Locke Flashcards
What is Political Power?
The right to make laws with the death penalty and all lesser penalties, regulating and preserving property and to employ force of the community in enforcing such laws, all for public good.
What is the state of men in the state of nature?
- men are free of order
- they can dispose of their possessions in any way they like
- also a state of equality where no one has more power than another
- Limited by law of nature
Why can’t we harm each other in state of nature?
.We are all works of one omnipotent and wise maker
.We are all servants of one sovereign master
.We are all property of god
.We have same abilities and share common nature
Who enforces nature’s law?
everyone enforces natures law
What are man’s two distinct rights in state of nature?
- Everyone has to punish the criminal as to prevent him committing crime again
- Right an injured party has to reparation
Why does crime need to be punished?
so that it’s a bad bargain for someone to do it
Why is the state of nature intolerable? and why might it be better?
- Evils are bound to follow from man being judges in their own cases
- However how different is this from an absolute monarchy?
- State of nature obliges no man to submit to the unjust will of someone
What is the state of war?
A state of enmity and destruction, declared in a matter of calm design that he intends to end someone’s life
How do you start a state of war?
Trying to get someone into your absolute power, making someone part of your power
eg making them a slave
What is the relation between the state of war and nature?
They are distinct unlike in Hobbes
What is the natural liberty of men?
.To be free from any superior power
.To be under the will of legislative authority of men
-To be ruled only by the law of nature
What is liberty of man in society?
To be under no legislative power except the one established by consent in the commonwealth
What two things is freedom?
.Freedom of nature is being under no restraint except law of nature
.Freedom under government is having a standing rule to live by , common to everyone in society and made by legislative power
What does nobody have a private right to?
The earth’s products like Fruits and animals as they are for everyone, in a natural state
How does man make something his property?
-By mixing something from nature with his labour
Why doesn’t taking from what is common require consent?
the consent is implicit in its status
What is a man relation with the land he tills, plants, cultivates and improves?
He owns it and can use the products of it
How has nature limited private property?
- set limits to how much men can work and how much they need
- no single man would ever be able to tame and work over all the land
What is the art of government?
to use the land well
What is the power relation between parents over their children?
Father and mother have equal power over children
What state are children born into?
They are not born in a state of full equality
but they are born into a state of full equality
What was Adam born with that no one else was?
The law of reason
What does parental power derive from?
The duty of parents to take care of their offspring
What is required to gain freedom in the law of nature?
-Maturity, so that he may know the law and keep his actions within its limits
What is required to gain liberty in law of england?
-a knowledge of the law. At locke’s time this was the age of 21
We are all born free but…?
It’s age that brings reason which brings freedom…we kinda need to unlock our freedom
What did god make man to do?
To draw him strongly into society, thus he equipped him with language and understanding
What were the first few societies and what was significant about them?
Wife and man
Parent and child
Master and Servant
But none of these are political
Why can’t a man punish crimes himself in civil society?
- Commonwealth has power of making laws of war and peace
- A man who enters civil society has rescinded his right to punish crimes against law of nature
When is there a political society?
There is a political society when a number of men are united into one society, gives executive power of the law of nature to the public
What is actually inconsistent with civil society?
Absolute monarchy, as there is no court to appeal to
What do men commit to by joining body politic?
submit to the decision of the majority
What is there no assurance of within state of nature?
That men will get to use possessions because they are constantly exposed to invasion by others
What is the chief purpose of joining the commonwealth?
preservation of property
What does the state of nature lack?
- Established settled law accepted by common consent
- An impartial judge
- Lacks power to back up and support correct sentence and to enforce it properly
What are your two powers in state of nature? and what happens to them in civil society
- Do whatever you think right for your own preservation so far as law of nature permits
- Punish crimes committed against of nature
- First power given up to be regulated by laws
- Second power given up completely, in hands of executive
What are the forms of commonwealth?
- All men having power is a democracy
- Few law making is an oligarchy
- In hands of one man it’s a monarchy
what is the first positive law of any commonwealth? and what does it do
Establishing legislative power.
Essentially explains that the legislature is the supreme power of common wealth
Four important features of legislative power
-It does not have absolute power over lives and fortunes of people, for it’s just combined power of every member.
.The legislative cannot give itself power to rule by sudden arbitrary decrees, it is bound to dispense justice by published standing law
- The supreme power cant take from any man any part of his property without his consent
- The legislature cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands.
