Source: Patrick Henry Rothermel, Peter F. Rothermel, Wikimedia

Have you ever read the book, "The Lord of the Flies"? It is about a group of boys whose airplane crashes on a deserted island and how these boys deal with living in a state of nature. They have no rules, no parents, and no authority to keep them in line. Imagine not having teachers to tell you what to do, or parents to tell you to clean your room, or speed limit signs on the road when you're driving your car. Do you see where you might end up having some problems?

Two English political philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, came up with their own theories on what would happen when people (like the boys in the novel) lived in a state of nature, which basically means no government. Today you are going to look at some excerpts written by Hobbes and Locke in order to identify each philosopher's point of view on individual liberty.