back to ideas for this text


Single Idea 6580

[from 'Second Treatise of Government' by John Locke, in 25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights ]

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.

Gist of Idea

Locke (and Marx) held that ownership of objects is a natural relation, based on the labour put into it

Source

report of John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690]) by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.3

Book Reference

Fogelin,Robert: 'Walking the Tightrope of Reason' [OUP 2004], p.74


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.