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Jean Jacques Rousseau Research Paper

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The year is 1647. War rages as parliamentarians and royalists battle for control of England. Thomas Hobbes lives in this world of chaos, violence, and fear. It is in this setting that he will write his most notable works and forever influence the world of philosophy. Fast forward to over a century later. It is 1762 and Europe is enjoying relative peace. Never before has mankind seen such a period of intellectualism, reason, and inquiry. It is here that Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Frenchman, will offer his take on man and his most basic of instincts. It is from these settings that we can see how environment influences man; one lived during one of the most violent times in history and the other lived in an age of reason and civility. One believes men are …show more content…
They have questioned the state of nature and the manner in which this affects government and sovereignty. Among these prominent thinkers was Thomas Hobbes, author of Leviathan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of The Social Contract. Both philosophers raised many brilliant questions, shedding light upon the fundamental manner in which we regard the realm of politics. Both dominant intellectual figures wrote these texts with the central aim to highlight the necessary conditions for the subsistence of a society and ideal governing body. While they share some perspectives, such as the idea that men are equal in their physical and mental abilities, their views differ on the state of nature, and by implication differ in the understanding of the foundations and legitimacy of the social contract and sovereignty. In order to comprehend the disparity between political thought, we must first understand a primary idea, the state of nature, and how each man defines it. Only then will we comprehend the execution of their ideas and the radical dissimilarity between Hobbes and

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