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Hobbes was only one of several...

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Enlightenment thinkers, who the Founding Fathers...

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were crushing on, like...

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how about two dudes named John Locke...

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and Jean Jacque Rousseau.

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Both of these guys not only helped to inspire the...

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creation of the U.S.A, but also...

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to inspire the names of characters...

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on Lost.

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Which one is a greater honor?

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We're still not quite sure.

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Let's start with Locke. He had his own...

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take on the state of nature thing that...

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wasn't nearly as cynical as Hobbe's idea.

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In fact, Locke thought that the state of nature...

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was a pretty okay place because, at the heart...

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of things, human beings were pretty decent.

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While Hobbes thought of the state of nature as...

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something like The Hunger Games,

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Locke viewed it more like the...

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Huggy Happy Land.

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Locke thought all people were born equal,

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and he called general human decency...

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the law of nature.

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He said this law was instilled in us by...

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by God and that we all just naturally...

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know it. According to the law, you don't...

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mess around with other people's lives,

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health, liberty, or possessions...

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especially their Eggos, but seriously.

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Don't get us wrong though,

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Locke wasn't totally naive. Even though,

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he thought we were all good sharers at heart,

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he didn't deny that conflicts do come up, especially when...

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it comes to private property.

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If fighting breaks out among two people over property,

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it gets out of hand really fast, like a game of tug of war.

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According to Locke, people decide to give...

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up a few freedoms and come together in a...

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society and government in order to protect...

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their private property and their rights.

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If people don't treat other according to the law of nature,

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it's the government's job to protect our natural rights...

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to life, liberty, and property.

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Doesn't that sound familiar?

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Locke also pointed out that if a government...

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fails to protect people's natural right...

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the people have every right to rebel.

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Of course, this would mean a return to the state of nature...

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until the people can cook up something new.

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For Locke, that's not such a bad thing.

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Another great thinker, Jean Jacque Rousseau, agreed in...

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some ways with Locke's idea that the state of nature...

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was pretty sweet.

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Rousseau saw it as a state of peace...

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and harmony where nature provided...

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more than enough for everyone and competition...

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was unnecessary.

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Why fight a guy for a banana if...

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there were plenty of other bananas around?

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Unless you're a jerk.

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Well according to Rousseau, the trouble...

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started as populations grew and people...

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began to live in bigger groups.

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As society got more complicated,

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blue collar and white collar jobs were created.

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People began to look at each other and see...

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differences. Bad feelings, like jealousy,

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pride, and selfish competition emerged.

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Yeah, sounds like Rousseau was definitely...

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more Jedi than Sith.

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Rousseau argued that what fueled...

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most of this badness was the...

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invention of private property.

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He said that as larger and larger...

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communities formed, the dudes who have...

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the most land created governments to protect...

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what they had and to take advantage of those who had less.

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It's like the one percent created governments to...

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get richer and keep the 99% down.

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We're pretty sure at some point Rousseau went and, you know, occupied something.

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Anyway, unlike Hobbes and Locke,

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Rousseau argues that people didn't leave...

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the state of nature willingly.

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He said the state of nature was snatched away...

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from the people by a small minority of...

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property owners.

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Rousseau sums up the problem at the beginning of his...

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famous essay, "The Social Contract"

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by writing, "man was born...

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free and everywhere he is in chains."

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In some ice skating rinks, man is in glittery spandex,

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but that's another story.

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But Rousseau wasn't just a Debbie Downer.

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He had a solution for all of this:

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All decisions are voted on directly by...

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every single person.

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He knew this wouldn't work out for big, whopping countries,

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but he said these pure democracies would work...

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in small geographic areas.

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It's be like if Wherever-ville, Iowa

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had all it's own laws...

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voted on only by its...

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43 citizens.

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Yup, corn for all!

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Easy when you only have 43 people to please...

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and a lot of corn.

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In order for this to happen,

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an individual person has to give up...

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some individual rights to the rights...

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of the the people as a whole.

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Rousseau calls this coming together,

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this collective decision making body,

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the "general will."

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Sure we might want to drive a monster truck down...

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while texting, but we got to realize that some...

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people aren't gonna be cool with that.

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We'll be back later. We gotta go sell the monster truck we just bought.

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