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primary source: philosophical treatise
when any one, or more, shall take upon them to make laws, whom the people have not appointed so to do, they make laws without authority, which the people are not therefore bound to obey; by which means they come again to be out of subjection, and may constitute to themselves a new legislative, as they think best, being in full liberty to resist the force of those, who without authority would impose any thing upon them. every one is at the disposure of his own will, when those who had, by the delegation of the society, the declaring of the public will, are excluded from it, and others usurp the place, who have no such authority or delegation......
that when such a single person, or prince, sets up his own arbitrary will in place of the laws, which are the will of the society, declared by the legislative, then the legislative is changed.
—john locke, two treatises of government, 1690
subjection the act or process of bringing someone under control
disposure control, management
delegation the empowerment to act for another
usurp to seize control of by force and without right
examine the source
- explaining what does locke say is the right of people who are placed under the authority of someone they have not appointed?
- contrasting what is the difference between lockes and hobbess conception of who determines the authority to govern?
- Locke says that people placed under the authority of someone they have not appointed have the right to resist. If those making laws lack the people's appointment (no authority), the people are not bound to obey. They can come out of subjection (control) and form a new legislative as they see fit, freely resisting the force of the unauthorized law - makers.
- Locke believes that the authority to govern comes from the delegation (empowerment) of the society. The people have the right to determine who governs them. If the legitimate legislative (appointed by the people) is excluded and usurped (taken over by force without right) by others, the people can act. Hobbes, on the other hand, had a more authoritarian view. He believed in a social contract where people gave up their rights to a sovereign (an absolute ruler) for protection. The sovereign's authority was not based on the continuous consent or delegation of the people in the same way as Locke's view.
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- People have the right to resist, come out of subjection, and form a new legislative.
- Locke: Authority from society's delegation (people - based). Hobbes: Authority from a social contract where people give up rights to an absolute sovereign.