AMAMIHE Journal of Applied Philosophy

There have been different views and opinions regarding the state of nature. It was said to be unorganized, chaotic, pre-social, political and full of anarchy, and this makes men to abandon the state of nature for a civil society through the means of social contract. It was this social contract theory that Hobbes and Locke sets out to explicate in their social and political philosophy. The problematic divisions among Hobbes and Locke as to the nature of the social contract led to the comparative analysis between them and as such this work seeks to answer the following questions: does the social contract theory of Hobbes share any similarity with that of Locke? Did they differ or contrast at any point at all? Can it be said that the social contract theory according to the two philosophers under consideration is completely the same? The method of this research work shall be analytical. It was found that the social contract theory of Locke is more close to human values than that of Hobbes. In conclusion, this study recommends that the social contract theory of John Locke should be adopted and applied to the contemporary society because it is more democratic than that of Hobbes.

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