The Second Treatise Of Government

Front 1

limited social contract

Back 1

1. Limits on the authority of the people. 2. limits on the authority of the government

Front 2

limits on the authority of people

Back 2

-there are things that you value: life, liberty etc. which require protection, this is why you set up the government. As a devout Christian he values the salvation of his soul? By becoming a true believer by voluntarily accepting something which cannot be delegated, so magistrates do not have this under their power under force or any other means. This power is not in the power of the state: separation of church and state. Theory of religious toleration, accounts on the limits of the authority of the people.
-you should tolerate those that you don’t like because there is nothing you can do to convince them truly.

Front 3

limits on authority of goverment

Back 3

three constraints plus failsafe

Front 4

3 types of constraints and a fail safe

Back 4

1. the purpose constraint;, 2. procedural constraints, 3.3. Structural/ institutional constraints., failsafe: doctrine of resistance.

Front 5

purpose constraint

Back 5

The proper function of government has to be determined by the people. Want government to protect our possessions, life, and liberty. P. 380 line14- whatever the magistrate does must be in the favor of the people.

Front 6

procedural constraints

Back 6

1Rule of law. 2.2.requirement of consent for property

Front 7

rule of law

Back 7

(standing law-set laws, already established and general law-apply to everyone).
-the political equality rationale (Locke).
Individuals are free and equal and because the exercise of power shouldn’t privilege some of them over others for reasons that won’t apply to the boundaries of that consent.
-the liberty and growth rationale (von Hayek).

Front 8

liberty

Back 8

We have individuals who want to be able to make choices that are as meaningful as possible. They are meaningful because certain choices lead to something (consequences), because without this people don’t know what the choices entail. Therefore we need laws to establish the consequences.

Front 9

economic growth

Back 9

Economic agent invests in economy or eats now. Willing to invest if anticipating stable return, if uncertainty less likely to invest.

Front 10

requirement of consent for property takings

Back 10

requirement of consent for property takings p. 367 line 26-34. Natural right of property: fundamental right of property because property is an extent of yourself, your life.
-representative must be thinking about the interest of everybody.
-no taxation without representation!

Front 11

structural/institutional constraints

Back 11

-Legislative supremacy despite the executives’ Prerogative power- prerogative=power that the holder of the prerogative might have to make choices without the consent of others. This power shouldn’t be abused (Torres) Locke thinks that the parliament ought to be supreme, which means that as the executive wants to exercise power without consent of parliament they have to think that the parliament would say yes to this choice. Power of the prerogative with the constraint of the thought approval of the parliament.
-No delegation to other bodies- the legislative cannot turn around and delegate the power that they have to supervise what the government does. Want parliament to exercise oversight, be robust. Can’t ask every question, but they should be expected to agree on every question.

Front 12

property owner's state

Back 12

how much your contribution is determines how invested you are going to be in seeing… one thing that your contribution is going to correclate with is how invested you are going to feel. You are supposed to be making choices on behalf of everybody so the investment level of all poor and rich ratio should’t matter. Locke’s argument: people who have made more money, all else equal, have greater ability with the money, greater skills and knowledge, and should in principle have more standing and should be proportionate to how much they are contributing. Your wealth is going to be a function of your brains, skills, virtues. So we want people to be making decisions who have the right attributes.

Front 13

a fail-safe

Back 13

the doctrine of resistance. P. 399 line3-13. Really last resort, ideally use other levels.

Front 14

purpose of theory of limited government

Back 14

is to provide protection to life, liberty, of people, provide justification for every citizen and convincing enough to each citizen. (is the convincing?)

Front 15

doctrince of rights as claim rights

Back 15

rights as correlates of duties ( implying duties) important part. Duty to do something for you or not to you.
-Jeremy Benthem: natural rights are “nonsense”; natural inalienable rights are “nonsense upon stilts” : the problem with Lockes assumption is that not all rights are natural, this thought is silly because Locke hasn’t connected rights with the social benefit or utility. The natural alternative to the natural way to proceed is that we should have these rights because
-J. S. Mill: public utility as the reason for rights.

Front 16

historical theory of distributive justice

Back 16

-roberty Noxick: Anarchy. State. And Utopia (1974).
-Rawls, why should history matter?- what matters is that the ultimate arrangement is complying with an independent of
-If there is no consent of property given than it is not just, if there is than it is just.

Front 17

doctrine of representation and the minimal state

Back 17

-the americal revolution not tazation without representation
-right-libertarianism.

Front 18

economic inequality and re-distribution: political naivete or moral weakness?

Back 18

-the expectation of sharing is self-deluding or disingenuous.
-marx: private property is a cause of social alienation of persons from one another.

Front 19

locke's unequivocal claims

Back 19

human beings are naturally equal, human beings are naturally free

Front 20

human beings are naturally equal

Back 20

-the lord has not set one man above another.

Front 21

human beings are naturally free

Back 21

-property is the extension of life and limb.
-“personal political equality” p. 312 line 3-5 (freedom understood in a very certain way). (
He identifies possessions with persons!)
-something about he property you won that is an extension of your natural person because possessions enable you to be you, you have to eat, clothes, shelter. These are necessary provision for being a person.
-God is saying you

Front 22

categorical imperative

Back 22

you must do this not a function of condition. P.313 line 10-22- God sends you out to the world to increase and multiply because this is god’s business people can’t interfere with this, they must respect the freedom and equality (natural) of all people. Natural freedom and natural equality is a normative claim. Because we are here on God’s business we have to respect what we think God’s business is, duties are for all who are under God’s claim.

Front 23

hypothetical imperative

Back 23

if you desire to do this you must do this).

Front 24

key consequence: natural law

Back 24

you are free to do whatever you want with following the law of nature.

Front 25

exception

Back 25

-you are under an obligation to intervene if somebody is under threat (someone is sinning against them).
-once you have stopped the threat you should, because life belongs to God, take the person sinning against God, the supereme God, who is also threatening you and saying that they are not obligated to God’s business, (identifying themselves as a threat to everybody), should stop threat and take person out because they are a threat to society as a whole.