Which philosophers are most closely associated with social-contract theory?

In the context of political philosophy, social-contract theory is most closely associated with three major thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries:

• Thomas Hobbes: In his work Leviathan (1651), Hobbes argued that individuals in a chaotic "state of nature" agree to surrender their rights to an absolute sovereign to ensure collective security and avoid a "war of all against all."123
• John Locke: In his Two Treatises of Government (1690), Locke proposed that individuals enter into a social contract to protect their natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He argued that government authority is conditional and that citizens have a moral right to revolt if a sovereign fails to protect these rights.124
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: In The Social Contract (1762), Rousseau argued that a legitimate society is based on the "general will," where individuals exchange their natural independence for a higher form of political liberty, aiming for the common good.125

In the 20th century, the theory was further developed by philosophers such as John Rawls and Robert Nozick, who applied the concept to modern theories of justice and the role of the state.2