ABSTRACT
Where existing forms of authority – kingship, tradition, and religion – came increasingly to be challenged in modernity, new forms of legitimation were sought. Most prominent amongst these were the social contract theories of the 17th and 18th centuries. This chapter introduces the major themes they developed – individualism, consent, equality, and rationality – through looking at the different interpretations given to these in the work of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant. Questions about legitimacy of the state, the meaning of sovereignty, and the role of natural and property rights, were engaged in by these authors in ways that came to be of more than just theoretical interest. Many of their ideas influenced the revolutionaries in 18th century America and France and have had an enduring impact in legal and political thought since then.
