Özet:

The political view of the Antiquity which is based on the ideal of free citizenship is replaced in the Middle Ages by theological political view based on God's will. In the Modern Age, the new understanding of humanity and society led by the Renaissance and Reform movements undermines the defensibility of the theological legacy. However, modern thought is formed by the conception of the absolute hegemony of the monarch instead of by turning back to the ideals of Antiquity and developing towards the emancipation of the equal citizens. Accordingly, political morality is constructed with reference to the form of the sovereign Prince's act (Monarch). Consequently, the religious authority of the divine representative is replaced by the superior authority which is grounded on the power politics established to guarantee the existence and common wealth of the human beings. In the Modern Age the thought of "social contract" makes the constitution of society possible and it is established on the concept of "state of nature." However, in Machiavelli and Hobbes the concept of the state of nature is built on the materialistic and "scientific" concept of human being while in Locke the theological grounding of the human being is found, in parallelism with the myth of creation. Moreover, for thinkers like Machiavelli and Hobbes national unity and social peace have priority in politics; therefore, they defend absolute monarchy and downplay the democratic ideal. Thus, liberal Locke advocating Enlightenment pursues this dream. On the one hand, he tries to draw the conceptual framework of a democratic society grounded on freedom and equality against the traditional thought that binds the legacy on God’s will. On the other hand, he is against the political morality of the modern time which isolates the individual from his ethical values and subjects him/her to the absolute sovereignty of the monarch. However, Locke's idea of political morality based on the social contract itself, which sublimates freedom and property and aims to the realization of the mutual interests of individuals, is not devoid of problems. On this background, the primary goal of this paper is to discuss Locke's theory of social contract and to reveal the points that distinguish him from other social contract theorists.

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