Abstract

The issue of political justice is the root of the problem of the individual versus the State and it is the one which both Locke and Rousseau attempt to solve by their theories of the social contract. Both hold that the authority of the State is legitimate only if it is founded on the consent of the individuals who are subjected to it. But the requirement of establishing the legitimacy of the State on the consent of all is aimed at nothing but political justice. It might be argued, however, that without establishing a criterion for the problem of social justice, the theories of Locke and Rousseau have to suffer from serious limitations. For without the realization of social justice, political justice would become no more than formal justice that while it affairms the equality of all citizens under the law, it permits the greatest types of social and economic inequalities among individuals. In response to this problem, one can notice that inspite of Locke's and Rousseau's emphasis on political justice, they neither ignore the economic situations of the members of the State nor the issue of social justice in the State. Locke, for example, permits the State, on behalf of the public good, to regulate the private property of the individuals. He failed, however, to establish a criterion by which the State is to regulate the property of its citizens. Rousseau's political philosophy, on the other hand, marks a step forward in its dealing with the issue of social justice. His criticism of private property and the extreme inequalities that originate with it in The Origin of Inequality Among Mankind as well as his criterion for the legitimate ownership of land in The Social Contract constitute an evidence not only to his awareness of the problem of socio-economic inequalities but also of his attempts to find a solution for it. The object of this study is to deal with the issue of political and socio-economic justice in so far as it is related to Locke's and Rousseau's political theories and in relation to their views of the individual and society