second treatise on government 1689 - hicksville high · pdf filesecond treatise on government...

John

Locke

Second Treatise

on Government

1689

Glorious American

Revolution 1688 Revolution

After years of dynastic war, England

settled down with the Tudors and

Stuarts in the 16th & 17th centuries.

Well, with a lot of

“persuasion”

Elizabeth I did better

Stuarts tried to further

establish the monarchy. James I of Scotland

James IV of England Charles I

English Civil War 1642-1648

Remember the

Puritans?

Left for America in

1620

In 1648 brought

down the English

monarchy! (Charles

beheaded)

Puritans outlawed Christmas

Puritans 1648-1668

Oliver Cromwell

Restoration

Charles II 1668-

1688

James II 1688

Catholic

Glorious Revolution

Mary and William

Anne

John Locke (1632 – 1704)

Enters Oxford in 1651

Studies philosophy, natural history, medicine

Becomes physician and advisor to First Earl of Shaftesbury (big Whig politician)

1669 He writes the First Constitution of the Carolinas, a plan for bringing serfdom to America

(natural rights are for the wealthy)

Politics: Charles II dies in

1685

Brother James II becomes king, plots to bring

back Catholicism

Locke – through Shaftesbury – gets implicated

in plot to assassinate James II

Locke leaves England for Holland in 1683

Begins to write anonymous political pamphlets,

including the Two Treatises on Government (1689)

And A Letter concerning Toleration

1688 “Glorious Revolution” in

England

Replace the Catholic line from James with William and Mary (both Protestant)

Locke was an

advisor to William

while the two of

them were in

Holland together

Locke lives out his

days on government

pension

KEY IDEAS ABOUT JOHN

LOCKE: NATURAL RIGHTS

He wrote to say that revolution

against the king was a good idea.

The kings said all rights come from

the king, who has his authority from

God. (Divine right of kings)

Locke said God gave people rights

directly

(natural rights).

King James I/IV, On The Divine

Right Of Kings, 1609

In the first original of kings, whereof some had

their beginning by conquest, and some by

election of the people, their wills at that time

served for law; Yet how soon kingdoms began to

be settled in civility and policy, then did kings set

down their minds by laws ... I conclude then this

point touching the power of kings, with this

axiom of divinity, that as to dispute what God

may do, is blasphemy ... so is it sedition in

subjects, to dispute what a king may do in

the height of his power.

Locke’s Second Treatise on

Government

I. Biographical/Historical Background

II. State of Nature

III. Freedom, Liberty, and License

IV. Property and Labor

State of Nature

Locke begins Chapter 2:

“To understand political power right, and

derive it from its original, we must

consider what state all men are naturally

in…”

What we need to know, then, is the

natural condition of mankind

State of Nature

Continuing with the quote from the opening

of Chapter 2

“… and that is 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 upon the

will of any other man.”

State of Nature

We need three things:

1. Freedom

2. Law of nature

3. Property Rights

Freedom, Liberty, License

Two senses of freedom at work here

Free from any social bonds, which means

Not dependent on the will of

any other people

Note: to this point in human history, very few people

could be said to enjoy freedom in this sense


But it’s not just any freedom, rather it’s

freedom in accord with “the law of nature”

And that law is:

“The state of Nature has a law of Nature to

govern it, which obliges every one: 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” (chp.2, par 6).


We get 2 arguments to support this view:

1. Religious

Each of us is created in God’s image

We don’t have the right to destroy ourselves (as we

are God’s creatures), so we can’t have the right to

destroy others like us

2. Secular

“equal and independent” phrase

Moral sympathy and rationality


Summary

In state of nature we have freedom, which is life in

accordance with the law of nature

Distinction between liberty and license

For Locke, liberty is not the right to do everything,

but rather to do anything in accordance with the

law of nature


Locke contra Hobbes

Locke basically agrees with the structure of

Hobbes’ argument, but disagrees with his account

There is a sense in which people in Hobbes state

of nature have freedom, but it is not a freedom we

would want; it is self-defeating

But…How can I be free if I must obey a law?

II. Freedom, Liberty, License

So for Locke, state of nature is when we are

all free, indeed it is a state of perfect freedom

Also a state of equality, since no one is

forced to submit to any authority higher than

the dictates of her own reason


Chapter 2

“A state also of equality, wherein all the power and

jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another:

there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of

the same species and rank promiscuously born to all the

same advantages of Nature, and the use of the same

faculties, should also be equal one amongst another

without subordination or subjection, unless the Lord and

Master of them all, should by any manifest declaration of

his will set one above another, and confer on him by an

evident and clear appointment an undoubted right to

dominion and sovereignty.”


“Men living together according to reason,

without a common superior on Earth, with

authority to judge between them, is properly

the state of Nature” (chp. 3, par. 19).


Which raises the

question of why we

would ever leave the

state of nature? Why

not anarchy?

Do we find any

problems lurking in the

state of nature????

JOHN LOCKE-SOCIAL

CONTRACT

Locke said the people wanted

government to protect them in a

“state of nature”.

People made a “social contract” to

create government including kings.

Therefore Locke said the people can

fire the king if he isn’t doing a good

job.

Social Contract

When, by the miscarriages of those in

authority, it (ruling) is forfeited; upon

the forfeiture of their rulers, …, it

reverts to the society, and the people

have a right to act as supreme, and

continue the legislative in themselves

or place it in a new form, or new

hands, as they think good.

Feudalism A political and

economic system in which land

and government are given to

vassals in return for their military

service.

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