We are all created equally by God, and so the thought of harming each other shouldn’t even cross our minds, since it is not our right to harm someone who rightfully belongs to God. As he stated, law of nature is the groundwork of morality, and is given to us by God, which summons that we should not harm anything related to anyone be it life, possessions, liberty or health. As it is said, ‘The rights of swinging my fist ends where your nose starts’, Locke claims that every person should realize his responsibility and understand the limitations of his rights and respect that of others. Law of nature according to John Locke states that every individual is bound by a social responsibility towards the other. To seek just protection and insure stability in their lives, people surrendered their freedom to a sovereignty. This would cause invasion and insult of others rights, instigating them to take necessary actions to protect themselves against the harm a person having ill intentions can cause to them. This created a state of war between every individual, if a person posed a threat to another in order to gain access to his belongings. State of nature suggests that people have complete freedom to anything and everything, which was indeed the natural condition of the human race.Īccording to Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher of the 17th century, the rights people have in a state of nature, to their possessions, including property, and their will to do anything they wanted to, created a menace without a political hand to control the injustice one could do to the other in power of his rights. Philosophers have different views and theories on this concept. What was it to be completely free, without anyone to judge or punish, and how societies came into existence.
It is based on a hypothetical situation that when years ago there were no societies, what it would have been like. State of nature is equivalent to anarchy.
It is not an official contract, but a fiction that of mutual understanding. A social contract is what we all sign as a part of the society we live in, in order to enjoy its social benefits. It means you abide with all the rules and regulations of that contract and agree to follow them, discontinuity of which would cause serious punishable consequences. A short summary of ‘social contract theory’ The American Constitution and all Western political systems today are based on this theory. A big question that intrigued the theorists of the social contract theory was, that how can people give away their freedom to a sovereignty in trade for some benefits? John Locke’s social contract theory is what we are living today. The natural rights we were born with are protected by a government we choose to govern us. We are all governed by the societies we live in. A Social Contract is not an official contract, but a fiction that of mutual understanding.
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