Rousseau Vs Locke Essay Research Paper Rousseau

Rousseau Vs. Locke Essay, Research Paper

Rousseau VS. Locke

The origins and Consequences of private property.

We have read two books, John Locke’s “The second treatise on government” and Rousseau’s “Discourse on inequality.” Of the several topics touched upon in each book, many topics seem to deal with the same issues. One topic in particular concerns the origins of land ownership and the consequences it has had for the human race. Locke seems to take one side of the argument, while Rousseau seems to have taken the opposite. I believe that Locke has prepared a more convincing and realistic view of this topic than Rousseau. The focus of this paper will be to explain why I believe Locke has done the better job.

In John Locke’s book, “The second treatise of government,” Locke sketches out a brief history of early man and his progression from simple land dweller to land owner. In this description, Locke explains how the concept of property is necessary to human preservation and that property becomes property by having applied work, or effort upon an object. Locke explains that in the beginning, all of earth’s great wealth belonged to all men in common, where everyone had an equal right to everything. Locke says that without the concept of property, humans would never be able to survive, because being allowed to use anything for ones survival would depend on having the consent of every one else. Therefore its only natural to think for example, that an apple belongs to anyone and everyone only until such a time as one person makes the apple theirs. Locke continues to explain that by nature, humans should not, and generally did not, take from nature more than was necessary to preserve their lives, because to do so would be wasteful and could deprive others of their right to a fair share of food. Locke later explains that ownership of physical land is made possible by first, applying effort to making such land more productive, in the earliest sense that meant cultivating the land to produce more food. This surplus of food was acceptable because the idea was that the individual could then sell this food surplus to his fellow man for something of worth. In the earliest sense, this would have been bartering. For example, if you owned an acre of land, on witch you grew apples, you could use the surplus of apples you have grown to trade for other things that you need, say fish, milk and so on. It is at this point that humans collectively decide on a particular system of trade that involves the use of the first currency. Currency being an item that would never rot, and could be saved for latter use, was a new and wonderful invention because in hoarding money, you would not be wasting that witch nature provides for all, and you also now had a way for the first time to advance from a subsistence way of life to a more comfortable form. With the creation of money, and the ownership of land, all mankind would benefit, and those who were most “rational and industrious” now had a means by which they could advance themselves as far as they wanted. Locke, being a land owner himself was very much in favor of land ownership, and felt that those who had done very well for themselves deserved there wealth, and those who were not so well off were so because they were “quarrelsome and contentious.”

Locke goes to great labor in order to support his belief in the ownership of land. And if you take all that Locke says as the truth, you could easily agree with him. For the most part, I have to agree with Locke on this topic, as it closely shadows what we have in modern society. Modern man has advanced far beyond anything even Locke could have hoped for and in general, all mankind has benefited from the kind of economy that comes with the ownership of land, and the use of currency as a medium for advancement. However, where I have some concern with Lock’s doctrine is his dismissal of the very real consequences that come with this advancement. Locke probably never envisioned a time when man would be as advanced as we are today. I have to believe that if Locke could somehow be brought form the past to see the futures success, as well as some of its failures, he would more than likely have cause to amend some of his earlier thoughts. But even in his time, Locke seems to have failed to realize that not everyone has the same capacity to rise to the standard of living that he himself enjoyed. Property is scarce. And when property is scarce, money is scarce. After having read Locke’s book, one gets the sense that he in fact knows this, and without coming right out and saying it, he is trying to sugar coat the fact that he advocates in a sense, holding down those who are weaker in order that the stronger may retain, or have more. This is precisely what kings had been doing for years, only on a grand scale. An extreme few had all the power and most of the wealth, the rest were kept in extreme poverty as a consequence. Locke companied against this despotism, as it was called, however his plan for a better government hinged around landowners, which he was one. I feel that Locke was for the people, so long as the people were like him. In his scenario, there are still many that will have to do without. He justifies this be attaching an all-inclusive title to the poorest individuals and saying that they are “quarrelsome, and contentious.” Idealistically, Locke does not provide a way for the e