Understanding of security in enlightenment age thinkers: a comparative analysis of the notion of security in Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau

This thesis deals with Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, who are important representatives of the Enlightenment Age, through a comparison of their contributions to and explanations of the notions of state and security and the solutions they offer regarding these notions. These three thinkers, who stand out among other social contract theorists, all regard the human need for security in the state of nature as the most important need to be satisfied, which, according to them, led to the building of social order and thus of the state apparatus. They believe this was how a structure emerged that provided humans with security. The significance of this study results from the impact these three thinkers have on current debates concerning state and security. In this regard, the security paradigms they propose influence contemporary approaches to security and contribute to the analyses of security that fall under these contemporary approaches. To conclude, a comparison of the solutions offered by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau to the problematic of security reveals that Hobbes discusses security around the issue of the security of the state, Locke instrumentalizes the state to argue that the security of the individual is primary, and Rousseau indicates that the security of the state needs to be provided for the security of property.