In the modern day and age, government has become increasingly important because of the availability of resources and the speed at which information can travel. The principles and ideals which the U.S. government is founded on, and even the ideas that the Founding Fathers expressed in their creation of our government, originate from the philosophies of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Without their brilliant thinking, America would not be as it is today – the pinnacle of democracy and freedom.
Hobbes was the first of the three thinkers to extend his ideas off of Machiavelli's Leviathan. He had the coarsest view of humanity among the three, most likely due to the fact that he developed his ideas in the midst of chaotic times of the English Civil War; he believed that humanity in a
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In the order of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, as time went on, the positive image of the government declined, and the negative image of humans in a state of nature became more positive. The reason that Locke’s philosophies are the most influential in democracies in today’s world is because his thinking was much more moderate than the extreme ideas of Hobbes and Rousseau; Hobbes believed humans were inherently evil and Rousseau believed humans were inherently good. Contrastingly, Locke believed that humans would fair well in a state of nature, but could utilize government as a source of order and benefit in life. In the end, their thoughts of the state of humans in a natural realm are what motivated their various thoughts about government. Although it is difficult to see what a human society would be like under complete anarchy, through the trials and errors of different countries and different political regimes, the philosophies of the different thinkers have shown their various benefits and