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Locke State Of Power Chapter Summaries

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Chapter one of this second book, according to the footnotes, is supposed to tie together the first treatise of government and the second. This chapter brings up Adam as that tie and then continues on to discuss what Locke will tell us in the rest of the chapters. He mentions that the political power is what gives men power, and then discusses the difference in the powers. One example he gives is the difference between the power of a father and the power of a ruler. Chapter two begins by continuing this discussion on political power and what is deemed natural because of it. Just like others before him, his first discussion is based on men in a state of nature. He describes this state as one of perfect freedom, meaning that all men do as they …show more content…

Locke also discusses equality, saying that this is when all men are equal in any given way. Locke is also saying that all men are equal, except for when God chooses and ordains a man to be unequal, to be above all others. The discussion continues with liberty. Here, Locke says that it is important to understand that all men are in the same state of nature as others and are all equal, and that it would be best to all live wit respect amongst each other. This then turns the discussion into a situation of what to do when one man commits a crime against another. Locke clearly says that in the even of one man committing a crime against another, then the victim has the right to retaliate and serve justice. In this chapter, Locke has acknowledged that in a state of nature, there are no laws (as we would understand them in the modern day). Reason rules in the natural state, but this is also the reasons that rulers exist. Because in a natural state, someone must be there in order to keep laws and hand down justice. Locke brings up the idea deterrence and explains that every man has the right to protect himself and his family, however, in the event that someone murders another, then it is just if you execute the murderer. This will then deter others from doing so. This

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Locke’s foundation for all his assertions on liberty is “that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should be also equal” (Locke 8). With this comes “natural liberty” which Locke defines as “to be free from any superior power on earth,…to have only the law of nature for his rule” (Locke 17). The state of nature is something that all men are born into, but must leave to gain both stability and law because in the state of nature, as Locke write above, nature is the only force that rules man. Once one leaves the state of nature a shift is seen; now, “the liberty of man, in society, is to be under no other legislative power, but, that established, by consent” (Locke 17). Locke equates the “law of Nature” as being related to the “law of God” and it is here where Locke’s argument can be seen as divinely ordained, in the same way Louis XIV’s rule was vested in God’s power (Locke 7).

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511 Words | 3 Pages

John Locke, a 17th century philosopher from England, was a man who contained many ideas and theories on how particular civilizations should operate. John Locke philosophized “that there was an unspoken law amongst men known as “The Law of Nature” (“state of nature” Locke). The “law of nature” depicts a community in which there was only moral law. Thus the “law of nature” portrays a “state of perfect freedom where all men share their equality” (“state of nature”4). This statement basically states that “no one has power over another and are free (Locke 4)” to govern themselves accordingly.

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752 Words | 4 Pages

All men were born equal. That is one of John Locke’s, a great philosopher’s, ideas. Every man, from the farmer to the artisan to the politician, is equal. As equal citizens, we should have representation in the government and what laws are placed upon us,

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697 Words | 3 Pages

In his Second Treatise of Government, Locke revealed his interests in new science, developing theories of education and knowledge (SMW, 34). One of the main points in his Treatise is that of the law of nature, where all men are in natural state of perfect freedom (SMW, 34). Locke argues, “Men being…by nature all free, equal, and independent,

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409 Words | 2 Pages

In "Second Treatise on Civil Government (1689)" by John Locke, the philosopher states his theory about the origin of government was from the will of the people and that the people has the right to change their rulers and state. In order for a union to exist, people as a whole must be equal in the sense that social class does not affect ones influence on government because every person is born with the same opportunities. Unquestionably, we all have natural rights that law cannot take away from us, but there are some things that people must follow to keep peace in the state. Granted the people are who decide how government should be and who our next rulers, are but there are times where the state makes the wrong decisions and rebellions/revolutions

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852 Words | 4 Pages

He wrote in this book that, “This fatherly authority there, or right of fatherhood, in our A.’s sense, is a divine unalterable right of sovereignty, whereby a father or a prince hath an absolute, arbitrary, unlimited, and unlimitable power over the lives, liberties, and estates of his children and subjects; so that he may take or alienate their estates, sell, castrate, or use their persons as he pleases, they being all his slaves, and he lord or proprietor of every thing, and his unbounded will their law (Locke, 12).” He told people that there are rights own by every mankind, which can not be taken away by others, and he stated that government is needed for subduing chaos in the state of nature, where people protect and gather resources of their free will. To sum up, civil society is built upon need for protection of property, which includes people, and the rights and estates they own. Another important augment, the social contract, stated

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208 Words | 1 Pages

Even today in our society we still follow The Declaration of Independence. The quote "All men are created equally" for us mean that, All U.S citizen are the same, we have have the same equal rights and no one is differently when it comes to laws. In the novelette equality

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

Locke believes that since Man is capable of interacting, an individual can express to another individual that he feels wronged by him. Throughout history, this has been occurring, building off the base for right and wrong that is the Ten Commandments, which leads to the present standards for morality. This is the way natural law works according to Locke. He believes humans have an intrinsic understanding between right and wrong. Whether they act in accordance with this understanding is not guaranteed, and this is when the state

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25). Locke’s state of nature demonstrates a state which entails perfect freedom and the right to one’s own actions and possessions (Locke 2 sect. 4). He then

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548 Words | 3 Pages

John Locke is an enlightened political philosopher whose explanations to his ideas remains profoundly influential. Locke believes people should have the right to do anything they want without the government enforcing them to do a task. In The Second Treatise, Locke discusses some vital concepts of his thinking, beginning with a discussion of the State of Nature. He explains that humans move from a state of nature characterized by perfect freedom and are governed by reason to a civil government in which the authority is vested in a legislative and executive power. In the State of Nature, men are born equal, to have perfect liberty to maintain.

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852 Words | 4 Pages

At the end of the seventh century, the greatest theorist of political liberalism was the Englishman John Locke. With his writings drew attention in the field of politics. In 1690 they were published Two Treatises of Government (1690). The first was a refutation of government by divine right; the second was against Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, published in 1651, which defended the social contract that was granted the State sovereignty.(“Tuckness”) For the latter, this was a necessity, since otherwise Thus anarchy and self - interest would lead to a war situation, converting natural life of man in "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."(“THOMAS”)

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1751 Words | 8 Pages

The State of Nature, although a state wherein there is no civil authority or government to punish people for transgressions against laws, is not a state without morality. To Locke, persons are assumed to be equal to one another in such a state, and therefore equally capable of discovering and being bound by the Law of Nature. The Law of Nature, which is on Locke’s view the basis of all morality, and given to us by God, commands that we not harm others with regards to their life, health, liberty, or possessions. This is because we all belong equally to God, and because we cannot take away that which is rightfully His, we are prohibited from harming one another. So, the State of Nature is a state of liberty where persons are free to pursue their own interests and plans, free from interference, and, because of the Law of Nature and the restrictions that it imposes upon persons, it is relatively peaceful.

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1623 Words | 7 Pages

“Locke viewed society on a scale from subjugation to personal freedom and declared personal freedom to be the ideal. Hobbes feared anarchy” (Hillman, 2009, p. 2). But Like Hobbes, Locke agrees to a political authority but, he differs from Hobbes’ kind of political authority. If mankind’s natural condition in this circumstance is to reflect a justifiable political authority, Locke believes that, political authority, has to come from people, since mankind is rational and able to make decision based on his eternal morals, and the realities of alienable rights. Thus, "Freedom of Men under Government is, to have a standing Rule to live by" or, if in a state of nature, to be governed by "the Law of Nature".

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632 Words | 3 Pages

In the Two Treatises of Government (1689), he defended the claim that men are naturally free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. With both biblical and philosophical justifications, Locke argued in defense of constitutionalism. He believed God gave Adam natural rights like; life, liberty, and property in the book of Genesis and Adam passed it on to the rest of

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1333 Words | 6 Pages

He proclaims the state of nature in which everyone is born free and equal. “It is also a state of equality, in which no-one has more power and authority than anyone else” (Locke, 3). Everyone is familiar of the natural laws, in which maintaining peace and abstaining from harming others was a duty. This was an essential piece in preserving human race. “To do as much as he can to preserve the rest of mankind” (Locke, 4).

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