Beginning of Essay
The significance of reason is discussed both in John Locke's, The Second Treatise of Civil Government, and in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's, Emile. However, the definitions that both authors give to the word “reason” vary significantly. I will now attempt to compa ....

Middle of Essay
.... no need for a central authority figure to govern the actions of people, for it is the people, themselves, who impose the “peace and preservation of mankind” (124). One can have perfect freedom as long as one does not disturb others in their state of nature; in this “state of perfect equality ... there is no superiority or jurisdiction of one over another” (124). Men, thereby, have the power to “preserve the innocent and restrain offenders” (124) and punish those who transgress against them and disturb their “state of nature.” Thus, all men are their own “executioner[s] in the law of nature,” or the Law of Reason. While all men ....