Western Political Theory Social Sciences Essay Paper

WESTERN POLITICAL CULTURE
Name:
Course:
Date:
Western Political Culture
1 Social Contrast
Several philosophers contributed to the political culture of the western world. Among them were John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Rousseau, who concentrated on social contrast. Hobbes believed that human beings are destructive and needed a government to offer them security against themselves and others as well. He promoted dictatorship, stating that the government needed to fulfill its duties even if it has to use force. At the same time, Locke asserted that people are natural beings and have natural rights that no one can take away. However, he postulates that people can choose to give away some of their rights to a body of governance to be able to enjoy them even more. Rousseau, on the other hand, implies that freedom is a characteristic that is part of the human being not to give it away freely. He also adds that giving away certain rights such as the liberty to any government makes people become slaves to the government automatically. This paper focuses on John Locke’s philosophy of social contrast because of his view of humans as free natural beings.
John Locke
John Locke, who lived between 1932 and 1704, is a well-known figure in global society due to his untainted philosophy on social contrast. He claimed that human beings are naturally free beings and not under any form of rule or monarchy, as many other philosophers have argued. He added that in their natural state, humans have natural laws that they can obey to ensure order in society. These natural laws, unlike other acts such as state laws, apply to all people regardless of the place or time they may be living. The natural laws are also not based on the agreements or opinions that people may have about them. Another element of natural laws that Locke presents is that it can easily be known by applying reason; so that through logic, people can understand what is right and what is wrong.[Bërdufi, Nertil, and Desara Dushi. "Social contract and the governments legitimacy." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 6 S1 (2015): 392.] [Inoguchi, Takashi, and Lien Thi Quynh Le. "Toward modelling a global social contract: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke." Japanese Journal of Political Science 17, no. 3 (2016): 489-522.]
Locke also insisted that human beings have rights that are meant to make them live a comfortable life, which is naturally independent of any other law that society may form. These three fundamental rights are the right to life, the right to property, and the right to liberty. In his concepts of politics, Locke believed that humans were free beings, and as such, they did not need to be ruled or commanded by anyone. However, he insists that there is a system of social contrast that has bloomed in the society. In this system, people who are naturally free may choose to allocate some of their rights to the government as a representative who is to ensure that they live even more comfortable lives, and be able to enjoy their fundamental rights even better.[Bërdufi, Nertil, and Desara Dushi. "Social contract and the governments legitimacy." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 6 S1 (2015): 392.]
Locke, on the other han...