John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Views on Private Prop essays

John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Views on Private Prop essays In the sixteen to nineteenth centuries, philosophers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had clearly opposing opinions on the European settlement of the Native American inhabitation; this was due to their very distinctive notions on private property. These settlers found in North America a largely uncultivated and undeveloped territory; here savages lacked an elaborate concept of private property in land. Rousseau believes that even the Native Americans have a deep capacity to become corrupt, for all societies have this tendency. Locke sees the stipulation and function of society to protect property as something sacred to mankind, while Rousseau perceives property as the root of the corruption and ultimate disgrace of society. Locke was in defense of this European settlement and appropriation of land; while Jean-Jacques Rousseau would seemingly oppose the European settlement. Rousseau and Locke both appropriately distinguish the derivation of property to be grounded in m ans natural desire to improve his life, but they differ in their portrayal of the result of such a desire. Although Rousseau addresses fascinating conceptions of private property, Locke will ultimately prove that private property is vital and has a positive effect on mankind. In order to examine either philosophers views on property and its origins, it is necessary to go back to the most primitive human development, and discuss their different conceptions of the state of nature. We must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom...A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another. (Locke, Second Treatise, II.4). According to John Locke, man is bound by a distinct law of nature in this state of liberty, which diktats that all men are bound to preserve himself, and...to preserve the rest of Mankind. (Se...