POL S 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Limited Government
25 Oct 2018
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Subjects free when sovereign targets subject for death or bodily harm. Royalist position: monarchy only legitimate form: divine right of kings. Hobbesian positions: function not form is essential questions; insofar as government fulfill its function -- secture -- it is legitimate. Parliamentarian/ lockean position: legitimacy requires consent of people being governed. All people are equal in the eyes of god, therefore gov"t needs consent from each of them in order to be legitimate. You must figure out the purpose of gov"t--figure out how they rose in the first place--purpose and motivations of people before society arose -- essentials of human nature. Locke says freedom is not an activity but in fact it is a given condition. Even before the rise of government, there has been a natural law instilled. Law of nature restricts our power over others. Law of nature is law of reason, reason is god"s law. Reason is how god brings upon his law on us.
