Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government

The state of nature is a traditional starting point for many political thinkers attempting to develop, from the natural state of man, some theory about society and politics. Not all political theorists, however, share the same views as to what such a state would be like. In the Leviathan and the Second Treatise of Civil Government, Hobbes and Locke, respectively, both ground their political philosophies at the same location: the state of nature, meaning the natural condition of mankind prior to any artifice such as government. In their theories, both Hobbes and Locke agree that the state of nature is a state of liberty, in which every man is born with natural rights and has the freedom to protect his rights in any way he deems necessary. However, their theories concerning the state of nature diverge. According to Hobbes, the state of nature is essentially the same as the state of war. Locke, however, maintained that although they share a lack of supreme power, the state of nature and the state of war are not the same.

In the Leviathan, Hobbes makes an analogy which parallels the civil state to the

“And that all men may be restrained from invading others’ rights, and from doing hurt to one another, and the law of Nature be observed, which willeth the peace and preservation of all mankind, the execution of the law of Nature is in that state [of nature] put into every man’s hands, whereby everyone has a right to punish the transgressors of that law to such a degree as may hinder its violation. For the law of Nature would, as all other laws that concern men in this world, be in vain if there were nobody that in the state of Nature had a power to execute that law, and thereby preserve the innocent and restrain offenders; and if any one in the state of Nature may punish another for any evil he has done, everyone may do so. For in that state of perfect equality, where naturally there is no superiority or jurisdiction of one over another, what any may do in prosecution of the law, everyone must needs have a right to do.” (2nd Treatise)

Finally, Locke presents a most crucial point of his theory, which is that all people will remain in a state of nature until a special compact or agreement between them makes them members of a political society. In the state of nature disorder and confusion are inevitable, and the absence of authority requires individuals to protect themselves. Locke writes, “To avoid this state of war (wherein there is no appeal but to heaven, and wherein every the least is apt to end, where there is no authority to decide between the contenders) is one great reason of men’s putting themselves into society, and quitting the state of nature: for where there is an authority, a power on earth, from which relief can be had by appeal, there the continuance of the state of war is excluded, and the controversy is decided by that power.”

In his brief introduction to the Leviathan, Hobbes describes the state as an organism analogous to a large person. He shows how each part of the state parallels the function of the parts of the human body. He notes that the first part of his venture is to describe human nature. Hobbes argues that, in the absence of social condition, every action we perform, no matter how charitable or benevolent, is done for reasons which are ultimately self-serving. Hobbes then speculates how selfish people would behave in a state of nature, prior to the formation of any government. He begins noting that humans are essentially equal, both mentally and physically, insofar as even the weakest person has the strength to kill the strongest. Given our equal standing, Hobbes points out that there are three natural causes of quarrel among natural man: competition for limited supplies of material possessions, distrust of one another, and glory insofar as people remain hostile to preserve their powerful reputation. Given the natural causes of quarrel, Hobbes concludes that the natural condition of humans is a state of perpetual war of all against all, where no morality exists, and everyone lives in constant fear. Humans have three motivations for ending this state of war: the fear of death, the desire to have an adequate living, and the hope to attain this through one's labor. Nevertheless, until the state of war ends, each person has a right to everything, including another person's life. Locke, by contrast, begins the Second Treatise with his argument about the supposed state of nature in order to assert the rights of natural man. Locke views labor as the origin and justification of property; contract or consent is the ground of government and fixes its limits. Unlike Hobbes, who believed that morality could not exist in the state of nature, Locke argues that although the state of nature may have no government; men are subject to the moral law, which is the law of God. Men are born free and equal in rights. Whatever a man "mixes his labour with" is his to use. Or, at least, this was so in the primitive condition of human life in which there was enough for all and "the whole earth wa

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