PAPM 1000 Final: Question 2

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Public Affairs and Policy Management
• Course: PAPM 1000
• Professor: Marc Andre Gagnon

Document Summary

John locke outlines the theory of property in the second treatise of government. Property is significant to his theory of legitimate political power such that; the need to protect property leads to a government. I will argue that, the philosophy put forward by locke is a reflection of the state of nature as envisioned by him. This ultimately impacts the way he sees property in his theory of legitimate political power. According to locke, an individual claims a substance as their private possession when he mixes his labor with it. This he reasons by saying that, the labor of his body, and the work of his hand belong to him, and therefore, when a substance is mixed with labor, it then belongs to the laborer. Locke places two limits on this; one, no individual can have so much that there is not enough left for others; and second, it should not spoil or go to waste.