4 - Locke and Rousseau Flashcards
Locke’s state of nature
- State of nature can be seen as a state of peace where people get along
- A state of equality exists
- There is a law of nature that gives people a sense of morality and discourages them from committing antisocial behaviour
- People have a moral guide that restricts liberty
What is the executive power in the law of nature?
The right to punish people who break social norms and refuse to respect the right to life, liberty, and property
Includes the right to punish
In the state of nature, is there scarcity or abundance? (Locke vs. Hobbes)
Hobbes - scarcity
Locke - abundance gained from God, more than enough property for individuals to cultivate
Inconveniences of not having a state
-Who administers justice? Some lack the power to enforce the laws of nature (especially EPLN)
Two key features of Rousseau’s state of nature
1) Desire for self-preservation
2) Pity or compassion for the suffering of others
How does self-preservation trump compassion? (Rousseau)
- Scarcity creates a problem
- Self-preservation trumps pity
- War becomes inevitable
Who is the natural savage?
- Solitary, no language, fears only pain and hunger
- Desires only food, sex, and sleep
How does change happen in the state of nature? (Rousseau)
1) Free will
2) Capacity for self improvement
- Scarcity leads to innovation
- Cooperation develops because people prefer to work together to attain their goals
Sequence of cooperation in the state of nature (Rousseau)
- No more focus on survival
- No more focus on looking out for each other in a survivalist sense
- Language develops
- Talents and comparison of talents develop
- Development of agriculture, metallurgy, property, justice, inequality
- State of war
Who said that “the law in its majestic equality forbids both rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets, and stealing bread”
Anatole France
