Ideas from 'Second Treatise of Government' by John Locke [1690], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Two Treatises of Government' by Locke,John [Everyman 1988,0-460-11751-3]].

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24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / b. The natural life
We are not created for solitude, but are driven into society by our needs
                        Full Idea: God, having made man such a creature that, in His own judgement, it was not good for him to be alone, put him under strong obligations of necessity, convenience, and inclination, to drive him into society.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 077)
                        A reaction: This is almost Aristotelian, apart from the individualistic assumption that we are 'driven' into society. The only time I see other people looking generally happy is when they are sitting around at leisure and talking to other people.
All countries are in a mutual state of nature
                        Full Idea: All commonwealths are in a state of Nature one with another.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 153)
                        A reaction: A striking remark. It is easy to think that the state of nature no longer exists. International law attempts to rectify this, but diplomacy is much more like negotiations in nature than it is like obedience to laws.
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / a. Natural freedom
In nature men can dispose of possessions and their persons in any way that is possible
                        Full Idea: The estate all men are naturally in is perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the laws of nature.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 004)
                        A reaction: Note that they have possessions, so property is not an invention of society, but something which society should protect. Presumably Locke thinks they could sell themselves into slavery, which Rousseau rejects.
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / b. Natural equality
There is no subjection in nature, and all creatures of the same species are equal
                        Full Idea: Creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of Nature, are also equal one among another, without subordination or subjection.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 004)
                        A reaction: The birds in my garden don't behave as if that were true. Physical strength is surely a natural inequality.
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights
The rational law of nature says we are all equal and independent, and should show mutual respect
                        Full Idea: The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obliges everyone, and reason, which is that law, teaches mankind that all being equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 006)
                        A reaction: He adds that this is because we are all the property of God. Locke is more optimistic than Hobbes or Rousseau about this, since he thinks we have a natural obligation to be nice.
The animals and fruits of the earth belong to mankind
                        Full Idea: All the fruits the earth naturally produces, and beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in common, as they are produced by the spontaneous hand of Nature.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 026)
                        A reaction: Not a popular view among 21st century ecologists, I guess, but this remains the implicit belief of anyone who goes hunting in the woods, and our enclosed gardens seem to endorse the idea.
There is a natural right to inheritance within a family
                        Full Idea: Every man is born with a right before any other man, to inherit, with his brethren, his father's goods.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 190)
                        A reaction: If a child is fully grown, they may well have drifted into a state of partial ownership of the goods of the parent, of which it would be hard then to deprive them. It is hard to see this as a natural right of tiny orphaned infants.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State
Politics is the right to make enforceable laws to protect property and the state, for the common good
                        Full Idea: Political power is the right of making laws, with penalties up to death, for the preserving of property, employing the force of community in the execution of such laws, in defence of the commonwealth, and only for the common good.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 003)
                        A reaction: Since political power can be used for selfish corruption and genocide, this isn't very accurate, so I take it this is how power ought to be exercised! Notice that defence gets equal billing with his famous defence of property.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract
The Second Treatise explores the consequences of the contractual view of the state
                        Full Idea: In his second Treatise, Locke gave us perhaps the first extended account of the true logical consequences of Hobbes's contractual view of the state.
                        From: report of John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690]) by Roger Scruton - Short History of Modern Philosophy Ch.14
                        A reaction: The issue seems to boil down to an opposition between the Cartesian and the Aristotelian view of the individual, with Locke following Descartes. The alternative, endorsed by Hegel, which I prefer, is that the state is part of human nature.
A society only begins if there is consent of all the individuals to join it
                        Full Idea: The beginning of politic society depends upon the consent of the individuals to join into and make one society.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 106)
                        A reaction: This is the dramatic new political idea (originating with Hobbes), that all of the members must (at some point) consent to the state. In practice we are all born into a state, so it is not clear what this means in real life.
If anyone enjoys the benefits of government (even using a road) they give tacit assent to its laws
                        Full Idea: Every man, that hath an possession, or enjoyment, of any part of the dominions of any government, doth thereby give his tacit consent, and is obliged to obedience to the laws, ..whether it be barely travelling on the highway.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 119), quoted by Gordon Graham - Eight Theories of Ethics Ch.8
                        A reaction: Locke's famous assertion of an unspoken and inescapable contract, to which we are all subject. Hume gave an effective reply (Idea 6703). Locke has a point though. The more you accept, the more obliged you are. I accept the law more as I get older.
A politic society is created from a state of nature by a unanimous agreement
                        Full Idea: That which makes the community, and brings men out of the loose state of Nature into one politic society, is the agreement that everyone has with the rest to incorporate and act as one body.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 211)
                        A reaction: Geography usually keeps commonwealths in place once they have been established, but some of them become disfunctional hell holes because they are trapped in perpetual disagreement.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / d. General will
A single will creates the legislature, which is duty-bound to preserve that will
                        Full Idea: The essence and union of the society consisting in having one will; the legislative, when once established by the majority, has the declaring and, as it were, keeping of that will.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 212)
                        A reaction: Not far from Rousseau's big idea, apart from the emphasis on the 'majority'. Rousseau reduced the role of the general will to preliminaries and basics, but wanted close to unanimity, so that everyone accepts being a subject, to government and law.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
Children are not born into citizenship of a state
                        Full Idea: It is plain, by the practices of governments themselves, as well as by the laws of right reason, that a child is born a subject of no country nor government.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 118)
                        A reaction: At what age do they become citizens, given that there is no induction ceremony? If a small British child were attacked overseas, we would expect the British government to defend its rights.
Anyone who enjoys the benefits of a state has given tacit consent to be part of it
                        Full Idea: Every man that hath any possession or enjoyment of any part of the dominions of any government doth thereby give his tacit consent, and is as far forth obliged to obedience to the laws of that government, during such enjoyment.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 119)
                        A reaction: I wondered at the age of about 18 whether I had given tacit consent to be a British citizen. Locke says you only have to travel freely down the highways to give consent! We are all free, of course, to apply for citizenship elsewhere. But Idea 19894.
You can only become an actual member of a commonwealth by an express promise
                        Full Idea: Nothing can make any man a subject or member of a commonwealth but his actually entering into it by positive engagement, and express promise and compact.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 122)
                        A reaction: In practice the indigenous population never do this. But it a clear distinction for foreign residents in any country. States cannot induct resident foreigners into their army, or allow them to vote.
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / b. Monarchy
Absolute monarchy is inconsistent with civil society
                        Full Idea: Absolute monarchy, which by some men is counted for the only government in the world, is inconsistent with civil society, and so can be no form of civil government at all.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 090)
                        A reaction: This is because citizens do not have a 'decisive' power to appeal for redress of injuries. Rousseau thought that there could be an absolute monarchy, as long as the general will agreed it, and its term of office could be brought to an end by the assembly.
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 2. Leaders / c. Despotism
The idea that absolute power improves mankind is confuted by history
                        Full Idea: He that thinks absolute power purifies men's blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need but read the history of this, or any other age, to be convinced to the contrary.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 092)
                        A reaction: I can't imagine who proposed the view that Locke is attacking, but it will have been some real 17th century thinker. Attitudes to monarchy changed drastically in England, but Louis XIV was still ruling in France.
Despotism is arbitrary power to kill, based neither on natural equality, nor any social contract
                        Full Idea: Despotical power is an absolute, arbitrary power one man over another, to take away his life whenever he pleases; and this is a power which neither Nature gives, for it has made no such distinction between one man and another, nor compact can convey.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 172)
                        A reaction: Colonies of seals, walruses and apes seem to display despotism, based on physical strength, though that is largely to do with mating. There could be such a compact, but Locke would regard it as invalid.
People stripped of their property are legitimately subject to despotism
                        Full Idea: Forfeiture gives despotical power to lords for their own benefit over those who are stripped of all property. ...Despotical power is over such as have no property at all.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 173)
                        A reaction: Nasty! Shylock is stripped of his property by Venice, so these things happened. This is taking the significance of property a long way beyond its role at the beginning of Locke's book. Property is the start of society, but then becomes your passport.
Legitimate prisoners of war are subject to despotism, because that continues the state of war
                        Full Idea: Captives, taken in a just and lawful war, and such only, are subject to a despotical power, which, as it arises not from compact, so neither is it capable of any, but is the state of war continued.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 205)
                        A reaction: How long after a war finishes is such despotism legitimate? What happened to the German prisoners in Russia in 1945? Locke defined despotism as the right to kill, but that is expressly contrary to the rules of war, look you.
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 3. Government / b. Legislature
Even the legislature must be preceded by a law which gives it power to make laws
                        Full Idea: The first and fundamental positive law of all commonwealths is the establishing of the legislative power, as the first and fundamental natural law which is to govern even the legislative.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 134)
                        A reaction: I think Rousseau says that there cannot be a law which enables the general will to set up legislative powers. It just seems to be something which happens. Locke is threatened with an infinite regress. What legitimises the enabling law?
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 3. Government / c. Executive
The executive must not be the legislature, or they may exempt themselves from laws
                        Full Idea: It may be too great temptation to human frailty, apt to grasp at power, for the same persons to have the power of making laws to also have in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 143)
                        A reaction: The main principles of modern constitutions are devised to avoid corruption. If people were incorruptible (yeah, right) the world would presumably be run very differently, and rather more efficiently, like a good family.
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / c. Revolution
Any obstruction to the operation of the legislature can be removed forcibly by the people
                        Full Idea: Having erect a legislative with the power of making laws, when they are hindered by any force from what is so necessary to society, and wherein the safety and preservation of the people consists, the people have a right to remove it by force.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 155)
                        A reaction: I doubt if he was thinking of the French Revolution, but this will clearly have application to the English events of 1642. The Speaker of the Commons was held down in his chair in the 1620s, so that some legislation could be enacted.
Rebelling against an illegitimate power is no sin
                        Full Idea: It is plain that shaking off a power which force, and not right, hath set over any one, though it have the name of rebellion, yet it is no offence against God.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 196)
                        A reaction: [He cites Hezekiah at 2 Kings 18.7] At this time the English Civil War was referred to as the 'Great Rebellion' (so this is an interesting and brave remark of Locke's), though few people would think that Charles I had illegitimate power.
If legislators confiscate property, or enslave people, they are no longer owed obedience
                        Full Idea: Whenever the legislators endeavour to take away and destroy the property of the people, or reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 222)
                        A reaction: This might fit Louis XVI in 1788. Locke was certainly not averse to consideration the situations in which revolution might be justified. He was trying to be even-handed about 1642. Locke seems to think that without property you ARE a slave.
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / a. Nature of democracy
Unanimous consent makes a united community, which is then ruled by the majority
                        Full Idea: When any number of men have, by the consent of every individual, made a community, they have thereby made that community into one body, with a power to act as one body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 096)
                        A reaction: This seems to be presume democracy without discussion, although the formation of the community is by universal consent, which is the 'general will'. Rousseau has the constitution also made almost unanimously, not by a majority.
The people have supreme power, to depose a legislature which has breached their trust
                        Full Idea: There remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 149)
                        A reaction: This seems to be the most important aspect of representative democracy. It is not the power of people to make decisions, but the power to get rid of bad rulers.
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
If you try to enslave me, you have declared war on me
                        Full Idea: He who makes an attempt to enslave me thereby puts himself into a state of war with me.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 017)
                        A reaction: So presumably actual slaves are in a state of permanent war with their owners. What of a woman who is enslaved by her husband?
A master forfeits ownership of slaves he abandons
                        Full Idea: A master forfeits the dominion over his slaves whom he hath abandoned.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 237)
                        A reaction: How often did slave owners take a day off, I wonder? Presumably slaves will take back their freedom, even if the masters haven't 'forfeited' their ownership, so Locke's point is fairly academic.
Slaves captured in a just war have no right to property, so are not part of civil society
                        Full Idea: Slave are captives taken in a just war, and by right of Nature subjected to the absolute dominion and arbitrary power of their masters. ...Being not capable of any property, they cannot in that state be considered any part of civil society.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 085)
                        A reaction: If the test of citizenship is being capable of holding property, presumably children and mentally damaged people (including the very old) will also fail to qualify. I see no principled reason why slaves should not be allowed to vote. Note 'just' war.
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom
Freedom is not absence of laws, but living under laws arrived at by consent
                        Full Idea: Liberty of man in society is to be under no other legislative power but that established by consent in the commonwealth. Freedom is not (as Filmer suggests) doing what you please while not tied by any laws.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 022)
                        A reaction: That sounds plausible if the consent is unanimous, but a minority is not free if the laws made by a large majority are a sort of persecution.
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality
All value depends on the labour involved
                        Full Idea: It is labour that puts the difference of value on everything. ...Whatever bread is worth more than acorns, wine than water, that is wholly owing to labour and industry.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 040)
                        A reaction: In capitalism this is nonsense. Supply and demand fix all the values. Locke has slid from labour bestowing ownership to labour bestowing value. No one gets paid on the basis of how hard they work, except on piece rates.
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 3. Alienating rights
We all own our bodies, and the work we do is our own
                        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.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 027)
                        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.
There is only a civil society if the members give up all of their natural executive rights
                        Full Idea: Wherever any number of men so unite into one society as to quite every one his executive power of the law of Nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is a civil society.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 089)
                        A reaction: This seems to mean that you must give up your active ('executive') natural rights, but not your passive ones (which are inviolable).
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
Soldiers can be commanded to die, but not to hand over their money
                        Full Idea: The sergeant that can command a soldier to march up to the mouth of a cannon ...cannot command that soldier to give him one penny of his money.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 139)
                        A reaction: A very nice and accurate illustration of a principle which runs so deep that it does indeed look like a basis of society.
A man owns land if he cultivates it, to the limits of what he needs
                        Full Idea: As much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can use the product of, so much is his property.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 032)
                        A reaction: Industrial farming rather changes this picture. Does the man himself decide how much he can use the product of, or do the neighbours tell him where his boundaries must be? 'Reason not the need', as King Lear said. What if he stops cultivating it?
Locke (and Marx) held that ownership of objects is a natural relation, based on the labour put into it
                        Full Idea: Locke thought that property ownership reflected a natural relationship; for him the primordial notion of the ownership of an object is a function of the labour that one puts into it; Marx held a similar view.
                        From: report of John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690]) by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.3
                        A reaction: Marx would have to think that, in order to believe that capitalist ownership of the means of production used by the workers was a fundamental injustice. A deeper Marxism might see the whole idea of 'ownership' as a capitalist (or feudal) conspiracy.
Locke says 'mixing of labour' entitles you to land, as well as nuts and berries
                        Full Idea: The great advantage of Locke's 'labour-mixing' argument is that it seems it can justify the appropriation of land, as well as nuts and berries.
                        From: comment on John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690]) by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 5 'Locke'
                        A reaction: The argument is dubious at best, and plausibly downright wicked. How much labour achieves ownership? What of previous people who worked the land but never thought to claim 'ownership'? Suppose I do more labour than you on 'your' land?
A man's labour gives ownership rights - as long as there are fair shares for all
                        Full Idea: The 'labour' being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common for others.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 027)
                        A reaction: The qualification at the end is a crucial (and problematic) addition to his theory. What is the situation when an area of wilderness is 98% owned? What of the single source of water? Who gets the best parts? Getting there first seems crucial.
Fountain water is everyone's, but a drawn pitcher of water has an owner
                        Full Idea: Though the water running in the fountain be every one's, yet who can doubt but that in the pitcher is his only who drew it out?
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 029)
                        A reaction: This would certainly be the normal consensus of a community, as long as there is plenty of water. The strong and fit gatherers get all the best firewood, so I suppose that is just tough on the others.
If a man mixes his labour with something in Nature, he thereby comes to own it
                        Full Idea: Whatever a man removes out of the state that Nature hath provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with it, and joined something to it that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. ...This excludes the common right of other men.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 027)
                        A reaction: This is Locke's famous Labour Theory of Value. Does picking it up count as labour? Putting a fence round it? Paying someone else to do the labour? Do bees own their honey? Settlers in the wilderness own nothing on day one?
Gathering natural fruits gives ownership; the consent of other people is irrelevant
                        Full Idea: If the first gathering of acorns and apples made them not a man's, nothing else could. ...Will anyone say he had no right to them because he had not the consent of all mankind to make them his?
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 028)
                        A reaction: The ideas of Nozick are all in this sentence. Does this idea justify the enclosure of common land? The first member of the community who thought of Locke's labour theory had a huge head's start. Liberal individualism rampant.
Mixing labour with a thing bestows ownership - as long as the thing is not wasted
                        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.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 031)
                        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?
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / a. Legal system
The aim of law is not restraint, but to make freedom possible
                        Full Idea: The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom, for where there is no law there is no freedom.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 057)
                        A reaction: This fits both the liberal and the communitarian view of the matter. Talk of 'freedom' is commonplace in England by this date, where it is hardly mention 60 years earler. John Lilburne almost single-handedly brought this about.
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / c. Natural law
It is only by a law of Nature that we can justify punishing foreigners
                        Full Idea: If by the law of Nature every man hath not a power to punish offences against [the state], as he soberly judges the case to require, I see not how the magistrates of any community can punish an alien of another country.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 009)
                        A reaction: This is a nice point. You can't expect to be above the law in a foreign country, but you have entered into no social contract, unless visiting a place is a sort of contract. Intrusions into air space are often accidental visits.
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / a. Right to punish
Reparation and restraint are the only justifications for punishment
                        Full Idea: Reparation and restraint are the only two reasons why one man may lawfully do harm to another, which is that we call punishment.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 008)
                        A reaction: But by 'reparation' does be mean retribution, or compensation? He doesn't rule out capital punishment, but that may qualify as maximum restraint.
Self-defence is natural, but not the punishment of superiors by inferiors
                        Full Idea: It is natural for us to defend life and limb, but that an inferior should punish a superior is against nature.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 236)
                        A reaction: He is obliquely referring to the execution of Charles I, even though he may have been legitimately overthrown. I wonder what exactly he means by 'superior' and 'inferior'. An idea from another age!
Punishment should make crime a bad bargain, leading to repentance and deterrence
                        Full Idea: Each transgression may be punished to that degree, and with so much severity, as will suffice to make it an ill bargain to the offender, give him cause to repent, and terrify others from doing the like.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 012)
                        A reaction: I gather that the consensus among experts is that the biggest deterrence is a high likelihood of being caught, rather than the severity of the punishment.
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 4. Taxation
The consent of the people is essential for any tax
                        Full Idea: The legislative power must not raise taxes on the property of the people without the consent of the people given by themselves or their deputies.
                        From: John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 142)
                        A reaction: He will be thinking of the resistance to Ship Money in the 1630s, which was a step towards civil war. The people of Boston, Ma, may have read this sentence 80 years later!