John Locke: Morality and Property in the State of Nature and the Commonwealth
In order to properly understand political power, we need to understand the state that men are
naturally in
Anyone who isn't living in a government lives in a state of nature
Freedom in the state of nature
"a State of perfect Freedom to order their Actions, and dispose of their Possessions, and
Persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the Law of Nature, without asking leave, or
depending on the Will of any other Man"
You're not subject to any authority
State of equality - all power is equal, no one has any more power than another
The state of nature is governed by a law, and it is a law governed by everyone
This law is given by reason, "reason which is that law teaches all mankind who consult it, that
being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or
possessions"
We are God's property, I can't do what I like to you because you're not mine
We can't destroy other people as if others were made for one another's uses
Liberty, not licence
‘But though this be a State of Liberty, yet it is not a State of Licence, though Man in that State
have an uncontrollable Liberty, to dispose of his Person or Possessions, yet he has not Liberty
to destroy himself, or so much as any Creature in his Possession, but where some nobler use,
than its bare Preservation calls for it.’
Locke's law of nature:
We can't harm others as others are God's property
Realises that this is unlikely to happen and acknowledges that there are just bad people who
don't recognise their reason
Right to punish:
You cannot harm other people unless it is to do justice towards an offender
'For the Law of Nature would, as all other laws that concern Men in this World, be in vain, if
there were no body that in the State of Nature, had a Power to Execute that Law, and thereby
preserve the innocent and restrain offenders’
Everyone has the right to enforce the law of nature
If there was no one to enforce the law, they would be in vain
Punishment shouldn’t be about passion, but reparation and restraints
Those who violate the law are contrary to the sense of human nature
In violating the law of nature
If someone wrongs you, you shouldn’t go to punish them
There is law in justice
If you're asked to judge your friend you will go easy on them
Government should step in and be the indifferent judge
"A man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human
nature, and to be a Noxious Creature"
Earth as common to all humans
The earth is made by God for humans
We have common ownership in the world
"The Earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the Support and Comfort of their being.
And through all the fruits it naturally produces, and beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in
common, as they are produced by the spontaneous hand of nature
In order to properly understand political power, we need to understand the state that men are
naturally in
Anyone who isn't living in a government lives in a state of nature
Freedom in the state of nature
"a State of perfect Freedom to order their Actions, and dispose of their Possessions, and
Persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the Law of Nature, without asking leave, or
depending on the Will of any other Man"
You're not subject to any authority
State of equality - all power is equal, no one has any more power than another
The state of nature is governed by a law, and it is a law governed by everyone
This law is given by reason, "reason which is that law teaches all mankind who consult it, that
being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or
possessions"
We are God's property, I can't do what I like to you because you're not mine
We can't destroy other people as if others were made for one another's uses
Liberty, not licence
‘But though this be a State of Liberty, yet it is not a State of Licence, though Man in that State
have an uncontrollable Liberty, to dispose of his Person or Possessions, yet he has not Liberty
to destroy himself, or so much as any Creature in his Possession, but where some nobler use,
than its bare Preservation calls for it.’
Locke's law of nature:
We can't harm others as others are God's property
Realises that this is unlikely to happen and acknowledges that there are just bad people who
don't recognise their reason
Right to punish:
You cannot harm other people unless it is to do justice towards an offender
'For the Law of Nature would, as all other laws that concern Men in this World, be in vain, if
there were no body that in the State of Nature, had a Power to Execute that Law, and thereby
preserve the innocent and restrain offenders’
Everyone has the right to enforce the law of nature
If there was no one to enforce the law, they would be in vain
Punishment shouldn’t be about passion, but reparation and restraints
Those who violate the law are contrary to the sense of human nature
In violating the law of nature
If someone wrongs you, you shouldn’t go to punish them
There is law in justice
If you're asked to judge your friend you will go easy on them
Government should step in and be the indifferent judge
"A man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human
nature, and to be a Noxious Creature"
Earth as common to all humans
The earth is made by God for humans
We have common ownership in the world
"The Earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the Support and Comfort of their being.
And through all the fruits it naturally produces, and beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in
common, as they are produced by the spontaneous hand of nature
