Many philosophers have contemplated on the freedoms that men should naturally have simply for being human. Among those are the right to self-preserve and the right to equality. Along with these freedoms believed by a handful of philosophers to be God-given rights, complementary government hierarchies are set up for the good of the people and also to protect these freedoms. Without the government systems, humans would spiral into chaos and disorder; this is why it is necessary to have a government set up. Because humans are incapable of living together harmoniously, Rousseau/Thoreau, Hobbes, and Locke discuss different types of government systems, or lack thereof, discussed in their writings, all still impede on the natural freedoms that men should posses, but Locke’s is the best compromise of all three extremes. As a large influence in 19th century politics and philosophy, Henry David Thoreau was popular for many things, among them his essay titled Civil Disobedience. He does not necessarily agree that humans are incapable are peaceful living without government. In fact he believes the opposite, that an individual’s conscience is the only practical way of making life decisions. However, he does agree that government takes away many of man’s natural rights. Thoreau states that “government is best which governs least” (45) and even goes further to day that “government is best which governs not at all” (45). He sees government, specifically American government, as a “tradition” that no longer is pursuing the original goals of its creation. With this type of government, he argues that humans are not able to self-preserve because “governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage” (45). The purpose of this government is expedience and not maintaining the natural rights of men. Disagreeing with Thoreau, not having a government will cause a stand still and uprising from men, contrary to his beliefs because without any of the social constructs, men are self-seeking. In regards to man’s second natural right of equality, Thoreau urges civil disobedience upon those who feel their government is no longer serving a purpose for the greater good. An example of this with the idea of equality in mind is his discussion of slavery. He suggests that the abolitionists withdraw any and all support from the Massachusetts government until slavery is abolished. The suggestion of rebelling against an unjust government in hopes of securing equality among all men is a noble idea and one that is plausible. The only issue is when the uprising takes place, there must be a large crowd of people involved. Otherwise, these people will feel the wrath of inequality as well in the forms of punishment from the
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He sees government as a way of protecting the rights of the people and without it, humans would go back to a state of nature without any structure, where freedoms would crumble and danger would be abundant. For this reason, he sees it necessary to form a government that will provide order in …show more content…
This correlates with self-preservation. All men have the right to the things that provide happiness and survival; this includes life, liberty, and estate. The government system that Locke proposes allows men the right to their property. However, he does have certain restrictions that will benefit the greater good: one should not be greedy with property and should allow other’s the chance to property. In this way, self-preservation is not entirely unlimited with Locke’s ideas of government, but the restrictions that are made are not unfair in any way and still provide a vast degree of self-preservation. Locke also states that a perfect society is “a state also of equality, wherein all the power of jurisdiction is mutual, no one having more than another” (32). He uses this model to construct the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the government. The statue of nature, as Locke says, lacks “an established, settled, known law…, a known and impartial judge with authority to determine all difference according to the established law…, [and] power to back and support the sentence when right” (36). The dispersion of power across three units of government creates a checks and balances system, where no branch has too much power and the equality of the people is not compromised. Also, the laws that are designed are
He sees government as a way of protecting the rights of the people and without it, humans would go back to a state of nature without any structure, where freedoms would crumble and danger would be abundant. For this reason, he sees it necessary to form a government that will provide order in …show more content…
This correlates with self-preservation. All men have the right to the things that provide happiness and survival; this includes life, liberty, and estate. The government system that Locke proposes allows men the right to their property. However, he does have certain restrictions that will benefit the greater good: one should not be greedy with property and should allow other’s the chance to property. In this way, self-preservation is not entirely unlimited with Locke’s ideas of government, but the restrictions that are made are not unfair in any way and still provide a vast degree of self-preservation. Locke also states that a perfect society is “a state also of equality, wherein all the power of jurisdiction is mutual, no one having more than another” (32). He uses this model to construct the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the government. The statue of nature, as Locke says, lacks “an established, settled, known law…, a known and impartial judge with authority to determine all difference according to the established law…, [and] power to back and support the sentence when right” (36). The dispersion of power across three units of government creates a checks and balances system, where no branch has too much power and the equality of the people is not compromised. Also, the laws that are designed are