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Property In John Locke's Work

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In the prompt, the speaker refers to property as being essential, but that they long for material possessions and wealth. The author then states that Locke teaches him how to create and maintain wealth. The author believes that his desire for wealth is justified through Locke’s work, however the two contradict each other. Locke suggests that man should not strive to own property that has little to no use in one’s quest for survival, which is vastly different than the author’s opinion. The author then goes on to state that Rousseau has a naive view of humankind which ignores mankind’s selfishness. This is somewhat true in that Rousseau’s views are somewhat misguided. The author then states that he longs to be “more equal than everyone else”, …show more content…

However, this is hypocritical to locke’s main argument. Locke describes the property is acquired through labor. In fact he states that “when did they begin to be his?... And tis plain, if the first gathering made them not his, nothing else would, That labor put a distinction between them and common. That added something to them more than nature… and so they became his private right” (Locke, 128). This clearly outlines the way in which Locke believes property is acquired. Locke believes that possessions are acquired through labor, and this continued labor maintains more sustainable property, such as land, in their …show more content…

Rousseau attempts to define the origins of inequality in mankind, and does so by first outlining a “natural state”. Inequality appears as either a function of nature, or is established with consent of society (Rousseau, 49). In stating that inequality is created with the consent of man, Rousseau equates inequality to a social construct. This construct is based upon the ideal that humans evolved from savages, and departed from this natural stage of savagery due to their environment. Humans then begin to drift away from savages, and the need for self preservation is replaced with a drive for competition, that is to be better, and have more than their fellow humans. The speaker of the prompt states that Rousseau’s theory is based upon a collective commitment to equality among humans. However, his theory depends on man’s competitive nature, and their willingness to exploit others to be a top

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