Graduation

John Locke explores the importance of private property in his Second Treatise of Government. To Locke, the end of government is the preservation of property (165). His argument is founded in the God-given law of Nature, and he uses this to justify that private property is absolutely fundamental to liberty. Locke’s argument for the legitimacy of private property relies on religious appeals and loses validity when you remove religion from the equation. Allowing the religious foundation, there are other fundamental issues with the validity of Locke’s claims.
To begin the argument, Locke begins by explaining how the state of Nature allows us to acquire and maintain property. In the state of Nature, each individual equally exists in a state of liberty (107). This state of liberty is not a state of license, meaning man cannot bring destruction upon himself or others just because he lives in a state of liberty. Locke clarifies this so he can make the point that the state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it (107). This law of Nature is the reason that ensures that, because all men are equal and should love one another, no one should harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions (107). While there is no private property in the natural state, every man has a sort of property over himself (116). Locke must preface by establishing these aspects of Nature to give the source of his argument.