Assignment on Locke
Question: Locke’s conception of the “state of nature”
According to Locke, freedom and equality are two fundamental features of all people in the state of nature. In the Lockean state of nature, people have perfect freedom and can dispose of their actions and possessions at their will within the bounds of the law of nature. In addition, the state of nature is the state of equality, in which no one is subordinate to another person. Besides these two descriptive features, Locke claims that there is a prescriptive demand on all people in the state of nature, that is, the law of nature. People are constrained by the law of nature. In this way, ‘though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of licence’ (John Locke, Second treatise of government and A letter concerning toleration, ed. Mark Goldie (Oxford, 2016), p. 5). People cannot do anything they want under the law of nature. For example, a person ‘has no liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in his possession’ (ibid, p. 5). Therefore, in the state of nature, people are constrained by the law of nature.
The law of nature is the law of reason. Locke claims that ‘reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind’ (ibid, p. 5). The law of nature is also the law of God, and it is significant for people to recognize this point. There are two considerations for people to recognize that the law of nature is from God. The first consideration concerns the usage of human reason. In general, people use their reason instrumentally to fulfill and pursue their specific ends. In this sense, human reason is neutral among those ends. However, if people have some vicious ends, then this kind of usage of human reason is problematic. For example, if a person ‘attempts to get another man into his absolute power’ (ibid, p. 10-11), then this person is trying to put another man into a state of war, which is threatening another man’s security of preservation, leading to a problematic outcome. Therefore, people’s ends of action and usage of reason should be guided by God. God declares the reasonable ends of people’s activity. To be specific, this end is to the preservation and prosperity of human beings, because people are ‘all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and about his business’ (ibid, p. 5). Accordingly, the end of the law of nature is to realize the maximum preservation and prosperity of human beings, and it is God that underwrites this end.
The other consideration that we need God to furnish the law of nature is because human reason is deficient. The deficiency of human reason is the causation of the state of war. In the state of nature, when a conflict happens, people have the right, given by the law of nature, to restore their loss from the past injury. However, human beings are selfish, and they would make mistakes by their own judgment, trying to get as much as possible for themselves. In this way, the state of war starts. Violence and force are inevitable, and the innocent might get hurt, which are deviations from the law of nature. Therefore, to avoid the state of war, people need a reason on earth that is superior to individual human reason to be the common judge. ‘For where there is an authority, a power on earth, from which relief can be had by appeal, there the continuance of the state of war is excluded, and the controversie is decided by that power’ (ibid, p. 13). The rationale is that this authority has a superior reason to individual deficient reason. Even though we cannot get God’s reason on earth, we can make God’s reason the parameter for us to establish a common judge, which operates the superior reason. In this way, the presence of God is vital for people to overcome their deficient reason.
In summary, in the state of nature, the law of nature restricts people’s actions. This law of nature is the law of reason and the law of God. The law of God is indispensable for people to comprehend and operate the law of nature.
