John Locke believes that it is important to examine our place in nature and how this affects our ethics and politics. It is natural for humans to seek pleasure and avoid pain. He asserts that every person is born with a natural right that grants them the rights to life, liberty and property. He states, “Being all equally and independent, no one should harm another in their life, health or possessions.” It is true that there are many people who would do terrible things to us for the sake of their own self-interest. Therefore, it is beneficial to create a commonwealth to use reason and make laws for the public good. The executive power can enforce these laws to protect us all. In a civil community, we have the ability to access established laws and have them enforced by a judge. People consent to civil societies because they have an enforcer. You must also consent to a civil society by giving up your rights to punish and do whatever you like. It can be extremely difficult to give your right to do what you wish in order to follow the majority rule. Liberty isn’t lost, but you must follow the majority of civil society rules.
John Locke did not believe in a society contract, but he believed it was possible. Natural rights are different to social contracts. We have the right to our natural rights by being born. A social contract is a contract we sign to preserve those rights. It doesn’t matter what your beliefs are about the state and nature of the world, there will always be people who do harm to you for their own benefit. John Locke’s fundamental beliefs that all people should be reasonable and tolerable can lead to people taking advantage of those who are less fortunate. Locke believes the state is comparable to true equality. Although everyone is created equal, it cannot be true equality. Some people are more suited for certain tasks, leaving the most vulnerable groups powerless against those who are stronger in the state. Even if everyone had the right to retaliation, not all of us have the ability to do so. People with less physical power would be subject to those who can overpower them and their rights will not be protected. Locke’s core argument is not valid. People can still be successful even when they are raised in the exact same environment and households as others. Locke also said that humans are selfish from time to time and that State of War would become inevitable if they were left alone. Locke & Hobbes also disagree directly on the subject. Hobbes stated regarding the State of Nature that “No arts or letters; no society,” even though Locke believes every human is responsible for upholding certain truths. If you were to lose your right of enforcement, this would mean that fair governing bodies would enforce the laws. Natural laws are not enforced, so laws without enforcement are meaningless. No one can guarantee your rights will be protected. Civil society would make it impossible for us to be responsible in maintaining our property, establishing individual contracts and ensuring that we are able enforce those contracts. This seems to be what makes civil society so strong. Without enforcers, all the other aspects would be ineffective. Without prisons, laws cannot be made and sentencing individuals. Participation in civil society offers less worry. We must constantly be protecting our rights and making our own agreements in the state nature. If you expect to be able to do everything yourself, and to punish anyone who violates the contract, there is no way to specialize in the State of Nature. Because of the possibility that something might happen, civil societies still require us to lock our doors and keep our cars secure. We would need to do much more to protect ourselves if there wasn’t a law enforcer. You also lose the right to choose how you want to act in civil societies. Commonwealths have laws that are based primarily on morality or the beliefs of the majority. The US prohibits smoking marijuana and driving without a driver’s license.
The commonwealth chose these laws, although not everyone agrees that they are reasonable. You are placing yourself and your rights at risk in civil society. Civil Society can be imperfect and corruption, bias and other factors can affect the status of the game in ways that Locke wouldn’t have expected. Many government protections are not designed to defend our natural rights, or combat foreign threats. Locke would support the freedom of individuals to practice certain prohibited behaviors in developed nations. Locke would consider things such as smoking, owning guns, and gay marriage to be your natural rights to property and liberty.
It is well-known that Locke’s social contract theory and Hobbes was a major influence on the founding of America. Locke’s civil society was successful because the Bill of Rights, which is very similar to Locke’s writings, places restrictions on the government and not citizens. Our constitution allows the government to penalize us, but also provides them with many restrictions based upon our civil rights. The 10 amendments were designed to protect us individually with our natural rights and not to tell us what is allowed. The commonwealth of adult citizens was given the task of drafting a document that would serve as the foundation for a nation. This constitution is unique in that it is based on Locke’s ideas about liberty. The idea of living in a natural state seems impossible to imagine in the modern world. We have decided almost unanimously to live in civil societies. I don’t think we can achieve this without a social contract. While it’s possible to live off-the-grid, this would mean that you lose all of society’s modern amenities. Running water, access to modern medicine and infrastructure are all essential components of the social contract. We lose some of the benefits of the state nature, but we get much more by leaving it. The entire workforce is a benefit to us and we can thrive. Civil society provides many benefits that we wouldn’t have if there wasn’t an overarching moral or legal code. We can achieve what we cannot do if we work together for progress.
