THE SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY OF JOHN LOCKE

The Social Contract Theory of John Locke



The Social Contract Theory of John Locke

Introduction

In accordance with Locke, the status of nature need in no way be aggressive. The image of archaic communism that Locke illustrates appears pleasant in many ways. In his analysis, the state of nature is one of independence to do as any person satisfies, but is not one of license. (Locke, 2008) Rather, the state of nature is ruled by a law of nature that could be used by any person in cases of violations of it. Any person who violates the law of nature puts herself or himself into a state of war with the victims of their wrongdoing and might truly be penalized. This paper analyzes the social contract theory of John Locke and how the values identified are consistent with the criminal justice system and private security settings. It also summarize the major differences of the social contract theories and discusses the key principles associated with Locke's social contract theory.

Discussion

Locke is well-known to the common society for his visions of “natural rights.” He had faith in the idea of Limited Government. His thoughts of individual rights and Limited Government were additionally made stronger by the adding of the U.S. Bill of Rights, proposed in 1789 and approved by the states in 1791 (Locke, 2008).

Legal and Political revolutions received theoretical justification in the writings of John Locke (1632-1704 year). In his work "Two treatises of government" (1690) Locke criticized the theological-patriarchal theory and outlined his concept of natural law. Locke summed up the concept of the previous development of political and legal ideology in the field of methodology and content of the theory of natural law, and policy positions of the doctrine contained state-law principles of civil society. Like other theorists of natural law school, Locke proceeded from the idea of ??a "natural condition". An important feature of the teachings of Locke is that he justifies the idea of ??human rights and freedoms that exist in the pre-statist status. Natural state, according to Locke - "a state of complete freedom with respect to acts or sell their property and person. It is a state of equality in which all power and all rights are reciprocal, no one is bigger than the other (Grotius, 2006)."

In its natural state there was nothing negative. However, the establishment of guarantees the natural rights of the people refused the right to absolute freedom, and concluded a social contract (agreement). As a result of social agreement guarantees the natural rights and liberties was the State entitled to make laws, provided with sanctions, use of force for the application of these laws, as well as manage the relationship between other states (Grotius, 2006).

In the spirit of the legal world, Locke argued the grounds for the diffusion of power to those who did not participate in the conclusion of the original agreement (children and foreigners). Locke believed it possible to reconsider the original agreement ...