Social Contract Analysis

John Locke’s main idea was that the government should only be there to protect and provide for the people. He thought that society would be better if the government wasn’t so persistent in the lives of citizens. He also believed that people should deserve natural rights. It was his belief that people were born with these rights and that these rights should never be violated by anyone, including the government. He stated “[men are in] a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature…” (Doc. A). In other words, this quote shows that Locke believes that humans have natural rights and that people should be free to use them however they please. Therefore, he believed that no one, especially the government, should have power over peoples’ natural

To Locke, the “State of Nature” is a state in which every human being is his own king, who answers to no higher authority than his own conscience and will. Although this “State of Nature” offers complete freedom; this freedom is accompanied by an amorphous mass of fears and insecurities that stem from devolution that Locke called the “State of War”. The “State of War” occurs when one individual tyrannizes another (either to enslave him or to take over his property) and the victim of this relationship rightfully decides to defend himself. In the “State of War” the tyrant tries to deprive the individual of the rights that he is naturally entitled to.

John Locke’s social construct, which is inherently based on the The Law of Nature, bestowed by God, assuring humans with the right of health, liberty and property, is undoubtedly flawed to some extent in which specific aspects of such can be exploited to justify wrongful doings. Given that Locke forms that the human state of nature is one of relative peace, in which each person is inherently moral trough universal religious affiliation, and whom follow their bidding without interference, in regard to the rights bound by the law of nature, and the constant tendency for humans to develop disputes amongst these natural rights, specifically that of property, the attraction of swaying away from a state of nature is in part to maintain one’s property safe and equal. This is an important factor in Locke’s theory as it is what disputes the choice of staying in a peaceful state of nature in the menace of possible war and danger.

John Locke was an exemplary English philosopher. He argued in his book, The Second Treatise of Government, that governments need to be controlled through the interests of the citizens safety and preservation. Preservation is not just limited to life, but also the protection of liberty and property. Natural rights and the social contract allows this to be ensured. In fact, he states that, “ “.

In Locke’s second treatise of government, John Locke described that to understand the rights of individuals and role of government, one must starts with a consideration of men in a state of nature. In a state of nature where everyone is equal and free, everyone could do anything as long as they followed the law of nature. In the law of nature everyone had a right to self-preservation, and it is against the law of nature to impose that right. Due to the fact that there is no such thing as private property in nature or the bible, John Locke uses the right to self-preservation to justify the existence of private property. It is clear to lock that individuals came before society in the state of nature, therefore individuals are more important than any social order.

The way a government or state has ruled over a populace has always been attributed to the socially accepted political idea prevailing at the time, but their are multiple ideal political ideas that have shaped the modern world and all of them ultimately were hinged upon each other. The following political ideas of, a socially bound contract, the divine right of a king and the laws of god and nature are the founding principles throughout history that have lead to major political revolutions including republicanism and democracy.

Lillard, Monique C., Fifty Jurisdictions in Search of a Standard: The Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing in the Employment Context, 57 Mo. L. Rev. (1992)

"The current federal system of government in the United States is failing to meet its social contract obligations to the American people." There is nothing closer to the truth than this statement. While some may argue that the government is following the guidelines of a social contract, many aspects of the government have outgrown their britches and taken over.

John Locke argues that people deserve life, liberty, and property which are all an essential part of the social contract. The government needs to guard individuals’ lives and safeguard the freedom of prosperity and impose laws that are structured to reward efforts which improve society economically. Locke’s Contractual Theory of Government says that people must willingly do things like pay taxes and serve in the military, but in return, the government had to listen to their desires and provide for their needs. John Locke’s philosophy is one that we are all familiar with because his ideas were used in our Constitution by our founding fathers. According to the United States Senate, “We the

Constitution. John Locke’s belief of “life, liberty, and property” was the most influence on the American. Beside the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, and English Bill of Rights, Locke also has a great influence of limit government. Locke’s Social Contract theory was to protect the basic rights of the people, it for the right of citizens to revolt against their king. Social contract is a convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. According to Locke, the State of Nature is a state of perfect and complete liberty to behavior one's life as one best perceives fit, and free from the interfering of others. Also from Locke’s view of State of Nature, he believes it was given by

To get out of the state of nature we need to retain our natural rights, the rights to liberty (self-preservation and preservation of others) and the right to property. The same rules that apply to liberty also apply to property for Locke. Property rights are prior (in principle) to government, you have a right to life and property without government. It's settling your disputes that may make it hard to do without government. The state of nature becomes the state of war when enforcement problems occur, disagreements; thus the reason for government is to preserve pre-existing rights. To get out of the state of nature government can exist only by consent and you cant consent for anyone else, unless of course they are children. There are two major elements of Locke's social contract. Phase #1 is the bare agreement to agree. People have to realize the need for government, the need for something to solve problems of the people. For Hobbes this is like a bare leap into government. For Locke, there must be societies were people agree to communicate and talk in order to unanimously agree on a government. And if someone decides that they don't want to join, well,

The quality of your individual life would greatly improve in utopia. The burdens you face from corporate monopolies, the overwhelming weight of the devaluation of your currency and the lack of faith in your neighbors to achieve a civilization of peace and mutual respect has taken its toll for too long. Although this sounds as if it was taken directly from George Orwell’s book (1984) itself, the propaganda of a utopian government rule and the current everlasting war breathes as it’s on self-reliant organization today. Weary of the multiple political parties that are emerging every three seconds, we are faced with a question that has been proposed since the beginning of logical thinking. Is it

For Locke, It becomes increasingly difficult to defend the natural right due to the possibility of the state of war. In order to preserve the right, the people would also have to come together to form a social contract. They would then establish a state, whose job would be to PRESERVE the right, and to punish those who seek to attack it. The state will then decide upon a neutral judge. John Locke argues that the government’s only job is to act as an fair mediator of self-defense. This way the power of the state comes from consent and delegation of the governed. The government is limited by its people’s natural right and cannot overstep its bounds. Since the law of nature states that a person cannot violate another’s natural right, the same mentality must be kept by the government, or sovereign. If the sovereign fails to preserve or

Besides the right to self-preservation, Locke also believed that all individuals had a natural right to property, “the labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are property his,” (pg. 128, 27). This natural right carried with it two preconditions of natural law. First, since God gave the earth to all individuals, people must be sure to leave enough property for others to have, the second

“Contracting by its very nature is a partnership and a way to facilitate change as a process rather than dictating I know what is best for you. A core value of social work is self-determination, and the client is the primary partner. Contracts specify the goals to be accomplished and the means to accomplish them, clarify the roles of the participants, and establish the conditions under which assistance is provided” (Cummins et al., 2012, p.225-226).