Editing John Locke (section)

===Government===
{{See also|Two Treatises of Government}}
{{Republicanism sidebar}}
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
Locke's political theory was founded upon that of [[social contract]]. Unlike [[Thomas Hobbes]], Locke believed that [[human nature]] is characterised by [[reason]] and [[Toleration|tolerance]]. Like Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature allows people to be selfish. This is apparent with the introduction of currency. In a [[State of nature#Locke's view on the state of nature|natural state]], all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend their "life, health, liberty, or possessions".<ref name="locke">Locke, John. [1690] 2017. ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7370/7370-h/7370-h.htm Second Treatise of Government] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116173303/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7370/7370-h/7370-h.htm |date=16 November 2019 }}'' (10th ed.), digitized by D. Gowan. [[Project Gutenberg]]. Retrieved 2 June 2020.</ref>{{rp|198}} Most scholars trace the phrase "[[Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness]]" in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|American Declaration of Independence]] to Locke's theory of rights,<ref>{{Citation |last=Zuckert |first=Michael |title=The Natural Rights Republic |year=1996 |publisher=Notre Dame University Press |pages=73–85}}</ref> although other origins have been suggested.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wills |first=Garry |title=Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co |year=2002}}</ref> Like Hobbes, Locke assumed that the sole right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people established a [[civil society]] to resolve conflicts in a civil way with help from government in a state of society. However, Locke never refers to Hobbes by name and may instead have been responding to other writers of the day.<ref>{{Citation |last=Skinner |first=Quentin |title=Visions of Politics |place=Cambridge}}.</ref> Locke also advocated governmental [[separation of powers]] and believed that revolution is not only a [[Right of revolution|right]] but an obligation in some circumstances. These ideas would come to have profound influence on the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] and the [[Constitution of the United States]].

==== Accumulation of wealth ====
{{See also|Lockean proviso}}
According to Locke, unused property is wasteful and an offence against nature,<ref>{{Citation |last=Locke |first=John |title=Two Treatises on Government: A Translation into Modern English |year=2009 |publisher=Industrial Systems Research |isbn=978-0-906321-47-8 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3eB0IgzJjoC&q=John+Locke+unused+property+waste+offence+against+nature&pg=PA81 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but, with the introduction of [[Durable good|"durable" goods]], men could exchange their excessive perishable goods for those which would last longer and thus not offend the [[natural law]]. In his view, the introduction of money marked the culmination of this process, making possible the unlimited accumulation of property without causing waste through spoilage.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Locke: Inequality is inevitable and necessary |url=http://www0.hku.hk/philodep/courses/ac/Phil1003-2008/Locke2.ppt |publisher=Department of Philosophy The University of Hong Kong |access-date=1 September 2011 |format=MS PowerPoint |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509074104/http://www.hku.hk/philodep/courses/ac/Phil1003-2008/Locke2.ppt |archive-date=9 May 2009}}</ref> He includes gold or silver as money because they may be "hoarded up without injury to anyone",<ref>{{cite web |first=John |last=Locke |title=Second Treatise |at=§§&nbsp;25–51, 123–126 |url=http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s3.html |publisher=The Founders Constitution |access-date=1 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911101831/http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s3.html |archive-date=11 September 2011}}</ref> as they do not spoil or decay in the hands of the possessor. In his view, the introduction of money eliminates limits to accumulation. Locke stresses that inequality has come about by tacit agreement on the use of money, not by the social contract establishing [[civil society]] or the [[Land law|law of land]] regulating property. Locke was aware of a problem posed by unlimited accumulation, but did not consider it his task. He just implies that government would function to moderate the conflict between the unlimited accumulation of property and a more nearly equal distribution of wealth; he does not identify which principles that government should apply to solve this problem. However, not all elements of his thought form a consistent whole. For example, the [[labour theory of value]] in the ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' stands side by side with the demand-and-supply theory of value developed in a letter he wrote titled ''Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money''. Moreover, Locke anchors property in labour but, in the end, upholds unlimited accumulation of wealth.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Cobb |last1=Cliff |first2=Fred |last2=Foldvary |title=John Locke on Property |url=http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/cobb-cliff-and-fred-foldvary_john-locke-on-property-1999.html |publisher=The School of Cooperative Individualism |access-date=14 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315171711/http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/cobb-cliff-and-fred-foldvary_john-locke-on-property-1999.html |archive-date=15 March 2012}}</ref>