief, of any other man. Locke believed laws should be made drawing from the collective wisdom of t

Like Locke, Rousseau states that humans, when primitives, lived solitary and simply for their desires: food, sleep, and sex. Rousseau describes man in the state of nature as "an animal less strong than some, less agile than others, but all in all, the most advantageously organized of all. I see him satisfying his hunger under an oak tree, quenching his thirst at the first stream, finding his bed at the foot of the same tree that supplied his meal, and thus all his needs are satisfied."

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