John Locke's Second Practice Of Government Essay

John Locke’s views from the Second Treatise of Government In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke expressed many of his own views on the relation of the individual to society and more specifically the rights one has in society and the responsibilities these rights come with. First, he explains the right of ontological equality. Each person has the right and ability to execute natural law at will: “the equality of men by nature (Locke 147). In this, while all men possess the right to punish a crime against them, they also are burdened with the responsibility of doing so in order to ensure it to not happen again. “To the offender, give him cause to repent, and terrify others from doing the like” (Locke 150). He next addresses rights and responsibilities of the individual regarding “the state of war”. “He who makes an attempt to enslave me, thereby puts himself into a state …show more content…
One has the right to their own “state of nature” meaning partially that it is incumbent up the individual to choose to insure their health or not; “we must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom” (Locke 147). Each person lives by the law of self preservation and it therefore free to make their own …show more content…
When choosing to join the society, of America in this case, the individual is agreeing to abide by the laws and regulations of this society. If the government decides to enforce a law, it is one’s responsibility to abide by it; “by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation… to submit to the determination of the majority” (Locke 168). An individual chooses to give up some liberties in exchange of joining the society and thus in our case, must comply with the