Which British liberal thinker promoted the idea of natural rights and a social contract?

John Locke is recognized for his significant contributions to liberal political theory, particularly through his concepts of natural rights and the social contract. Locke posited that individuals possess inherent rights simply by being human, such as the rights to life, liberty, and property. He argued that the role of government is to protect these natural rights, and that governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed, as outlined in his work "Two Treatises of Government."

Locke's vision of the social contract stipulates that individuals agree to form a government to ensure the protection of their rights, and if a government fails to uphold this duty, people have the right to revolt and establish a new government. This fundamentally shaped modern democratic thought and influenced later political philosophers and the development of liberal democratic principles.

The other thinkers mentioned contribute to the discourse of political philosophy but in markedly different ways. Thomas Hobbes emphasized a more authoritarian view of government and believed in a strong, centralized authority to avoid chaos, focusing less on individual rights and more on societal order. John Stuart Mill is known for his advocacy of utilitarianism and individual liberties, which builds on some principles laid out by Locke but doesn't specifically focus on those foundational ideas of natural rights in the same way. David Hume