John Locke's Social Contract and Natural Rights Argument in Relation to Free Will

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John Locke’s Social Contract and Natural Rights Argument in Relation to Free Will

One of the most significant philosophical and political issues for humanity is the conflict of freedom and security. This is often referred to as a balance between the two. This issue has been prevalent for as long as we have had society. In this paper I will discuss some of the theories of the 17th century English philosopher John Locke in his Second Treatise of Government and how they apply to this situation. I plan to then relate his arguments to the problem of free will. In this paper, I will describe John Locke’s theory of social contracts and natural rights in a civil government and then defend his argument.

The philosophical problem of freedom vs. security is one that has been seen for as long as mankind has had governments. The basis of the dilemma entails that people wish to have freedom. However, if all people had complete freedom, then there lies a potential for murder, mayhem, and chaos (since people would have the freedom to do whatever they desired). On the other hand, if society had complete security, then people would have no freedom at all. In other words, the people would have no will; they would be completely manipulated and controlled. Because both extremes (of either complete freedom or complete security) aren’t desired, we must now decide what freedoms are we willing to trade for security and vice versa. This is the objective for the balance between security and freedom. Another philosophical problem I hope to address in this paper is the problem of free will, which aims to determine if free will exists and if so, how? I believe that John Locke provided a good stance for both of these philosophical issues. John Locke was an...

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"1690." Second Treatise of Civil Government by John Locke. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .

"John Locke." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .

"John Locke | Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism." John Locke | Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .

"John Locke: Second Treatise of Civil Government: Chapter 2." John Locke: Second Treatise of Civil Government: Chapter 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .

Uzgalis, William. "John Locke." Stanford University. Stanford University, 2 Sept. 2001. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .

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