Ethics and Values / Unit 3 Ethics 133 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Locke's State of Nature
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The idea
Locke's state of nature is governed by natural law: persons already hold rights to life, liberty, and property; government's job is to secure them.
In practice
A frontier settlement without a courthouse still recognizes the harvest thief as a wrongdoer. For Locke, the courthouse comes later — the wrong came first.
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