 Now Locke's the excerpt from Locke here examines slightly different question than we've seen say with Aristotle or Epicurus. Now with Locke he's not concerned so much with you know what is the good life or how or you know what kind of character should a person develop or what kind of person should you be what kind of sort of thing should you be. Rather Locke is concerned with questions rather like what do you have the right to do? What can you do? What is a permissible act and action? And he doesn't really focus much on the character of a person and instead he's asking this question you what do you have the right to do and what you have the right to do is you know starts with the state of nature and which follows the law of nature and after that you can enter you know what we've kind of talked about before as the social contract and he gives reasons why you should want to enter into the social contract. I mean the state of nature again now you know despite the fact I'm walking amongst the trees Locke doesn't mean that the state of nature the sense of you know living out the woods right like Hobbes what Locke is talking about is you know the the state that we're in absent a political state or you know rather the political state that we're in when there isn't any political any other kind of government involved. This is our our our natural state in the sense that this is what we are according to our nature according to our nature. So but Locke's version of the state of nature is pretty different from Hobbes now I'll let you go back and review the video for Hobbes if you'd like or review the text Hobbes had a much more you know free-for-all version of the state of nature Locke's different and the state of nature you know both Locke and Hobbes are going to say we're both we're equal everyone's equal to each other and what Hobbes is talking about this equality has to deal with like physical capacities and in a sense that no one person can just by sheer force of will and domination just overpower everyone else. Well Locke I'm sure is going to agree with that but in addition to that he's going to say we have equal moral worth right no one person is more important than another. No one person's life is worth more than another's right. So now we have equal moral worth in addition to you know capacities. Now since you know one person is any more important more important than another in this state of nature we are free to do what we want. Every person is just as important as every other person which means every person is just as sovereign as any other person. You have the right to do whatever you want and you don't have to ask for permission. You can dispose of yourself and your possessions how you see fit. If you want to put pink garden gnomes around your house you can put pink garden gnomes around your house you don't have to worry about the neighborhood association. If you want to decorate your tree and little yellow flowers and you know spray skunk spray around the place you could do that right that you don't have to ask people's permission to do that. You may dispose of yourself any positions as you see fit within the law of nature. Now both Hobbes and Locke had a law of nature remember Hobbes thought that the law of nature was to preserve your life and you know to avoid not only it's the end of it but also avoid any threats and for this reason you're supposed to enter into the state. For Locke there is a law of nature and it's a law according to your human nature is the idea. So you in the state of nature you may act you may do as you please that is your freedom that is your freedom but you may act as you please within the law of your nature. I must abide by the law of nature. What does that mean? Well he's already said I've got freedoms right. I've got freedom to dispose of myself and my possessions as I please. I don't have to ask anybody's permission for what I want to do with my myself or my things but I still have limits. I may not destroy myself. I'm not allowed to just simply destroy myself. That much Locke and Hobbes have in common. I have since I'm morally worthwhile right according to my nature I'm morally worthwhile I may not just simply destroy myself and as far as my possessions I can't just simply destroy my possessions either. I can't just simply you know I can't just take my hat and light it on fire for no reason. If I'm gonna destroy my hat it has to be for a good purpose and that you know that purpose that use of it has to exceed you know the value of its continued existence. So my hat's really great for covering my head and keeping keeping the shade and keeping the sun out of my eyes. So if I'm going to destroy my hat it's got to somehow serve that purpose better. So in the law of nature I can't destroy myself. I can't simply just wantonly destroy my property. Now in addition to that whatever I choose to do with myself or my property I can't interfere with other people's use of themselves and their property. So I can't want to destroy my neighbor's property as well. I also can't just simply take it. I can't use my property to inhibit my neighbor's freedom. Or rather not even just my neighbor everybody else. So it's kind of a hefty responsibility. I can do what I want but I can't interfere with other people and I can't just simply wantonly destroy things. Well depending on your perspective you might think what law has to say is pretty good so far. I mean after all hey I can do what I want and since there isn't a political state you know I know there's this law of nature but you know who's going to enforce it right? I'll go beat up my neighbor and take his cow. That cow looks good. I'm going to go beat up my neighbor and take his cow. Well if he does something like that Locke says you're deciding to live by a different law than the law of nature which is really this law of reason is what he's going to call her law of reason. We all have a will. We all make decisions. We are we are all equally valuable. So since we are all equally valuable we make these decisions we shouldn't interfere with it with other people's decisions. They want to live their way their life the way they wanted then yeah we should let them do that. And if you decide to interfere with other people's lives in this way well you're living by a different law. I mean you're living by some kind of law that you are now more important than everybody else. All right well you can try to do that. I suppose that's your choice. However you are now you know a tyrant right you've declared yourself more important than everybody else. Well if that happens you know they may not you know you might say there's no police but everybody in the state of nature is a sovereign as anybody else. That means not that there aren't any police. That means that everybody is the police and everybody has the right to punish you. Everybody has the right to punish you. And you know maybe to do it again and again. You should be punished if you decide to live by this wild law wild tyrannical law of yours. You decide to take your neighbors. You know people are going to gang up and and punish you for it. Now punishment for law serves two purposes. To you know restrain the offender and to you know prevent the offender from wanting to do it again. So it gives the offender good reason not to not to subvert the law of nature again. You know you mean I want to live by the law of nature but you probably want to live by this law of self-preservation which means you behave yourself around your neighbors especially if they're going to beat you know take pitchforks and beat you know beat you up for for violating the law of nature. The second thing a person may be punished for is reparation. So if I go steal that guy's cow well then I got to pay it back right and punishing me for that for not only the cow but you know the trauma of stealing it and maybe I destroyed some property taking the cow and things like that. Reparations for taking the cow must also be paid. Now law is very clear right reparations can only be given only paid back to the one who was at a loss. That you know that's the only person that may take reparations not you know everybody else can't just take a cow. However everybody can punish for the purpose of preventing you know convincing the offender not to do this again. Everybody can punish you know to give the offender what they deserve. They deserve to be punished for their crimes because they decided to live as a tyrant. And these these are the two reasons for these are the two reasons that the two permissibility behind punishment. And again since we're in the law of nature it's not that there aren't any police it's that everybody is the police. Now so far as I've been in the state of nature I've been kind of lucky. I haven't had to enter into the state of war. Now state of war is a state where I'm an enemy of something somebody else and it's a state where my life is threatened by somebody else. Somebody else is trying to take over my sovereignty sometimes trying to either destroy my life or take away what I've been working for. Trying to take away my choices. And for luck trying to take away somebody's choices is as bad as trying to take away their life. And when that happens when when somebody's doing that they enter the state of war and when they enter the state of war you may kill that person. The punishment can be death. In the state of war the punishment can be death. And yeah I mean everybody's life is is worthwhile here but you know luck doesn't really necessarily say this but he probably something along the lines of what he's saying is like yeah your life is valuable and in order to prevent your life from being lost by somebody who's trying to destroy you you have to kill them. You have to kill them. So that part you may not find too distressing too alarming. But here's something else that luck adds on to us. By the way a thief enters into a state of war with you. If a thief is stealing your property you may kill them. You don't have to but you may kill them. They are threatening your life in the sense now even though they may not have harmed you. Something he says even though they may not harm you. They're threatening your life in the sense that they are threatening your choices. They're threatening your ability to live your life. Because imagine this right you're trying to you're trying to survive so you are growing your food and you're raising your cows and you're trying to make a living and then somebody comes along and steals away your living. They are stealing away your life. Well for luck that's just as bad as trying to actually physically end it. So thieves for luck enter into a state of war and after entering into a state of war if they're threatening your sovereignty you can kill them. I don't know if you've noticed but we got a pretty wonderful world around here. Beautiful and there's lots to have right. Lots of food lots of resources to use. Now for luck all of this has been given to all of us. It hasn't been given to just one person remember this is a state of nature. Every person is just as important as every other person. All of this has been given to all of us. It's to be held by us in common. It was given for our good our well-being. Okay that's great I mean we like to hear this. But you know since it's good for you I mean it's here for all of us we should be able to use it. That's the idea we should be able to use what's been given to us for our own good. But how do I do this when I've got other people who also want to use all of this right because it's been given to all of us to come. So even though it's given to all of us in common which it might be another way saying it belongs to all of us and it belongs to all of us. We're responsible for all of this. Yeah even though it's you know for all of us in common it belongs to all of us there still has to be a way that I can take some of it to use it for myself. I mean if it's good for all of us so I shouldn't take for anybody else when we're all gonna you know suffer and die. That's not gonna work. So that has to be some way that I can acquire property is the idea. So to do this Locke says like look you know if there is once there's you know all of this is for all of us that's true right all of this is all of this is true. But I am for me only right I am I belong to myself only nobody else owns me and and I can't consequently one of things gotta say not in here but other places I can't sell myself to somebody else. I am for me only but what that also means is that what I work what I do with my labor is also mine. So if I work for it if I acquire something from what's good out here that's something that's mine. So I can walk around here into these woods and I can pick up acorns to eat and I can pick up fruit to eat and there are there are animals in these woods so I can go out and I can hunt the animal and since I'm the one that hunted the animal and and using it for food well then that's mine because I belong to me I am my own property and my labor is also mine. So this is how I'm supposed to acquire from the world around me from what's good it's all all this is for all of us but I can go out and acquire what's for all of us through my labor. We got cactus that provides nutrition also provides water got this tree here if it ever bears fruit I can take fruit from the tree got some grasses I've got some dead dead wood around here I can pick up a dead wood and acquire that. So if I'm acquiring this I'm mixing with my labor well it becomes mine. Now here's a question can I just get whatever I want to just keep it can I hoard it all to myself? Well I was gonna say no you can't you can take what you need sure you can take what you can use okay but you can't just simply take whatever you want remember all of this is for all of us so if you take something and you don't use it it spoils it's ruined if you if you take something and you never use it you just kind of push it away and you know store it someplace or nobody can find it it can't be used all of this is for all of us well that means I can't just simply destroy all of this I can't let it go to waste other people have to have the opportunity to take what they need as a part of their own choices as a part of their own lives and their own will they have to be able to take what they need in order to make it theirs. So I could take what I want it becomes mine if I mix my labor with that if I actually use it it's a product of my decision and my action it's physically within my possession okay I can do that but I can't just take everything and I can't just you know hoard it all and stuff it off away I have to give other people the opportunity to live their own lives as well. So that works for you know like things items okay well what about the land all right can I just say you know what wherever I see I own this land well no right same for the same reason yeah other people have all this is for all of us in common it's not just for me it's for all of us in common well that means that if I take some land and you suppose I I take this little area here I make this area here for my crops my food my animals my shelter right I'm gonna build a nice little cabin right over there fence it off a little bit to enclose some animals I can do that I mix up my labor I can do that but I have to leave enough for everybody else or I have to give something as good as for everybody else so suppose I section off a lot of land to raise a bunch of crops all right I'm using that land for the crops well if if I'm doing that I have to give to other people like the excess of those crops have to give as good as that land meaning right they're using the land to grow the crops meaning I have to give them that those crops if I'm gonna take a whole bunch of land for crops have to make sure people can eat with them so if I take land I have to leave enough everybody else or as good or give as good as the land for everybody else you know I can take suppose I want land for you know hiking right I want to enjoy nature well if I do that I have to leave as much for everybody else or give as good right whatever good I'm taking from that land that enjoyment of it I have to give as good for other people so I have you know so different you know luck has a different idea of the state of nature than hops house is going to say you do whatever you want to preserve your life whatever and everybody else could do that to well Locke says yeah I mean you can live your life as you want but you have to live that life with the law of nature that means you have to respect other people's lives you have to respect not only the fact that they're living but their choices as well I can live as I want but I can't interfere with other people that means in terms of property I can take what I want what I can use right just but I can't let us spoil because I'm an effect stealing it for somebody else because all this is for everybody's good and I could take land as I want but I have to leave it leave as have to leave as much for everybody else or give as good as for everybody else