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Examples Of John Locke Tacit Consent

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Locke says that in order for us to get out of the state of nature, it is a two-stage process. First, we must unanimously consent to construct a civil society. Going into a civil society requires unanimous consent because everyone needs to give up some of their rights, such as the right to punish. Nobody can take any person's rights away from them, only the people themselves can give up those rights if they so wish. Once a civil society is formed and everyone has transferred some rights to the whole group, a commonwealth can be formed. Locke says that the type of commonwealth that will be created will be decided by the majority of the civil society (Locke 78-81). This shows the process of how Locke believes we get out of the state of nature: first by …show more content…

It can be seen then, that Locke requires consent of both: the civil society and the commonwealth, in order for a government to be legitimate. Locke says that consent can be given in two different ways: expressed consent and tacit consent. Expressed consent is when somebody performs some sort of action to show their consent. An example of this in this context would be taking an oath to be a citizen and abide by the government. Tacit consent is when a person does nothing to show their consent. Very few people expressively consent to obey the government, whether that be becoming a naturalized citizen, or taking an oath to join the military or something along those lines. So, Locke needs to claim that most of us have tacitly consented to obey the government. Locke says that any man who has any possessions, or enjoyment of the territory ruled by the government has given his tacit consent, and thus, must obey the government. However, if a person wishes to

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