Locke's The Second Treatise of Civil Government: The Significance of Reason The significance of reason is discussed both in John Locke's, The Second Treatise of Civil Government, and in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's, Emile. However, the definitions that both authors give to the word “reason” vary significantly. I will now attempt to compare the different meanings that each man considered to be the accurate definition of reason. John Locke believed that the state “all men are naturally …showed first 75 words of 1355 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1355 total…long as possible. But Locke did not feel this way. He thought that society was necessary to preserve the law of reason. To him, entering into the social contract should be done as soon as possible. Independence and freedom were less important to Locke than they were to Rousseau. Reason was less important to Rousseau than to Locke. The significance of reason, therefore, would be far more important to John Locke than to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.