How Did The Ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Compare To Those of John Locke?

Updated: March 19, 2023
The ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau were similar to those of John Locke in that they were both based on the belief that people are born free and equal.
Detailed answer:

In the late 18th century, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau both wrote about the nature of government and how it should be structured. Locke believed that people were born free and equal, and therefore governments should be based on this natural law. Rousseau also agreed that government was formed to protect the rights of individuals. However, he believed that people were born with different levels of ability, which meant some people were better leaders than others.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke both believed in the idea of natural rights. They both based their arguments on the belief that people are born free and equal.

The main difference between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke is that while Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humans are naturally good, John Locke believed that humans are naturally selfish.

Rousseau was a French philosopher who argued that people were born good and could be corrupted by society. He believed that all humans had certain natural rights, including life, liberty and property (private property). However, he did not believe that everyone should have equal access to these rights; instead, he believed in a form of government where the rich ruled over the poor but everyone had the same basic rights.

John Locke was an English philosopher who argued against Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas about natural rights. He believed that people were born selfish and needed to be taught how to behave morally through education. He also argued against private property as enshrined in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy since it gave too much power to landowners and aristocrats who already had enough money anyway.

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