John Locke

We have now read bits of state of nature theorists from both the European and Confucian traditions who are nevertheless sometimes compared to each other: Hobbes and Xunzi. This week we will turn to one of Hobbes’s successors in the European tradition, John Locke, whose influence on the language in some of the key founding documents of American democracy some of you may already be aware of.

Second Treatise on Government

Locke published a book called ‘Two Treatises of Government that consisted in a first, negative, part criticizing contemporaries, and a second, positive, part laying out his own views. We are going to read the very beginning of the second, positive part. In particular, we will read Chapters I through V. These cover his views about the state of nature and the origins of private property.

As you read, I want you to pay very close attention to the contrasts between Locke and Hobbes, and the contrasts between Locke and Xunzi. In class, we will want to know what Locke thinks of the state of nature as really being like, and what consequences that would have, if we accept it, for how the eighteen of you can get along with one another.