John Locke: SoN revisited

1. John Locke: SoN revisited PHIL 2345: 2008-09

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. John Locke (1632-1704)

5. 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).

6. 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).

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Locke’s Second Treatise: government within bounds

11. 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).

12. 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.

13. Do you think Hobbes Is ‘liberal’ in any way?

14. 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).

15. 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

16. 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!

17. 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.

18. 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)

19. 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).

20. 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)!

21. 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?