State otherness from classic contractualism: initial proposals from Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau

Abstract

The aim of this reflection is to understand, through the notion of Otherness as a philosophical category, the various conceptions that can be found regarding the idea of the other, when shaping and establishing the emerging Modern Political State as a philosophical meditation, particularly from the ideas of some of the great founders of the contractualist theories: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The chosen path for such a journey is the hermeneutic method for the analysis and reflection of various foundational texts from each author, contemplating and exploring the portrayal in the proposals of the figures of otherness found. Such elements are important to analyze within the various meditations on the State, particularly from the ruminations of political philosophy. When shaping the way in which the political and social sphere is to be directed and organized (although there are more), the notions of state otherness will be fundamental to understanding such conceptions, as well as the way in which the one different from me, the other, will be named and categorized, yet participating in the effects of the social contract.