1001Philosophers

Jean-Jacques Rousseau vs John Locke on Politics

Locke and Rousseau share the contractarian framework but disagree on the role of property and the proper form of political authority. Locke treats property in things one has labored on as a natural right that government exists chiefly to protect; legitimate political authority is limited and representative. Rousseau treats the introduction of private property as the origin of inequality and the corruption of natural humanity; legitimate authority is the general will of the citizen body acting on its own behalf. Locke's free citizen is the property-owning individual; Rousseau's is the participant in collective self-rule.

About this topic

Political philosophy investigates the basis and limits of political authority, the principles of just institutions, and the duties citizens owe one another. From Plato and Aristotle through Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx to twentieth-century theorists of liberalism, democracy, and critique, philosophers have asked how power should be organized and to what ends. The quotes below illustrate these long-running questions about freedom, equality, the state, and the common good.

For a side-by-side overview of the two philosophers more broadly, see the full Jean-Jacques Rousseau vs John Locke comparison. To browse philosophy more widely on this theme, see the Politics quotes hub.

Representative quotes on politics

Jean-Jacques Rousseau on politics

  • Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

    “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”

  • Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

    “The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.”

  • Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

    “Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.”

John Locke on politics

  • “Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”

    Second Treatise of Government , Ch. VI, sec. 57

  • “Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”

    Second Treatise of Government , Ch. VII. sec. 94

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