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and freedom were not new ideas. Many political theorists such as Thomas Hobbes and

John Locke had already developed their own interpretations of liberty, and in fact Locke

had already published his views on the social contract. What Rousseau did was to

revolutionize the concepts encompassed by such weighty words, and introduce us to

another approach to the social contract dilemma. What would bring man to leave the state

of nature, and enter into an organized society? Liberals believed it was the guarantee of

protection - liberty to them signified being free from harm towards one's property.

Rousseau's notion of freedom was completely different than that of traditional liberals. To

him, liberty meant a voice, and participation. It wasn't enough to be simply protected

under the shield of a sovereign, Rousseau believed that to elevate ourselves out of the

state of nature, man must participate in the process of being the sovereign that provided

The differences between Rousseau's theories and those of the liberals of his time,

begin with different interpretations of the state of nature. Thomas Hobbes described the

state of nature as an unsafe place, where the threat of harm to one's property was always

the its interests to conflict with the priorities of the citizens, since this would be doing

enslavement would control his every action. From this dismal setting, Hobbes proposed

that all members of the society must take an active role in the sovereign, and here it is

be more intelligent and introspective, when it serves the argument to do so.

law is to attend to his own preservation, his first cares are those he owes himself"(5) , the

contain some holes which limit the existence of such a society. Rousseau does little to

that morals could be developed only in an environment in which people related to and

described by Rousseau, this "advantage" would not be abundantly obvious. In a world in

of nature where "Living in this happy savagery men enjoyed substantial equality; there

Rousseau mentions the most basic form of a society as being the family, yet even a family

in 18th century Europe. This becomes clear in the first line of his discourse: "Man was/is

would give up their individual powers in return for a new kind of equality and a new kind

Approximate Word count = 1781
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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