ENGL 298 B: Intermediate Writing Social Sciences   Autumn 2011, University of Washington

The section that I chose was on page 19,  starting at section 27-30 of Locke, regarding Property. I wanted to focus on Locke’s argument of man’s labor and his own property.

The reason why I chose this was because I thought that it was a somewhat valid point. I can see where Locke would be coming from considering in “his” state of nature, he believed that all men would be created equal and act in accordance to the natural law. In the particular section, he speaks of man in a state of nature, where he can work and provide for himself. He believed that by using your own body, and contributing your own labor, that would be justification enough to obligate yourself to that which you worked for. He begins by speaking of the creatures of the earth, and how “every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself.” By this, he is saying no man has any right obstruct that personal right to property once a man has put in labor. By the state of nature in Locke’s perspective, anything that has been naturally placed in the common state, any man may have the right to that. No man may prevent another man, from equally taking what has been put in the natural state, as long as you have put your labor into it and cannot be robbed of that right.

What I got from this passage, was a clear idea of Locke’s vision of equality and justice for all men.  This definitely convinces me of his argument paralleling labor and man’s property. Picking apart the sections has helped me go over his logic, and hopefully help you understand this section as well.