Q1
Why does civil society form?
A civil society forms due to the need to have control over the available resources such as a piece of land. A civil society develops to protect human beings from crimes, wars, murders, and related miseries. Therefore, a civil society protects the human race from horrific events that might pose threats on humanity. Civil society strives to eliminate imposters who deprive the people of their inherent properties that are provided to them by nature. Humans form human society to make things work as they were before the ideas of property ownership arose to interfere with the human mind. A civil society formed to enable human beings to acquire industry and enlightenment to facilitate knowledge transmission and augmentation from one age to the next. Therefore, civil society formed as a slow succession of events that involved the advancement of knowledge in its most natural order (Anonymous, n.d). The formation of civil societies originated from man’s existence and his first concern on earth, which entails preservation. Therefore, man formed civil societies to help him utilize all the resources with which the earth is endowed. As he experienced hunger and all other appetites, man wanted to perpetuate his species and the blind inclination made him to adopt an animal act.
What rights do individuals give up and which rights do they keep (gain)?
People give up their birth rights once they have been born and are able to do without their mother. For example, human beings have a blind inclination that is devoid of any kind of sentiment of the heart that makes them to depict a purely animal act. Therefore, once a child is born, it no longer means anything to the parents provided it can support itself and neither the mother nor the father will look after him/her. Human beings give up such rights because they are limited to pure sensations that they scarcely profit from and they turn to the gifts of nature to extract resources that can support life thereafter. Although they give up such rights, man must learn how to overcome the challenges that arise in the absence of the support from the parents. Giving up the birth rights and adapting to a hardy life is crucial since it makes man to be aware of the ferocity of animals that intend to take away his life (Anonymous, n.d). Also, giving up the rights is crucial for man’s ability to surmount nature’s obstacles and struggle for his subsistence and subsistence. Therefore, he could easily compensate for what he had to yield to individuals who might be stronger than himself. However, people must keep their rights to life, liberty, and access to property. The three rights exist in the state of nature and must never be taken away and even individuals themselves cannot give them away. Therefore, these rights are intended to protect the natural rights of the people because the violation of such rights means that the social contract is broken. According to Locke, property is the most fundamental natural right that people must have in addition to the freedom of thought, speech, and religion. Therefore, it is upon the owner to decide what to do with the property provided their actions do not interfere with the rights of others. As such, man will always promote the fundamental public good to protect property while encouraging commerce. Indeed, man should own property to help him counteract future changes that result in situations characterized by barren years, long and hard summers, as well as hot summers.
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What is Locke’s understanding of property?
Locke argues that property is inherent since people have their nature property rights within their bodies and if possible, people should be entitled to a property right in their own labor. This implies that there is an appropriation of beings to man. Property acts as the mechanical prudence that provides man with the precautions on how to always be on the safer side of life. Property provides man with the ability to develop increased superiority over other animals and set traps for them for sustenance. Man’s ability to gain a fighting strength and knowing how to distinguish fighting strengths and gain higher ranks in society. Locke argues that anyone who acquires property rights through laboring on natural resources can leave sufficient resources for other generations. However, something is wrong with regards to how resources are distributed because some suffer extremely while others thrive. Therefore, these arguments bring us to the understanding that when some people can utilize their inherent rights to acquire large properties, they deprive the others from enjoying their material and moral wellbeing.
On what basis can a person claim to own something?
People can claim ownership of a property if they have mutual commitments and advantages for fulfilling their ambitions. They can also claim to own something if they can use their overt force to outdo the others and applying their levels of cleverness and cunning to pursue individual goals without giving a second thought. For one to own a property, they must have the means for appropriating the resources around them as evident in the idea that every individual owns a property of person. As a person utilizes their labor and their own property rights to any foreign object, they claim that particular good. Therefore, Locke claims that once you add labor to an object, you make it your property and the appropriation of such a good is not based on the consent of humankind. Therefore, every person can appropriate goods and services based on individual initiative.
Q2
Rousseau describes human progress as the continuous possession of qualities that distinguish man from other animals while leveraging the available natural resources. Rousseau argues that man applies his higher functions of the brain to differentiate him from animals. Humans have the faculty of perfectibility because man has the right to appropriate goods by adding their labor. Human progress has positive impacts because it brings enlightenment. Rousseau argues that human progress compels people to reason and develop rationality, as well as knowledge to support the process (Anonymous, n.d). Progress enables people to acquire new knowledge, superstition, and blind faith. Therefore, these positive impacts must not be overlooked because they defend the religious faith and they denigrate the possible outcomes of human reason and progress.
What are the sources of inequality?
The first source of inequality is man’s nature that involves his strong, agile, and smaller features. The difference is the fact that he is more organized than animals in his immediate environment. Man’s thoughts consist of simple operations but he has different needs that he must satisfy (Anonymous, n.d). Man’s passions are those that originate from nature such as food, sex, rest, and he bitterly hates pain and anger.
To what does Rousseau attribute the origins of inequality in political society?
The origins of inequality are attributed to the right of conquest, which is not a right in itself. Also, inequality originated from the concepts of weak and strong that ensure the establishment of the right to property ownership.
What do you think about Rousseau’s general description of man in society?
Man is something more than the supreme happiness of an individual based on the different inclinations of the heart. Man is someone who only breathes peace and liberty and he desires to live free from labor (Anonymous, n.d). At times, man toils, sweats, and racks his brain to accomplish tasks associated with laborious occupations.
Reference
Anonymous. (n.d). Jean Jacques Rousseau (1754). On the Origin of the Inequality of Mankind: The Second Part. https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/rousseau/inequality/ch02.htm
