Write a 2-3-page essay on a selected issue related to the tension between individual freedom and social institutions.
Your assessment is to write an essay assessing the issue you selected, both in terms of versions of social contract theory proposed by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and from your own view of the proper relation between society and the individual.
Address the following concepts in your essay:
- Explain the ethical basis for the relation of individuals to their government
- Describe the theories of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau about how societies are organized.
- Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the theories in justifying the imposition of authority over individuals.
- Apply these social contract theories to the issue you have selected.