John Locke: SoN revisited

PHIL 2345:

2008-09

Hobbes’ political theory

• Life in state of nature is ‘nasty, brutish and short’;

• People living in danger and disorder agree to create a common authority, the Sovereign--‘Leviathan’:– not necessarily a king;– state religion to maintain order, limit religious and civil

discord (Thirty Years’ War, English Civil War), ch. 31.

• Problems– what freedoms does the individual have, if any?– is there ever any limit to the Sovereign’s power?

A summing-up of Hobbes

• Leviathan ‘contains much instruction for those who are worried about the social and political stability of their own society, though that instruction is not of a very reassuring kind…’.

• ‘Better…to stick with and support the government you’ve got than to start meddling with it…’.

• ‘A profound, gloomy and fearful conservatism is the message which comes directly out of Leviathan’.

• J.S. McClelland, A History of Western Political Thought (Routledge, 1996), p.226.

John Locke (1632-1704)

Biography• B. 1632, son of a lawyer;• Oxford, 1652-67

– studied chemistry, medicine, and the new mechanical philosophy; • Political activities:

– allied w/ Lord Ashley, the Earl of Shaftesbury, whom he treated for a liver abscess;

• Plotted to assassinate King Charles II and his Catholic brother, the future King James II (sons of Charles I);

• Exile in Holland to avoid arrest, and certain execution, for treason, 1683-9

• 1688 Glorious Revolution: William and Mary (daughter of James II) accept the throne as constitutional monarchs;

• 1689 Locke publishes 3 major works (next slides).

Hobbes on Tyrannicide

• For Hobbes any alleged ‘tyrannicide’ is really a regicide, the assassination of the legitimate sovereign,

• Because, in effect, all sovereigns are legitimate;• If you hate ‘tyrants’ (i.e. sovereigns), you really

hate Commonwealths:• ‘…a toleration of a professed hatred of Tyranny, is a

Toleration of hatred to Common-wealth in general, and another evil seed…’ (Leviathan, Conclusion, p. 404).

Major works and themes:

A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)- Argues for religious toleration; - Except for atheists, “who deny the Being of a

God”:- b/c they cannot be trusted to keep their promises (e.g.

in contracts);- Note similarity to Bishop Bossuet’s views.

Context:

- Religious wars and persecution in England (‘Test’ Acts) and on the Continent.

Works, cont.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)• Argues against innate ideas of Descartes;

– What are these?

• Argues for the acquisition of knowledge solely through the senses: – “Intuitionism” or “Sensationalism”;

• Re-opens ancient and medieval debates about essentialism versus conventionalism – theorizes naming, classification and natural kinds.

Works, cont.

Two Treatises on Government (written 1679/80; published 1689/90)

• First Treatise: – argues against traditional basis for political

authority expressed in Filmer’s Patriarcha, divine right of kings;

• Second Treatise: – protection of private property, life and liberty =

basis for civil government.

Locke’s Second Treatise:

government within bounds

Locke as ‘Liberal’

• Liberalism:– from Latin: ‘libertas’ = freedom;

• Private sphere freedoms—do whatever you want so long as you do not harm others or their property

• Individual rights, according to Locke: – life, – liberty, – Property.

• US and other Bills of Rights (HK Basic Law)• US Declaration of Independence:

– life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).

Sources of ‘Rights’?

-Assumptions about human beings, e.g. Hobbes ‘Right of Nature’ = right to preserve one’s life

-Magna Carta, 1215:• England, King John confronted by nobles• who claimed ‘liberties of Englishmen’• e.g. compensation for goods seized by the Crown

– Modern Bills of rights by agreement (HK, US): • liberty to speak;• to practice a religion as one wishes (or not); • assemble or associate freely (including strike);• so long as one does not harm others.

Do you think Hobbes

Is ‘liberal’ in any way?

Origins and Role of Government

• Traditional: “divine right of kings” – Paternal (like a father): father may intervene in

children's’ lives for their own good;– Sacred--decreed by God (e.g. Bishop Bossuet);– Symbolized by anointing the monarch’s head with

holy oil in shape of a cross.

• Locke’s understanding:– No divine mandate; civil gov’t = man-made – Limit to protecting citizens’ goods and lives– No state church that provides religious unity and

supports the sovereign (different from Hobbes).

Locke on Political Authority

Locke is against:

1. Sacred Character of Political Authority

Locke, Second Treatise, pars. 1-3

2. Paternal Character of Political Authority

L, pars. 1, 52ff., 92

3. Absolute Rule

L, pars. 90-4, Absolute rule = tyranny

Ch.1 (pars. 1-3)

• No divine right of kings;• Adam did not have rights as father or from God

that Filmer, et al. allege;• Impossible to assert succession from Adam—

makes Filmer moot;• Magistrate’s (officer of gov’t) power:

– Not father’s– Not husband’s– Not master’s over servant or slaves– I.e. not absolute!

State of Nature (‘SON’), ch. 2

• All mean are under laws of nature– Reciprocal equality– Perfect freedom– Reason: ‘no one ought to harm another in his life,

health, liberty, or possessions’ (2.6)

• ‘…a state of liberty, yet…not a state of licence’ (emph. orig.; 2.6)

• Each act as his own judge, jury and executioner (2.7) just like Hobbes’s men in SoN.

Implications of 2.7

• Punishment of offender should be proportionate: ‘reparation and restraint’ (2.8)

• Punishment: deterrence, retribution, reparation• Offender trespasses

– ‘against the whole species’ (2.8); – ‘quits the principles of human nature’ (2.10); – becomes a ‘noxious creature’ (2.10); – may be destroyed like a wild beast (emph. added;

2.11)• Offender violates natural law and reason

implanted in us by God (2.11)

Death penalty

• Punishment must be deterrent—sufficiently severe to prevent repetition

• Rational agent will be deterred—’an ill bargain to the offender…and [it will] terrify others from doing the like’;

• Death penalty may be consequence

• Do we act in self-interest when we judge? – civil govt = better way (2.13).

Has SON ever existed?

• Yes, in international sphere: – states are in SON w/ each other!

• Yet treaties, agreements can work:– Promise b/w a Swiss and an Indian ‘in the woods of

America’ (2.14);– What does ‘America’ represent?

• Business can be conducted in SON!• This has implications for establishment of

property in SoN, before social contract (ch. 5)!

Question

• In Locke's description, men in the state of the State of Nature are peaceful, mutual assistant and possess good wills (Ch.3).

• They can achieve the best outcome by making mutual contracts of co-operation (for this is also discoverable by reason.)

• If so, how can Locke explain the origin of the State of War, where man threatens others' lives and property for his own desire?