Author(s)

Kefei Zhang

Corresponding Author

Kefei Zhang

Abstract

Unlike Hobbes or Locke, the state of nature in Rousseau’s opinion has a “peaceful” attribute from beginning to end. This hypothesis helps him to criticize Hobbes and Locke’s natural law theory, but it also brings about a logical contradiction: why the state of nature needs to develop into the state of society afterwards? Rousseau used the logic of “contingency” to cover up the problem, but he did not fundamentally solve the contradiction.

Keywords

Rousseau, State of nature, Logic of contingency