Philosophy

John Locke

  1. RLSharp

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1.   Aug 31, 2006 3:16 PM

» RLSharp - question

In response to question posted by Nataraja:


Wow! How did you post? I received a message saying we could not post anything until Sept 1st. Anyway, yes Locke and Hobbes disagreed about a great many things. However, Locke owes a great deal to Hobbes. Hobbes developed the idea that we have natural rights, which cannot be reasonably taken away by the state. We cannot, for example, be expected to surrender our lives just because the govt. wants us to do so. We have a right to self-preservation, a natural right. There were natural limits on the state. Of course, the state could still disregard them if it was as powerful as Hobbes proposed. I think that's why Locke wanted those rights to be spelled out better, to trump govt. power even.

Both felt the state was created to serve us, not the reverse. However, Locke viewed that relationship similarly to how we view it today, whereas Hobbes viewed it as a strong monarchy (similar to how people viewed it in his day, especially in France).

-- posted by RLSharp


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