The Reflection of the Human Perspective on the Social Contract: A Hobbes and Locke-Centered Assessment

Views on the nature of people are reflected in the theory of the state. Those who think that human beings has a selfish and bad nature argue that the state should be more authoritarian. Those who think that human has a good nature have narrowed the area of intervention of the state in rights and freedoms. The unders- tanding of human is the basis of different approaches to the content of social cont- racts among social contract thinkers. In our study, the results of the approach to human in the theory of the state were investigated in the center of the social cont- ract understanding of Hobbes and Locke. The different approach between the ne- cessity, construction, content and results of social contracts is undoubtedly related to the answer given by thinkers to the question of what kind of state. The basis of the ideal state understanding is the idea of which state people deserve. It has been concluded that there is a connection between the treatment of people and the na- ture of the state.