Preview

John Locke's Account Of The Natural Origin Of Property

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
779 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
John Locke's Account Of The Natural Origin Of Property
Analyzing the accounts of both Locke and Marx it was obvious that they both found a significance of work to human life. They both approached this account in different ways. Locke looked at this point through the account of the natural origin of property, while Marx’s discusses alienated labor. The two gradually started coming up with the same analysis that ownership eventually becomes detached from labor. Using the account of the natural origin of property Locke came up with the concept that the relationship that people have with their property differs from the relationship they have with other things in the world. The relationship a person has with their property is special because of the labor the person put into it. The other things people tend to have relationships with aren’t looked at as being extremely special because the person and the thing have nothing to connect them to one another. Whereas a person has the labor and time that he/she devoted into their property and that is what connects the two, creating a more solid and unique relationship.
The natural origin of property is
…show more content…
Doing something that is repetitive and mindless can be exhausting, and make everyday at work feel like a long day. After the worker is done for the day their main priorities become things such as sleeping, eating and having sex. Prioritizing these as important is what Marx describes as the account of animal .vs. human activity. The account of animal .vs. human activity is when a human feels like an animal when performing an human function. Which in this case the worker feels like an animal when working. Working is considered a human function. The account of animal .vs. human activity also relates to a worker feeling like a human when performing animal activities. For instance, the worker feels human only when eating, sleeping, and having sex which is are considered animal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Locke begins his argument with the point that if property is to be used, then it must be appropriated and “…another can no longer have any right to it…” prior to the property being able to “…do him any good for the support of his life.” (p.19, $26) For a person to survive, one must have his or her own private property to obtain the necessary resources for survival. The common property of all mankind becomes private property when it alters from the state of nature where the property is naturally occurring. The next question pertains to how common property removed from the state of nature is private property.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ownership is a huge theme in John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. When our Founding Fathers were inspired by John Locke’s theories, they have never believed how this nation would result into be. John Lock expresses in his work that one owns their property if one works for it. He also writes about how when someone enters a state of war, then both parties have the right to fight for what they believe in. Now, that Americans live in a society where their liberties and freedom have taken away, is it possible to break away? For John Lock, he believes that is impossible to break away from a government or society because one was born into a government and by default one must obey our fathers.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Marx, although, believed the forces of production disenfranchised man from his ability to see nature in its grandeur. That is, nature in its beauty, has already existed in such form outside man's idealism and it is man's productive essence to work with the material around him that in turn recognised that beauty. Man`s natural work is warped by the unnatural forms of capitalist labour: the “superfluously coarse labours of life [make it so] its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them” (Thoreau, “Economy,” 2). Man’s drive is directed towards the desire of capital in “commerce” and “industry” (Marx, “Manifesto,” 210) which repurposes the labouring conscience of man’s “essence” (Ibid., “German Ideology,” 182) to the working “appendage of the machine” (Ibid., “Manifesto,”…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Questions regarding one’s right to ownership of land and property has been an issue much discussed, debated and responsible in creating a stir of conflict in the attempt to find a conclusive answer on subject. In John Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government, published in 1690, Locke addresses the matter in question in the fifth chapter titled: ‘Of Property’. In his work, Locke builds an argument that displays how an individual obtains an ownership of property by means of labor. Locke is able to justify his position on the point at issue through the word of God and through simplistic scenarios he illustrates to his reader. Moving forward, in 1874, Chief Seattle conducted a powerful speech to Govenor Isaac Stevens and to the nation, a speech…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Property was extremely important to Locke because he believed that it defines the boundaries of individual freedom. When you have earned and own your property, you are free to do whatever you wish in the limitations of your property without repercussions by the state or government. Locke believed that property was a primarily good and positive thing and therefore he believed that it was something that should be protected by the government because it is one of the three natural rights that we are given.…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Marx Alienation

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Marx believed in objectification when it came to labor, or essentially the outside/visible things we create are the workings of our internal thoughts—in my job, this is seen when I program accounts for our call takers as I make the visible (the account the agent works from) by thinking internally what the way to get the best functionality of the account would be. Marx though had some other theories about labor such as how work is a material thing, i.e. we farm for the food, we dig for the oil, etc. Marx believed that labor transforms us in terms of what we need, our level of self-consciousness, and so on. Marx though thought of work as the human need to work due to their needs—this is relatable as I work because I need to money, I need the money because I have bills and because I am in college. There is though an interesting topic that pretty much every job has that Marx thought of—alienation.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Yes, because as Locke used the word property, it was used in small and wide understandings. It was within of human well-being and belongings. He argued that it was a natural right to have property and was determined from work.…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3. What are Marx’s views about the value of work in the society he describes? What is his attitude toward…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    can acquire or the land he earns (Parry, 2013). In addition, he states that labor creates and legitimizes property. This signifies that this Property differs from person to person. Precisely and according to Locke, each individual produces a different amount of labor. Thus, each one deserves a different amount of property. Each person has responsibility over his own private property or land to take care of it and cultivate it as well-cultivated land produces more than a land which is not cultivated at all as Earth has been offered to people as common property in order to use for their survival and benefit (Locke, 1689). Moreover, Property of Person is defined by Locke as the idea that each individual owns his own body together with the labor he produces. In order to support his argument, Locke (1689) provides the example of…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    John Locke’s theory of property is tailored to the natural law of obligation. Locke, in The Second Treatise, develops his argument by discussing how God created humans within the state of nature and gave them a right to self-preservation, including a right to property. It is stated that Locke gave mankind the ability to use nature’s products. This introduced the right of labor. The value of individual labor is conditional within the terms of appropriation.…

    • 1960 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    John Locke (1632-1704) was an English political philosopher and is generally known for establishing the idea that people have a "natural right" to liberty and a "natural right" to private property.…

    • 102 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Locke's opinion the idea of fair unequal distribution of wealth came about with the creation of money. Before money, things could not be saved fairly. Over stocking by some would lead to spoilage, and leave others with nothing. Once money was introduced though, this allowed…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the chapter five of The Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration, John Locke expresses his opinion about property. According to the Bible, all human being is the descendants of Adam and Eve, which mean that this world is common to all humankind. However, in order to that the property is significant to people, the property must be your own private property. The individuals are different from the land and other properties. Everyone is entitled to the private rights; the personal private property may be obtained by the working, and the personal private property is out of the scope of the public property. Therefore, through manual labour, the public properties become privatization. Nevertheless, the privatization of public property is limited; the way to obtain the private property is only in the situation that does not damage others will be accepted by others. Only under such situation that people have provided appropriate resources to others, can they gain own properties to achieve their satisfactory goals through contribution and work. God gives treasure to humans, but does not look forward to seeing humans using it improperly. God expects humans to share and use the treasure in proper way and by their own work. How much treasure people should earn should be decided according to how much they contribute and need. However, it is not ethical to get properties by violating others. When people cannot implement or distribute natural resources in proper ways, others turn such resources into their own properties via ethically appropriate implementation. The right of gaining property from work is prior than land's public-owned status, since most of what people gain is via their hard work instead of natural resources. Above all, if people are willing to work on and properly implement public-owned resource properly, such work will give property as a return. In addition, John Locke indicates that the reason why currency came out…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to John Locke, private property is a natural right because the ownership of things is the only means by which a person can sustain himself or herself in physical comfort. Even though the natural condition of everything on earth and in it is that of common ownership, without a prior personal claim by any human being, people cannot make use of any of these things unless a certain method of appropriation is utilized. This method of appropriation, according to Locke, is labor.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Karl Marx believed in order for humans to survive we have to work, and that people either own the property or you work for someone who does.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays