Locke Flashcards
Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1689, laws of nature
“executive power of the law of nature”
Locke, inalienable rights in the state of nature
“because we are all equal and independent, no-one ought to harm anyone else in his life, health, liberty or possessions”
Locke, consent
“the liberty of man is to be under no legislative power except the one established by consent in the commonwealth”
Locke, freedom from oppression
“freedom from absolute, arbitrary power”
“no-one being subjected to or subordinate to anyone else”
Hanna Pilkin, 1996, ‘Obligation and Consent’
asks four questions about the problem of political obligation:
When are you obligated to obey and when not?
Whom are you obligated to obey?
Is there any difference between a legitimate authority and mere coercion?
Why are you obligated to obey even a legitimate authority?
John Dunn, 1984
“the Second Treatise is… a revolutionary work”
“the Two Treatises is a work principally designed to assert the right to resistance to unjust authority”
Johnathan Wolff, 2006, problems with consent
how can consent be given on behalf of all future generations?
tacit consent is not practical and cannot justify the state’s rule
hypothetical consent does not satisfy the social contact theory’s requirement of consent, not everyone would necessarily believe in a democratic state and its values of individual liberty and human rights and police, such as anarchists, and thus we cannot assume everyone would give consent if directly consulted
David Hume
problem of tacit consent, if someone woke up on a ship in the middle of the ocean, they could not be said to be giving tacit consent to remain on the ship as they have no real, practical choice to leave
