Locke Lecture

Second Treatise:

 Written between 1680 and 1682, but published in 1689. Not a response to the
glorious revolution. Had to wait until after the reign of Charles II to publish.
 For Locke, natural liberty meant to be free from any superior power on earth, but to
have only the law of nature as our ruler. Locke believed we were God’s children, and
the rationality he gives us allows us to understand natural law.
Natural Law
1. We are bound to do everything we can to preserve ourselves.
2. We are bound to preserve the whole of human kind, insofar as it does not harm
ourselves.
Law and Liberty

 Locke saw laws as a direction of a free agent to his ‘proper interests’. The end of
laws is not to restrain but to preserve freedom.
In the state of nature, there is no natural hierarchy and are equal: we can execute the law of
nature with equal right. Everyone has the right to preservation. But as fallen creatures, we
cannot properly judge what the law of nature is, especially as there is no judge. So what do
we do?
Civil Society

 By forming societies, men charge governments with executing the laws of nature
and protecting our lives, liberty and the state. (who are more likely to be right about
it?)
 But these societies can only be formed by consent.
 Even in civil societies we do not do away with our right to life, and to dismiss our
government.
Locke is not founder of liberalism. Not only does he talk about the need for separation of
powers, but he believes that the state should have a prince for the good of the people if the
legislature breaks down. But Locke was against arbitrary power…... governmental legitimacy
was grounded on consent?
Property

 If all property is endowed by God, how can we have any right to it?
 We own our own bodies, so whatever he invest our labour in in order to survive
becomes part of ourselves.
 This liberty has limits:
o No waste or spoilage – we have to use property to sustain ourselves.
o ‘Enough or as good as’: we have to leave enough behind of sufficient quality
to sustain others. We cannott claim all land.
 o Societies cannot let its members starve.
 Locke as a proto-capitalist. He agreed with the ideas that we consent to giving value
to money, and consent to the inequalities that follow from it.
Government

 If governments did not act upon the common good, then people have the right to
dismiss them