Locke

rights as entitlements

• entitlements to do or not do things, to be or not be in certain states and that others perform or don’t perform particular actions

• e.g. free speech, freedom of movement, rights to a fair trial

property rights

• property: the right of access to and control over the use of something

• common property: held in common e.g. parks

• collective property: control and use is managed by a collective

• private property: you control the use and access

natural rights and legal rights

• natural: built into society, Locke believed they came from god and are inscribed into gods creation

• legal: dependent on a political structure, social creations

• locke believed that the role of a legitimate government is to create political and legal structures that protect and enforce our natural rights

locke against arbitrary authority

• arbitrary authority is when someone illegitimate tries to rule over people

• locke set out to identify the limits of human understanding, what can we know for sure, this was built on empiricism which is against dogma and faith

• in ‘two treaties of government’, locke discusses the bases of legitimate political authority, in this he argus against the divine right of kings

lockes two treaties of government

• 1) against the divine right of kings (said to be illegitimate authority, political power comes from social contracts not divine power)

• 2) the things that qualify a legitimate authority (freedom, natural rights, social contract, right of rebellion)

Robert filmer

• locke targets Robert filmers ‘patriarcha’, which tries to trace the authority of kings back to Adam and eve, locke completely dismantles this

• for filmer, we are not born free, we are instead born into servitude

• our fathers, masters and the sovereign all gain their power from god

• locke: we are all gods subjects including the king so the king shouldn’t set himself up as a little god on earth. we are made for god not for the king

we are all equal and no one has the right to rule over one another

• lockes treaties argue for the natural freedom and equality of all human beings

• murder and even suicide are wrong because they work against gods order

• the natural order of the world is what gives us sense of right and wrong

• no mature and rational person is naturally subject to the authority of anyone, there is no natural authority

• human authority can only be an artificial creation

• we are all gods property, we should act out gods will and survive and prosper together

• to do this we require life, liberty and property

• this means there is a natural law that we all have a right to life, liberty and property

locke on the state of nature

• locke, unlike hobbes believes that the state of nature exists whenever we are bound only by natural law, due to the absence of a legitimate political society

• we therefore have the right to punish transgressions of natural law if there is no authority to do so for us

• if we can only rely on tacit consent then each persons view of how we go about this will be very different. this is the main reason we have political authority, they can enforce set punishments

• we ought to hand our right of executing the law over to the government and give consent through a social contract

• locke says the state of nature isn’t a constant state of war its just a state in which can give rise to a state of war

slavery

• ‘slavery is so vile and miserable’

• but locke has a conception of legitimate slavery, he after all benefited from the slave trade

• locke was later involved in addressing abuses of power over slaves in Virginia, he wrote ‘well done’ after a passage that stated that slave masters wouldn’t be rewarded for importing slaves

• we can’t be forced or be born into slavery, this is inhumane

• but locke does believe slavery is allowed if you subdue an opponent in war that enforces natural law

legitimate and illegitimate slavery and regicide

• legitimate: the imposition of absolute power of life and death over another, brought about by tyrants

• this provides the grounds for the appropriate use of despotic power (total power over another persons life)

• if the king has, in effect put us in illegitimate slavery, then a legitimate policy can use power against him

• if those entrusted to govern us do not pursue the common good, and act in accordance with natural law, then they can be deposed

freedom and property

• slavery after a just war is essentially death postponed (you could kill your slave at any time)

• if there is no natural authority between people, then people must act as an authority over themselves

• my agency is enabled by my body, I have ‘property over my own person’, I control my own body

• if you then restrict my body, you restrict my agency and thus my freedom

• you must respect other peoples ownership of their bodies

• private property is therefore part of the natural order of things

• locke then links this to labour, if I combine my labour with something then it becomes my property because its now mixed with my agency