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John Locke State Of Nature

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FINAL EXAMINATION

1) Explain rule of self-preservation, property, and laws of nature in John Locke's State of Nature. (2 points)

Above many of the concepts that John Locke introduces in his writing, The Second Treatise of Government, he introduces us to a “State of Nature”, a state with no government that is ruled instead by what he calls “Natural Laws” based on reason and self preservation as well as a state of equality and liberty, that is defined by the fact that all people are born equal and no one has any legitimate authority over the other and are free to do as they please. Locke makes difference of Natural Liberty and Social Liberty, the first being living entirely under the laws of nature and not any government or legislative ruling …show more content…

He explains that the damaged party has the right to demand retribution for the crime that has been committed against them as long as there is no abuse; this will prevent it from being committed again.
When it comes to property, Locke asks whether Earth can be considered the property of its inhabitants? And if so, what can we consider being individual property? His explanation is unique and throughout and he bases it on labor. Labor is in fact the only thing that can truly give individual the right of possession of things. He adds that we all posses our own body and thus all the labor that it produces, by adding labor to a foreign material, we acquire it. A simplistic example would be that a man owns the apples produced by the apple tree he helped grow.
Locke does not stop here and emphasizes on the fact that spoiling is irrational though and against the laws of natures that he introduces before. He says that “one can only take so much as one can use” and not be greedy and from here he introduces the concept of money and currency that can fulfill the needs for constant measures of worth and can be used for trading in case of any excess in what one has acquired. As for the price, it is set and determined by the amount of labor put into the

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