Basic Elements, Comparative Study and Limitations of The State of Nature in the Perspective of Rousseau and His Conception of Public Law

Based on Rousseau’s The Social Contract, On the Origin and Foundation of Human Inequality

East China University of Political Science and Law Business School

^* Corresponding author Email: Valarm@163.com

Abstract

Equality and law have always been an important proposition of human concern, which embodies the relationship between human beings and is an important guarantee of social harmony and stability. Rousseau, as an 18th century French Enlightenment thinker and an important representative of the doctrine of natural law and social contract theory, constructed the hypothesis of the state of nature and systematically put forward the concept of social equality and the concept of public will law, which together with Hobbes, Locke and other scholars’ theories. They have profoundly influenced the formulation of laws and the construction of administrative systems in Western countries. The study of this work will help to understand the underlying logic of Western institutional settings and clarify the purpose of equality and law. This article uses both documentary research and comparative analysis to review Rousseau’s views on equality and law and to return to primary sources. The study also compares and contrasts Rousseau’s views with those of Hobbes, such as the state of nature and the state.