John Locke believed that man was a naturally rational and social creature, with an inclination towards good and a strong sense of love for others a...

John Locke believed that man was a naturally rational and social creature, with an inclination towards good and a strong sense of love for others and empathy for their pain. In this sense, what would motivate Locke's natural man to submit to the social contract?


A perpetuation of the natural peace that human beings and their social relationships provided in the state of nature.
The social contract implied the abandonment of the savagery and barbarism in which man lived.
Man, according to Locke, despite being rational, was not invariably 'good'. Self-love and selfishness were still part of his nature. This would harm the establishment of a harmonious society without a mediating entity for conflicts.
That friendship between human beings was comparable to the close relationship that wolves have in a pack.
The text is mistaken. Locke's natural man would never submit to the social contract, since the individual liberties of natural man would not be abandoned.