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Full Idea
Every man has a 'property' in his own 'person'. This nobody has any right to it but himself. The 'labour' of his body and the 'work' of his hands, we may say, are properly his.
Gist of Idea
We all own our bodies, and the work we do is our own
Source
John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 027)
Book Ref
Locke,John: 'Two Treatises of Government' [Everyman 1988], p.130
A Reaction
He doesn't have any grounds for this claim. Why doesn't a cow own its body? He slides from my ownership of my laborious efforts to my ownership of what I have been working on. I can't acquire your car by servicing it.
Related Ideas
Idea 19872 The animals and fruits of the earth belong to mankind [Locke]
Idea 19874 If a man mixes his labour with something in Nature, he thereby comes to own it [Locke]
Idea 19875 A man's labour gives ownership rights - as long as there are fair shares for all [Locke]
| 2369 | If we seek peace and defend ourselves, we must compromise on our rights [Hobbes] |
| 19918 | Forming a society meant following reason, and giving up dangerous appetites and mutual harm [Spinoza] |
| 19919 | People only give up their rights, and keep promises, if they hope for some greater good [Spinoza] |
| 19921 | Once you have given up your rights, there is no going back [Spinoza] |
| 19925 | In democracy we don't abandon our rights, but transfer them to the majority of us [Spinoza] |
| 19928 | No one, in giving up their power and right, ceases to be a human being [Spinoza] |
| 19929 | Everyone who gives up their rights must fear the recipients of them [Spinoza] |
| 19932 | The early Hebrews, following Moses, gave up their rights to God alone [Spinoza] |
| 19873 | We all own our bodies, and the work we do is our own [Locke] |
| 19884 | There is only a civil society if the members give up all of their natural executive rights [Locke] |
| 19794 | If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another [Rousseau] |
| 7241 | In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property [Rousseau] |
| 19806 | We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us [Rousseau] |
| 21084 | In the contract people lose their rights, but immediately regain them, in the new commonwealth [Kant] |
| 21065 | You can't make a contract renouncing your right to make contracts! [Kant] |