PHIL103: Moral and Political Philosophy

2.3: John Locke and Fundamental Individual Rights

• Harvard University: Michael Sandel's "This Land Is My Land" URL

  Watch this lecture until 25:11. Here, Sandel introduces the conception of individual rights via the arguments of the philosopher John Locke. Locke's idea that human beings have certain fundamental rights (life, liberty, and property) by virtue of a natural law has supplied a central justification for the legal protection of individual rights, since he advanced it in the late seventeenth century. Sandel also takes pains to place Locke's views in relation to those of contemporary libertarians.

• 2.3.1: The Values of Democracy

  • USHistory.org: "Democratic Values: Liberty, Equality, Justice" Page

    As you read, consider the European movement laid the groundwork for the ideals of American governments. From where did John Locke think governments derive their authority to rule?

• 2.3.2: Locke on Social Order

  • PhilosophyPages: Garth Kemerling's "Locke: Social Order"

    Read this overview of Locke's political theory. What is the role of government with regards to property?

• 2.3.3: Locke on the State of Nature, Rights, Property, and Labor

  • John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government: "Chapters 1-5" URL

    Read Chapters 1-5 of Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government. How does Locke describe the state of nature in Chapter 2, Section 4? Look to Chapter 2, Section 6, for a discussion of limitations on the state of nature. In Chapter 5, Sections 26-30 attempt to answer how it is that Locke thinks we claim ownership of the goods of the earth.

• 2.3.4: The Consent of the Governed

  • Harvard University: Michael Sandel's "Consenting Adults" URL

    Watch the rest of this lecture, from 25:12. Consider this question: if taxes are part of a government system instead of a state of nature, then why should we have to pay them? Sandel uses Locke's account of natural rights and state formation in order to reassess the question of whether taxation amounts to an infringement of an individual's natural right to his or her property. For Locke, natural rights are something that we possess inherently from the state of nature. Taxes are part of a system of government that comes after that natural state. Compare Sandel and Locke's ideas on the consent of the governed to the notion of obedience to the state given in the Crito dialogue.

• 2.3.5: Locke on the Origin of Society, the State, and Property Rights

  • John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government: "Chapters 8-11" URL

    Read Chapters 8-11 of Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government. In Chapter 8, sections 95-99, how is it that Locke thinks a community or a government is formed? Why does Locke think human beings would agree to this in Chapter 9?

• 2.3.6: Locke on the Just Conditions of Government and When It May Be Disobeyed

  • John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government: "Chapters 18 and 19" URL

    Read Chapters 18 and 19 of Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government. In what ways does Locke explain that a government might be dissolved?