Who is best known for developing the idea of the "Social Contract"?

The concept of the "Social Contract" is most famously associated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his work "The Social Contract," published in 1762, Rousseau presents the idea that individuals come together to form a collective political body, agreeing to follow general will for the sake of the common good. He emphasizes the importance of individual freedom and the idea that legitimate political authority relies on a social contract agreed upon by all members of society. This theory aimed to address the legitimacy of political authority and the necessity of people's active participation in governance.

Rousseau's take on the social contract represents a departure from the views of earlier philosophers who proposed more authoritarian ideas. His perspective that sovereignty belongs to the people as a whole fundamentally shaped modern political thought and laid the groundwork for democratic theory. In contrast, while John Locke and Thomas Hobbes also discussed similar ideas of the social contract, Locke generally proposed a more optimistic view of human nature and the necessity of government for the protection of individual rights, while Hobbes advocated for a strong, often authoritarian government to prevent chaos. Immanuel Kant's focus was more on ethics and the nature of knowledge rather than political authority through social contracts, which distinguishes Rousseau as the key figure associated with this idea.