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Second Treatise of Government
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Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Of Slavery”
In Locke’s view, “freedom of nature, is to be under no other restraint but the law of nature” (17). He disagrees with the fundamental idea of slavery because it completely ignores the natural liberties and basic freedoms granted to men under the state of nature and through the laws of God. However, he does describe “the perfect condition of slavery” (17), meaning the actual relationship that exists between a slave and a master. Ideally, the two would form an agreement that would instantiate their relationship as something with dignity; however, according to Locke, there is no such thing as a man who can make a compact with another man for his own life, as his own life is something over which he has no real power of determination.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Of Property”
This section covers one of Locke’s most famous and important ideas: property rights. For Locke, property is what a man “removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property” (19).
As he goes on to explain, property is not simply an object like a piece of land or a tool; rather, it is something that has been produced by a person through an act of creation, which involves a person taking something from the Plus, gain access to 8,500+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
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