Treatise

Although Locke’s “The Second Treatise of Civil Government” is, as the name implies, a “treatise”, it is imperative to remember that he is writing within a historical context (Laslett) which guides his discussion towards his desired conclusion. Therefore, when studying his discussion of property, we cannot assume his goal is pure dialectics; instead, we must review what is seen as the goal of his essay and see if he correctly connects it to his premises. Following this pattern, I want to explore what I see as the goal of the his chapter concerning property, as well as how his various premises factor into achieving this goal, something I will argue he succeeds in doing. Since Locke’s main focus, throughout the treatise, is to establish…

John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government was penned during a turning point in English history: the change from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. This work was written in the days following the Glorious Revolution in England, in which King James II was overthrown by his daughter Queen Mary and her husband William of Orange (King William III). This revolution came about as King James II refused to allow the free practice of religion within England and William promised that he…

John Locke, who was an English philosopher and physician, wrote the Second Treatise of Government. The Second Treatise of Government focused on having sovereignty into the hands of people and believes there are two states: state of nature and state or war. Locke strongly believed in human rights, equality, and the labor theory of value. However, Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote, The Prince, emphasized on having a government with a ruler having absolute total power over its people. Machiavelli…

I think you should go back and talk to all thoses English teachers that did not think to teach the difference between a Essay and a Story:) . we just covered this in my English class . So I wrote what the elements of each a story and an essay were. I explained by putting the element and its definition and using an example of a story (“Save the Moon for Kredy Dicitson”) and using an example of a Essay (The Value of a Mess). One of the many Stories and Essays we read in the past few weeks, to…

I have always emphasized the importance of reason, tolerance, and moderation (Curtis, 325). I believe that people, when they are born, they are a clean slate and they’re at a state of vulnerability. At this state, their nature is malleable and the surrounding society and environment is very influential. Many have also heard of the theory that people are naturally “evil” presented by Thomas Hobbes. My reflection and reply to this theory was in my book A Second Treatise. In this book I explained…

The intolerances involved the protestant being accused falsely for murdering his son as a way of making him to stop joining the Roman Catholic. As a result of being so much against the religious intolerances that took place at his time, he went on and published the Treatise on Tolerance. In his publication, he outlined his specific type of deism and strongly believed that most of the crimes that were considered to be inhuman were as a result of religion. Additionally, it is important to note…

The millennium was labeled by Jonathan Edwards of a time of great peace throughout the world. Which was also described in the New Testament as a time of peace for a thousand years. In A Treatise on the Millennium Samuel Hopkins helps support this idea of harmony throughout all nations. Hopkins a follower of Edwards and a Congregational minister goes into more details about how the idea was brought up and seen in the culture of North America. During this time of early antebellum its easy to see…

In Locke’s Second Treatise, there is an apparent tension between a citizen’s right to accumulate what “can [be] ma[d]e use of to any advantage of [human] life before it spoils” and the citizen’s responsibility to leave “enough, and as good […] in common for others” (§31; §27). While Leo Strauss argues that Locke justifies “unlimited appropriation without concern for the need of others,” Thomas Dunn argues that Locke allows unlimited appropriation only insofar as it does not hinder the right of…

pursuing selfish ends could. Hobbes also believed that men seek power and are controlled by their passionate desires saying that we are needy and vulnerable, and are easily led off course in our attempts to know the world around us (Leviathan VI). Our ability to reason is as weak as our ability to know. Hobbes has views of how society comes into existence, in that in the end humans are simply selfish by nature. Locke on the other hand differs from his enlightened predecessor because in his…

In John Locke’s Second Treatise: “The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government,” he discusses the natural state of man, and the privileges that a man living in his natural state has. A man in his primitive, or original, state is allowed perfect freedom to all the resources that he may use. He is allowed the right to “punish the transgressors of that law to such a degree,” (Locke) but he must also work to preserve the rest of mankind that is operating within the natural state. Locke…