All forms of social contract theory ultimately come down to one idea, that being that the individual desire for security and safety, demands fulfillment through a collective agreement. This collective agreement transforms the unaltered human state from the natural, primal state into an organized society.
Beginning with Thomas Hobbes, with perhaps the most pessimistic view on the social contract and why it came about. According to Hobbes prior to Social Contract, man lived in the State of Nature. Man’s life in the State of nature was one of fear and selfishness, a chaotic condition of constant fear. Life in the State of Nature was describes by Hobbes as being ‘solitary’, ‘poor’, ‘nasty’, ‘brutish’, and ‘short’. Hobbes also believed humans have a natural desire for security and order. And in order to secure self-protection and to avoid misery and pain, societies began entering into contracts. These ideas of self-defense are inherent to human nature and in order to achieve this people would voluntarily surrender their rights and freedoms to a Leviathan via contract who would command obedience. This led