Unlock the intellectual treasures of political theory with our meticulously crafted notes from Warwick's PAIS Department's module, "Political Theory from Hobbes (PO201)." Dive deep into the ideas of influential Western European thinkers since the 17th century, benefiting from extensive coverage, in...
- Rejected the notion of the Divine right of Kings
- Supported the idea of natural rights (Natural right to life, liberty and property)
- Rejected Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan’ state and argued for a limited constitutional
government which would protect natural rights
- Promoted the view that humans have the capacity of reason, and can determine for
themselves the right course of action.
- People all entitled to equal freedom.
Locke was born in 1642, and was 10 years old at the beginning of the English Civil War. He
became a government official charged with collecting information about trade and colonies.
His work initially sought to justify the rebellion against King Charles II.
At the heart of the two treaties is the question: who should rule and on what basis? Locke’s
First Treaty within his ‘Two Treatises of Government’ (1689) sought to attack Robert Filmer’s
‘Patriarcha’ which argued in favour of absolute authority of the monarchy. Locke aimed to
establish the view that the absolute political authority of the monarchy is incompatible
with government. Locke’s politics is based on the view that we are all made by God, and
creatures of God. No one is born with superiority over others! This means that any
differences that we have must be set up by agreement and consent. In the natural state, the
capacity of reason would be used to establish the correct action. Additionally, we have God-
given natural rights to life, liberty and property.
So if we’re all equal under God, why should some have access to private property and
others not? Locke had an answer for this, and was inspired by Cicero in his response.
Essentially, people are able to use the natural resources of the Earth for their own self-
preservation, which results in different property entitlements. It has been argued that this
opinion is in support of the colonisation of America. He even refers to the state of nature
as ‘America’.
For Locke, political society is born through consent. Consent can be withdrawn if the
government fails in protecting natural rights. This work inspired the Declaration of
Independence:
‘All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable
rights, among which are the rights to life, to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In
order to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their
just powers from the consent of the government that when any form of
government is destructive of those ends, is the right of the people to alter it or
abolish it, and institute new government’. From the Declaration of Independence.
In Hobbes’ view, everybody’s entitlement overlaps with each other. Locke, however, views
everybody’s entitlement as different and distinct. For Locke, these entitlements constitute
our private spheres which cannot be interrupted or taken away. We have property rights
, PO201: Week Four Locke on Private Property
which include our own bodies (differs to Hobbes who says that anyone can do what they
need to do to protect their property rights). Locke argues that we are not free to take a life,
liberty or property (violate the laws of nature). We cannot take our own lives, give
someone power over ourselves etc. This because we our God’s property:
‘For men, being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker,
they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not
one another’s pleasure’.
Additionally, freedom is not just doing ‘whatever we want’ as Hobbes believes. Natural
rights are inalienable (non-transferable).
‘The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it which obliges everyone: and
reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being
all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty
or possessions’.
Locke also believes that private property can exist before a state and without a state. This is
due to the right of self-ownership which means each person is the sovereign owner of
themselves and therefore can enjoy the authority of the use of their powers. We are
entitled to the fruits of our labour:
‘-every man a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself.
The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his’.
At the core of the right to self-ownership is the view that it is never permissible (except
under exceptional circumstances) to encroach on a person’s right of self-ownership.
Therefore, self-ownership forms strong moral limits against infringements on our person
and we all have the right to decide the course of our lives.
Robert Nozick was a key opponent of Locke’s view of ownership:
‘If I own a can of tomato juice and spill it in the sea so that its molecules – mingle
evenly throughout the sea, do I thereby come to own the sea, or have I foolishly
dissipated my tomato juice?’
Locke, in all honestly, would’ve thought this was retarded. He argues that nothing should be
wasted (‘non-spoilage proviso’) and land should be left good enough for others. This in
effect, puts two limits on privatisation. However, it has been argued that due to the scarce
nature of land today, this whole view is poor. Locke, however, would argue that even if land
is scarce, appropriating it will not diminish others’ opportunities to advance their material
interests as long as the appropriator shares some of the product with those would
otherwise, be economically worse off. For example, by offering waged labour. This is also
used to justify economic inequality: economic inequality is okay, so long as no one is more
worse off than they would be under common ownership.
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