Synthesized answer
From the assertion that the English people "saved the nation when it was on the very brink of slavery and ruin" [4], we can infer several fundamental assumptions. Firstly, Locke clearly believes that power, particularly governmental power, is not absolute and can be usurped or abused. The very idea of the nation being on the "brink of slavery and ruin" implies that there are forces that can lead to such a state, and that the people's actions were necessary to avert it. This suggests a belief that governmental authority can transgress its bounds and threaten the well-being of the governed.
Secondly, Locke's emphasis on the people's "love of their just and natural rights" and their "resolution to preserve them" [4] indicates a fundamental assumption about the existence and importance of individual liberty. The fact that preserving these rights was a national saving event highlights their intrinsic value and the people's inherent right to defend them. The ultimate purpose of government, therefore, can be inferred to be the safeguarding of these rights and the prevention of "slavery and ruin" which threatens them. The passages also suggest that when the legislative transgresses, the…
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From the book
farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence. Whensoever therefore the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society; and either by ambition, fear, folly or corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people; by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and,…
y part of the community, masters, or arbitrary disposers of the lives, liberties, or fortunes of the people. Sect. 222. The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end why they chuse and authorize a legislative, is, that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society, to limit the power, and moderate the dominion, of every part and member of the society: for since it can never be supposed to be the will of the society, that the legislative should have a power to destroy that which…
is, I suppose, a mystery in politics, unconceivable to human capacity, and inconsistent with human society. Sect. 220. In these and the like cases, when the government is dissolved, the people are at liberty to provide for themselves, by erecting a new legislative, differing from the other, by the change of persons, or form, or both, as they shall find it most for their safety and good: for the society can never, by the fault of another, lose the native and original right it has to preserve itself, which can only be done by a settled legislative, and a fair and impartial execution of…
the papers that should have filled up the middle, and were more than all the rest, it is not worth while to tell thee. These, which remain, I hope are sufficient to establish the throne of our great restorer, our present King William; to make good his title, in the consent of the people, which being the only one of all lawful governments, he has more fully and clearly, than any prince in Christendom; and to justify to the world the people of England, whose love of their just and natural rights, with their resolution to preserve them, saved the nation when it was on the very brink of…
y, and believes he deserves to be thought a declared enemy to society and mankind, who should go about to take it away. But whether this be from a true love of mankind and society, and such a charity as we owe all one to another, there is reason to doubt: for this is no more than what every man, who loves his own power, profit, or greatness, may and naturally must do, keep those animals from hurting, or destroying one another, who labour and drudge only for his pleasure and advantage; and so are taken care of, not out of any love the master has for them, but love of himself, and the…
More questions about this book
- Locke states the lost middle papers "were more than all the rest" and contained a detailed refutation of Sir Robert Filmer. If these papers were rediscovered, how might their content alter or deepen our understanding of Locke's arguments in the "Second Treatise," particularly regarding the scope and nature of the challenges he sought to overcome?
- Locke explicitly states his purpose is to "establish the throne of our great restorer, our present King William; to make good his title, in the consent of the people." Explain how this immediate political agenda might shape the *types* of philosophical arguments Locke presents about the "true original extent and end of Civil Government," and what implications this has for the universal applicability of his theories.
- The title page states the work "DETECTED AND OVERTHROWN" the "FALSE PRINCIPLES AND FOUNDATION OF SIR ROBERT FILMER." Based solely on Locke's stated justification for King William's rule through "the consent of the people," how would you hypothesize the core difference between Filmer's "false principles" and Locke's "true original extent and end of Civil Government"?
- The text details various editions, collations, and Locke's "last Corrections and Improvements." How do these textual history details influence our approach to interpreting Locke's work, and what specific questions might a scholar ask about the evolution or stability of Locke's ideas given the existence of multiple authoritative versions?