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Single Idea 19878

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights ]

Full Idea

How far has God given us all things 'to enjoy'? As much as any one can make use of to any advantage of his life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a property in.

Gist of Idea

Mixing labour with a thing bestows ownership - as long as the thing is not wasted

Source

John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 031)

Book Ref

Locke,John: 'Two Treatises of Government' [Everyman 1988], p.131

A Reaction

This adds a very different value to Locke's theory, because the person seems to be answerable to fellow citizens if they harvest important resources and then waste them. Where do luxuries fit in?

The 280 ideas from John Locke

5654 The Second Treatise explores the consequences of the contractual view of the state [Locke, by Scruton]
6580 Locke (and Marx) held that ownership of objects is a natural relation, based on the labour put into it [Locke, by Fogelin]
20520 Locke says 'mixing of labour' entitles you to land, as well as nuts and berries [Wolff,J on Locke]
19863 Politics is the right to make enforceable laws to protect property and the state, for the common good [Locke]
19865 There is no subjection in nature, and all creatures of the same species are equal [Locke]
19864 In nature men can dispose of possessions and their persons in any way that is possible [Locke]
19866 The rational law of nature says we are all equal and independent, and should show mutual respect [Locke]
19867 Reparation and restraint are the only justifications for punishment [Locke]
19868 It is only by a law of Nature that we can justify punishing foreigners [Locke]
19869 Punishment should make crime a bad bargain, leading to repentance and deterrence [Locke]
19870 If you try to enslave me, you have declared war on me [Locke]
19871 Freedom is not absence of laws, but living under laws arrived at by consent [Locke]
19872 The animals and fruits of the earth belong to mankind [Locke]
19875 A man's labour gives ownership rights - as long as there are fair shares for all [Locke]
19874 If a man mixes his labour with something in Nature, he thereby comes to own it [Locke]
19873 We all own our bodies, and the work we do is our own [Locke]
19876 Gathering natural fruits gives ownership; the consent of other people is irrelevant [Locke]
19877 Fountain water is everyone's, but a drawn pitcher of water has an owner [Locke]
19878 Mixing labour with a thing bestows ownership - as long as the thing is not wasted [Locke]
19879 A man owns land if he cultivates it, to the limits of what he needs [Locke]
19880 All value depends on the labour involved [Locke]
19881 The aim of law is not restraint, but to make freedom possible [Locke]
19882 We are not created for solitude, but are driven into society by our needs [Locke]
19883 Slaves captured in a just war have no right to property, so are not part of civil society [Locke]
19884 There is only a civil society if the members give up all of their natural executive rights [Locke]
19885 Absolute monarchy is inconsistent with civil society [Locke]
19886 The idea that absolute power improves mankind is confuted by history [Locke]
19887 Unanimous consent makes a united community, which is then ruled by the majority [Locke]
19888 A society only begins if there is consent of all the individuals to join it [Locke]
19892 Children are not born into citizenship of a state [Locke]
6702 If anyone enjoys the benefits of government (even using a road) they give tacit assent to its laws [Locke]
19893 Anyone who enjoys the benefits of a state has given tacit consent to be part of it [Locke]
19894 You can only become an actual member of a commonwealth by an express promise [Locke]
19895 Even the legislature must be preceded by a law which gives it power to make laws [Locke]
19898 Soldiers can be commanded to die, but not to hand over their money [Locke]
19899 The consent of the people is essential for any tax [Locke]
19900 The executive must not be the legislature, or they may exempt themselves from laws [Locke]
19901 The people have supreme power, to depose a legislature which has breached their trust [Locke]
19906 All countries are in a mutual state of nature [Locke]
19902 Any obstruction to the operation of the legislature can be removed forcibly by the people [Locke]
19903 Despotism is arbitrary power to kill, based neither on natural equality, nor any social contract [Locke]
19905 People stripped of their property are legitimately subject to despotism [Locke]
19907 There is a natural right to inheritance within a family [Locke]
19908 Rebelling against an illegitimate power is no sin [Locke]
19904 Legitimate prisoners of war are subject to despotism, because that continues the state of war [Locke]
19909 A politic society is created from a state of nature by a unanimous agreement [Locke]
19910 A single will creates the legislature, which is duty-bound to preserve that will [Locke]
19911 If legislators confiscate property, or enslave people, they are no longer owed obedience [Locke]
19912 Self-defence is natural, but not the punishment of superiors by inferiors [Locke]
19913 A master forfeits ownership of slaves he abandons [Locke]
15966 Boyle and Locke believed corpuscular structures necessitate their powers of interaction [Locke, by Alexander,P]
15986 Boyle and Locke suspect forces of being occult [Locke, by Alexander,P]
6712 For Locke, abstract ideas are our main superiority of understanding over animals [Locke, by Berkeley]
5827 A species of thing is an abstract idea, and a word is a sign that refers to the idea [Locke]
7721 Locke's view that thoughts are made of ideas asserts the crucial role of imagination [Locke]
5512 Locke uses 'self' for a momentary entity, and 'person' for an extended one [Locke, by Martin/Barresi]
5175 Personal identity is my perceptions, but not my memory, as I forget too much [Ayer on Locke]
6139 Locke implies that each thought has two thinkers - me, and 'my' substance [Merricks on Locke]
5513 Two persons might have qualitatively identical consciousnesses, so that isn't enough [Kant on Locke]
1345 Locke's move from substance to consciousness is a slippery slope [Butler on Locke]
5511 For Locke, conscious awareness unifies a person at an instant and over time [Locke, by Martin/Barresi]
2555 For Locke knowledge relates to objects, not to propositions [Locke, by Rorty]
16037 Locke seems to use real essence for scientific explanation, and substratum for the being of a thing [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
2793 It is unclear how identity, equality, perfection, God, power and cause derive from experience [Locke, by Dancy,J]
6488 Locke has no patience with scepticism [Locke, by Robinson,H]
15989 Colours, smells and tastes are ideas; the secondary qualities have no colour, smell or taste [Locke, by Alexander,P]
6725 Locke believes matter is an inert, senseless substance, with extension, figure and motion [Locke, by Berkeley]
15982 Qualities are named as primary if they are needed for scientific explanation [Locke, by Alexander,P]
15973 In my view Locke's 'textures' are groups of corpuscles which are powers (rather than 'having' powers) [Locke, by Alexander,P]
16031 Real essence explains observable qualities, but not what kind of thing it is [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
15646 If essence is 'nominal', artificial gold (with its surface features) would qualify as 'gold' [Locke, by Eagle]
12306 'Nominal essence' is everything contained in the idea of a particular sort of thing [Locke, by Copi]
12804 There are no independent natural kinds - or our classifications have to be subjective [Locke, by Jolley]
15983 Locke explains powers, but effectively eliminates them with his talk of internal structure [Locke, by Alexander,P]
6487 Locke, Berkeley and Hume did no serious thinking about universals [Robinson,H on Locke]
12810 We can conceive an individual without assigning it to a kind [Locke, by Jolley]
16787 Explanatory essence won't do, because it won't distinguish the accidental from the essential [Locke, by Pasnau]
16028 Lockean real essence makes a thing what it is, and produces its observable qualities [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
9438 Maybe analysis seeks the 'nominal essence', and metaphysics seeks the 'real essence' [Locke, by Mumford]
8084 Syllogisms are verbal fencing, not discovery [Locke]
7653 I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge [Locke]
7570 Innate ideas are trivial (if they are just potentials) or absurd (if they claim infants know a lot) [Locke, by Jolley]
6486 Ideas are the objects of understanding when we think [Locke]
15967 The word 'idea' covers thinking best, for imaginings, concepts, and basic experiences [Locke]
12471 Innate ideas are nothing, if they are in the mind but we are unaware of them [Locke]
2603 If we aren't aware that an idea is innate, the concept of innate is meaningless; if we do, all ideas seem innate [Locke]
12472 If the only test of innateness is knowing, then all of our knowledge is innate [Locke]
7709 A proposition can't be in the mind if we aren't conscious of it [Locke]
7723 The senses first let in particular ideas, which furnish the empty cabinet [Locke]
12473 We can demand a reason for any moral rule [Locke]
4130 There couldn't be a moral rule of which a man could not justly demand a reason [Locke]
4018 Innate ideas were followed up with innate doctrines, which stopped reasoning and made social control possible [Locke]
10326 Other men's opinions don't add to our knowledge - even when they are true [Locke]
7724 All the ideas written on the white paper of the mind can only come from one place - experience [Locke]
7507 The mind is white paper, with no writing, or ideas [Locke]
12474 The mind is a blank page, on which only experience can write [Locke]
12475 All our ideas derive either from sensation, or from inner reflection [Locke]
5002 Consciousness is the perception of what passes in a man's own mind [Locke]
16685 An insurmountable force in a body keeps our hands apart when we handle it [Locke]
12476 Every external object or internal idea suggests to us the idea of unity [Locke]
12477 We get the idea of power from our own actions, and the interaction of external bodies [Locke]
12478 A 'quality' is a power to produce an idea in our minds [Locke]
12479 Primary qualities produce simple ideas, such as solidity, extension, motion and number [Locke]
15971 Secondary qualities are powers of complex primary qualities to produce sensations in us [Locke]
16032 To explain qualities, Locke invokes primary and secondary qualities, not real essences [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
12480 Ideas of primary qualities resemble their objects, but those of secondary qualities don't [Locke]
7049 In Locke, the primary qualities are also powers [Locke, by Heil]
7050 I suspect that Locke did not actually believe colours are 'in the mind' [Locke, by Heil]
12481 Hands can report conflicting temperatures, but not conflicting shapes [Locke]
12482 Molyneux's Question: could a blind man distinguish cube from sphere, if he regained his sight? [Locke]
9083 The mind creates abstractions by generalising about appearances of objects, ignoring time or place [Locke]
12483 Unlike humans, animals cannot entertain general ideas [Locke]
15980 We can locate the parts of the universe, but not the whole thing [Locke]
12484 Motion is just change of distance between two things [Locke]
12485 We don't know what substance is, and only vaguely know what it does [Locke]
12486 An 'instant' is where we perceive no succession, and is the time of a single idea [Locke]
12487 We can never show that two successive periods of time were equal [Locke]
7782 Every simple idea we ever have brings the idea of unity along with it [Locke]
12488 The idea of 'one' is the simplest, most obvious and most widespread idea [Locke]
12489 If there were real infinities, you could add two together, which is ridiculous [Locke]
4019 Things are good and evil only in reference to pleasure and pain [Locke]
12490 Power is active or passive, and has a relation to actions [Locke]
12491 Asking whether man's will is free is liking asking if sleep is fast or virtue is square [Locke]
12492 Liberty is a power of agents, so can't be an attribute of wills [Locke]
12493 A man is free insofar as he can act according to his own preferences [Locke]
12494 Men are not free to will, because they cannot help willing [Locke]
3792 We are free to decide not to follow our desires [Locke]
12495 Pursuit of happiness is the highest perfection of intellectual nature [Locke]
12496 Complex ideas are all resolvable into simple ideas [Locke]
12497 Causes are the substances which have the powers to produce action [Locke]
7713 We identify substances by supposing that groups of sensations arise from an essence [Locke]
12498 Particular substances are coexisting ideas that seem to flow from a hidden essence [Locke]
7945 We think of substance as experienced qualities plus a presumed substratum of support [Locke]
8546 Powers are part of our idea of substances [Locke]
15979 Secondary qualities are simply the bare powers of an object [Locke]
16038 Locke may distinguish real essence from internal constitution, claiming the latter is knowable [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
12499 Bodies distinctively have cohesion of parts, and power to communicate motion [Locke]
16637 The absolute boundaries of our thought are the ideas we get from senses and the mind [Locke]
12500 Thinking without matter and matter that thinks are equally baffling [Locke]
12503 Identity means that the idea of a thing remains the same over time [Locke]
12501 The mind can make a unity out of anything, no matter how diverse [Locke]
12502 Comparisons boil down to simple elements of sensation or reflection [Locke]
16796 Locke may accept coinciding material substances, such as body, man and person [Locke, by Pasnau]
1211 Viewing an object at an instant, we perceive identity when we see it must be that thing and not another [Locke]
12505 One thing cannot have two beginnings of existence, nor two things one beginning [Locke]
12504 Two things can't occupy one place and time, which leads us to the idea of self-identity [Locke]
1196 We can conceive of three sorts of substance: God, finite intelligence, and bodies [Locke]
1197 No two thoughts at different times can be the same, as they have different beginnings [Locke]
12507 A mass consists of its atoms, so the addition or removal of one changes its identity [Locke]
12508 Living things retain identity through change, by a principle of organisation [Locke]
12506 A thing is individuated just by existing at a time and place [Locke]
12509 If the soul individuates a man, and souls are transferable, then a hog could be a man [Locke]
12510 Not all identity is unity of substance [Locke]
16795 Same person, man or substance are different identities, belonging to different ideas [Locke]
16797 Maybe Locke described the real essence of a person [Locke, by Pasnau]
1202 A person is intelligent, rational, self-aware, continuous, conscious [Locke]
1372 Our personal identity must depend on something we are aware of, namely consciousness [Locke]
1363 Locke's theory confusingly tries to unite consciousness and memory [Reid on Locke]
1368 Locke mistakes similarity of a memory to its original event for identity [Reid on Locke]
1373 Identity over time involves remembering actions just as they happened [Locke]
1364 Locke confuses the test for personal identity with the thing itself [Reid on Locke]
12511 If consciousness is interrupted, and we forget our past selves, are we still the same thinking thing? [Locke]
1361 If identity is consciousness, could a person move between bodies or fragment into parts? [Reid on Locke]
1376 Identity must be in consciousness not substance, because it seems transferable [Locke]
12512 If someone becomes conscious of Nestor's actions, then he is Nestor [Locke]
21326 Locke's memory theory of identity confuses personal identity with the test for it [Reid on Locke]
12513 If a prince's soul entered a cobbler's body, the person would be the prince (and the man the cobbler) [Locke]
1378 My little finger is part of me if I am conscious of it [Locke]
1380 Should we punish people who commit crimes in their sleep? [Locke]
1381 Someone mad then sane is two persons, judging by our laws and punishments [Locke]
12514 On Judgement Day, no one will be punished for actions they cannot remember [Locke]
1397 Locke sees underlying substance as irrelevant to personal identity [Locke, by Noonan]
1387 Butler thought Locke's theory was doomed once he rejected mental substance [Perry on Locke]
1385 'Person' is a term used about responsibility, involving law, and happiness and misery [Locke]
1386 A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness [Locke]
12515 Actions are virtuous if they are judged praiseworthy [Locke]
12516 Obscure simple ideas result from poor senses, brief impressions, or poor memory [Locke]
12517 Ideas are uncertain when they are unnamed, because too close to other ideas [Locke]
12518 The mind cannot produce simple ideas [Locke]
12519 Gold is supposed to have a real essence, from whence its detectable properties flow [Locke]
12520 The best I can make of real essence is figure, size and connection of solid parts [Locke]
12521 We can only know a thing's powers when we have combined it with many things [Locke]
15988 The observable qualities are never the real essence, since they depend on real essence [Locke]
12522 It is propositions which are true or false, though it is sometimes said of ideas [Locke]
12523 If they refer to real substances, 'man' is a true idea and 'centaur' a false one [Locke]
12524 For the correct reference of complex ideas, we can only refer to experts [Locke]
2421 There is nothing illogical about inverted qualia [Locke]
3522 The same object might produce violet in one mind and marigold in another [Locke]
12525 The essence of a triangle is simple; presumably substance essences are similar [Locke]
12526 Opposition to reason is mad [Locke]
12527 Some ideas connect together naturally, while others connect by chance or custom [Locke]
12528 If a man sees a friend die in a room, he associates the pain with the room [Locke]
7716 Words were devised as signs for inner ideas, and their basic meaning is those ideas [Locke]
7308 Words stand for the ideas in the mind of him that uses them [Locke]
12305 Locke's essences determine the other properties, so the two will change together [Locke, by Copi]
7717 All things that exist are particulars [Locke]
7040 General words represent general ideas, which are abstractions from immediate circumstances [Locke]
8910 General and universal are not real entities, but useful inventions of the mind, concerning words or ideas [Locke]
15644 In nominal essence, Locke confuses the set of properties with the abstracted idea of them [Eagle on Locke]
12529 I speak of a 'sortal' name, from the word 'sort' [Locke]
11155 Essence is the very being of any thing, whereby it is what it is [Locke]
15985 It is impossible for two things with the same real essence to differ in properties [Locke]
12530 The less rational view of essences is that they are moulds for kinds of natural thing [Locke]
13431 A space between three lines is both the nominal and real essence of a triangle, the source of its properties [Locke]
16029 Locke's real and nominal essence refers back to Aristotle's real and nominal definitions [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
12531 Nominal Essence is the abstract idea to which a name is attached [Locke]
13771 Real essence is the constitution of the unknown parts of a body which produce its qualities [Locke]
13433 Essences relate to sorting words; if you replace those with names, essences vanish [Locke]
13434 In our ideas, the idea of essence is inseparable from the concept of a species [Locke]
12809 Nothing about me is essential [Locke]
16786 You can't distinguish individuals without the species as a standard [Locke]
12532 Even real essence depends on a sort, since it is sorts which have the properties [Locke]
12533 Real essences are unknown, so only the nominal essence connects things to a species [Locke]
16035 If we based species on real essences, the individuals would be as indistinguishable as two circles [Locke]
15976 What is the texture - the real essence - which makes substances behave in distinct ways? [Locke]
13435 We can't categorise things by their real essences, because these are unknown [Locke]
15170 We distinguish species by their nominal essence, not by their real essence [Locke]
13436 There are no gaps in the continuum of nature, and everything has something closely resembling it [Locke]
12534 We cannot know what properties are necessary to gold, unless we first know its real essence [Locke]
12535 If we discovered real essences, we would still categorise things by the external appearance [Locke]
12536 We sort and name substances by nominal and not by real essence [Locke]
12537 To be a nominal essence, a complex idea must exhibit unity [Locke]
12539 If every sort has its real essence, one horse, being many sorts, will have many essences [Locke]
12538 Genus is a partial conception of species, and species a partial idea of individuals [Locke]
16036 Internal constitution doesn't decide a species; should a watch contain four wheels or five? [Locke]
12540 Artificial things like watches and pistols have distinct kinds [Locke]
15974 The essence of whiteness in a man is nothing but the power to produce the idea of whiteness [Locke]
13423 The schools recognised that they don't really know essences, because they couldn't coin names for them [Locke]
15991 Since words are just conventional, we can represent our own ideas with any words we please [Locke]
15978 I take 'matter' to be a body, excluding its extension in space and its shape [Locke]
15992 Many individuals grouped under one name vary more than some things that have different names [Locke]
12541 Morality can be demonstrated, because we know the real essences behind moral words [Locke]
12542 Knowledge is just the connection or disagreement of our ideas [Locke]
12543 Intuition gives us direct and certain knowledge of what is obvious [Locke]
15995 The greatest certainty is knowing our own ideas, and that two ideas are different [Locke]
12544 Our knowledge falls short of the extent of our own ideas [Locke]
7840 For all we know, an omnipotent being might have enabled material beings to think [Locke]
12545 Other spirits may exceed us in knowledge, by knowing the inward constitution of things [Locke]
12546 We can't know how primary and secondary qualities connect together [Locke]
15996 We can't begin to conceive what would produce some particular experience within our minds [Locke]
12547 We know five properties of gold, but cannot use four of them to predict the fifth one [Locke]
15950 We will only understand substance when we know the necessary connections between powers and qualities [Locke]
15984 The corpuscular hypothesis is the best explanation of the necessary connection and co-existence of powers [Locke]
12548 It is certain that injustice requires property, since it is a violation of the right to property [Locke]
12549 Nothing is so beautiful to the eye as truth is to the mind [Locke]
12550 If we knew the minute mechanics of hemlock, we could predict that it kills men [Locke]
12551 We are satisfied that other men have minds, from their words and actions [Locke]
15997 We are so far from understanding the workings of natural bodies that it is pointless to even try [Locke]
12552 Thoughts moving bodies, and bodies producing thoughts, are equally unknowable [Locke]
15993 If we observe total regularity, there must be some unknown law and relationships controlling it [Locke]
12553 Some of our ideas contain relations which we cannot conceive to be absent [Locke]
12554 Existences can only be known by experience [Locke]
17735 Simple ideas are produced in us by external things, and they match their appearances [Locke]
12555 The constant link between whiteness and things that produce it is the basis of our knowledge [Locke]
10055 Mathematical proofs work, irrespective of whether the objects exist [Locke]
12556 Mathematics is just about ideas, so whether circles exist is irrelevant [Locke]
12557 Our ideas of substance are based on mental archetypes, but these come from the world [Locke]
12558 Truth only belongs to mental or verbal propositions [Locke]
12560 We can only slightly know necessary co-existence of qualities, if they are primary [Locke]
12559 Complex ideas are collections of qualities we attach to an unknown substratum [Locke]
12561 For 'all gold is malleable' to be necessary, it must be part of gold's nominal essence [Locke]
12562 General certainty is only found in ideas [Locke]
12563 Obviously two bodies cannot be in the same place [Locke]
12564 I am as certain of the thing doubting, as I am of the doubt [Locke]
12565 God has given us no innate idea of himself [Locke]
12566 We exist, so there is Being, which requires eternal being [Locke]
12567 It is inconceivable that unthinking matter could produce intelligence [Locke]
12569 Knowledge by senses is less certain than that by intuition or reason, but it is still knowledge [Locke]
12568 God assures me of the existence of external things [Locke]
12570 The finite and dependent should obey the supreme and infinite [Locke]
15977 Facts beyond immediate experience are assessed by agreement with known truths and observations [Locke]
12571 If miracles aim at producing belief, it is plausible that their events are very unusual [Locke]
12572 Many people can reason well, yet can't make a syllogism [Locke]
12573 Ad Hominem: press a man with the consequences of his own principle [Locke]
19517 Believing without a reason may just be love of your own fantasies [Locke]
12574 When two ideas agree in my mind, I cannot refuse to see and know it [Locke]
7718 Universals do not exist, but are useful inventions of the mind, involving words or ideas [Locke]
12812 Things have real essences, but we categorise them according to the ideas we receive [Locke]
15990 Every individual thing which exists has an essence, which is its internal constitution [Locke]
15994 If it is knowledge, it is certain; if it isn't certain, it isn't knowledge [Locke]