Locke used the
claim that men are naturally free and equal as part of
the justification for understanding legitimate political government as the result of a social contract where people in the state of nature conditionally transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better ensure the stable, comfortable …
What do you think Locke means by state of nature?
The state of nature in Locke’s theory represents the beginning of a process in which a state for a liberal, constitutional government is formed. Locke regards the state of nature as
a state of total freedom and equality, bound by the law of nature
.
Locke’s Social Contract was devoted
to sovereignty and law
. Sovereignty derived from the people’s will. This will remained with the people. He argued that sovereignty did not reside in the state but with the people, and that the state was supreme, but only if it was bound by civil and natural law.
The state of nature is
the starting point for most social contract theories
. It is an abstract idea considering what human life would look like without a government or a form of organized society (Lloyd, Sreedhar, 2009).
What are the two contract mentioned by John Locke?
People made two contracts, namely
social and political contracts
. The Social Contract was made between the people themselves. They surrendered only some of their rights- the right of interpreting and enforcing the law of nature. It was only a limited surrender and not a complete surrender of their rights.
Social Contract. John Locke’s idea. It was
an agreement which had a purpose that the government is to protect the people’s natural rights in exchange for that protection
, the people give up their less important freedoms. You just studied 4 terms! 1/4.
What are John Locke’s 3 natural rights?
Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are “
life, liberty, and property
.” Locke believed that the most basic human law of nature is the preservation of mankind.
What is the main purpose of government according to John Locke?
Everyone gains the security of knowing that their rights to life, liberty, and property are protected. According to Locke, the main purpose of government is
to protect those natural rights that the individual cannot effectively protect in a state of nature
.
What government did John Locke believe in?
Locke favored
a representative government such as the English Parliament
, which had a hereditary House of Lords and an elected House of Commons. But he wanted representatives to be only men of property and business. Consequently, only adult male property owners should have the right to vote.
The State of Nature, Equality, and Liberty
.
The social contract is unwritten, and is inherited at birth. It dictates that we will not break laws or certain moral codes and, in exchange, we reap the benefits of our society, namely security, survival, education and other necessities needed to live.
social contract, in political philosophy,
an actual or hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled or between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each
. … They then, by exercising natural reason, formed a society (and a government) by means of a social contract.
Second Treatise on Government
Locke outlines and defends his theory on how a society transforms from a state of nature into a political society in
Chapter 8, “The beginning of political societies
.” The foundation of Locke’s social contract theory is the idea of consent.
Which of the following is stated in the Two Treatises of Government by John Locke?
John Locke (1632–1704) is among the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Two Treatises of Government, he
defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch.
Why did Locke write the Two Treatises of Government?
The Treatises were written with this specific
aim–to defend the Glorious Revolution
. Locke also sought to refute the pro-Absolutist theories of Sir Robert Filmer, which he and his Whig associates felt were getting far too popular.
Prominent 17th- and 18th-century theorists of social contract and natural rights include Hugo Grotius (1625), Thomas Hobbes (1651), Samuel von Pufendorf (1673), John Locke (
1689
), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762) and Immanuel Kant (1797), each approaching the concept of political authority differently.
