Thomas Hobbes and John Locke had a profound effect on the political climate of their day. Despite their differences, Hobbes and Locke became two of the most influential and prominent political theorists in the modern world. Their ideas and philosophies spread throughout humanity, influencing the creation of various new forms of government. Both theorists were considered so revolutionary due to their belief that a government should not be organized through any Church, therefore disregarding (to the horror of many citizens at the time) the notion of "divine right theory" where the king ascertains power directly and unquestionably from God. Now without a governing organised religion, an unrestrained basis to form society was constructed. The foundation of society began with mans original state of nature.
Both Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes and The Second Treatise by John Locke express similar train of thought regarding the state of war, state of nature, and the rights of man. The "state of nature" essentially means the condition of mans existence prior to, or with the exclusion of political government (fundamentally meaning society without a government). In spite of both Hobbes and Locke's theories being fairly parallel; they still manage to be extremes of one another. Both Hobbes and Locke identify that within society people develop a social contract. The differences between them derived from how the social contract is established, and what exactly constitutes a social contract. Despite these differences, Hobbes and Locke agreed that certain freedoms had been surrendered for society's protection and that the government has definite responsibilities to its citizens. In order to understand how the contrasting views adopted by Hobbes and Locke in relation to how the "state of nature" is reflected in the state, the various factors surrounding each theory need to be examined. .
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Hobbes believes that people surrender their natural rights and submit to the absolute authority of a sovereign, who attained power through the collective submission of the people.