Social contract

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John Locke 's Social Contract : Managing Conflicting Interests in the Society

Social contract theorists have always attempted to resolve the problem of conflicting interests and desires within the community . The social contracts developed by Hobbes , Locke , Rousseau , and their contemporaries are all expressions of the attempts to reconcile individual differences among people by entering into some sort of contract that will promote the common good . Locke tries to reconcile these conflicts of interests and desires in his Two Treatises of Government . Locke accomplishes

this first by defining the state of nature man finds himself in , and then demonstrating how and for what reason men abandon that state of nature and enter into a social contract

Contrary to the absolutist position of Hobbes , Locke asserts that the State of Nature , the natural condition of mankind , is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one 's life as one best sees fit free from the interference of others (qtd . in Wotton 312 ) where the law of nature keeps everything at peace . This perfect and complete liberty which allows man to pursue his personal interests and plans free from the interference or influence of others has its dangers and creates a problem . As Locke put it

If man in the state of nature be so free .if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions , equal to the greatest , and subject to no body , why will he part with his freedom .though in the state...