The Development of Property from The Second Treatise of Government by John Locke
Private property plays an important role in the theory of Locke.Locke answers several questions in his discussion of property. At what point does an item become private property? How does man acquire property? What amount of private property can a person have? How do you measure this amount? Locke also looks at how value and communities emerged from the establishment of property. Locke begins by saying that God gave the world to mankind. Every feature of the world was "common" to man, meaning that the world belonged to everyone. When God gave the world to man, he also gave man reason to make the best use out of it. "The earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the support and comfort of their being(Locke, 18)." We have to remember that all these things, such as soil, trees, and fruits,are here for everyone to use, but are of no use unless they are removed from their natural state in some way. How are they removed from their natural state that God created them Labour is a property in itself but also leads to the creation of private property. A property is something that someone owns. Locke says that "every man has a property in his own person. The labour of his body, an
The rule of propriety states that every man is allowed to posses as many products of nature as he was capable of laboring. If these products perished in his possession before he was able to use them, he would be taking away from others, an action that was punishable. This rule applies to determining the amount of property one can acquire. comes from a different background. Society, political events, family life, social life, time period, and many other factors influence the way a person views something. It is merely impossible to find a question that will have the same meaning to each person. How can Locke's universally known theory be applied to each person? God gave the world to mankind for everyone to share. God created the world so that everything, including everyone would be equal. We know that the world was useless without labour. What Locke failed to include in his theory was that certain people such as the disabled may not be able to use their bodies for labour. This means that they are unable to produce their own food, shelter, and other necessities to survive.The outcome God gave the world to mankind but he left it in the hands of man to use, distribute,and place value upon. The extent of labour leads to the extent of wealth, which can be traced back to God and his creation (the world). Those who are excluded in the acquisition of property are the misfortunate and also result from God and his creation."One gave title to the other. So that God, by commanding to subdue, gave authority so far to appropriate: and the condition of human life, which requires labour and materials to work on, necessarily introduces private possessions (Locke,22)." From this concept of labour, comes the question of how to measure property. "The measure of property is determined by the extent of man's labour and conveniences of life (Locke, 22
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Approximate Word count = 1260
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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