John Locke

Locke's presence is felt in the careful accounting Rousseau performs when he asks what the contracting parties actually exchange: natural independence for civil liberty, the power to harm for security, precarious strength for an invincible right. Where Locke grounds political society in the protection of property, Rousseau pushes further, insisting each person gives themselves wholly to the community and receives an equivalent in return. The tension between these two visions of consent runs through the middle books.