Introduction

We are going to discuss a number of authors in the history of political theory.

The purpose of this lecture is to give you a basic understanding of the development of western political thought over the last fewthousand years.

We will begin in the fourth century BC with the classical works of Aristotle.

Then move to the medieval period with the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas

Briefly touch on who is considered the first modern political thinker Niccolo Machiavelli

Then we will move to the early enlightenment with the works of Thomas Hobbes, who along with his contemporary John Locke would take part in developing social contract theory and the classical liberal tradition.

Background of Greek Thinkers

Socrates

Socrates would walk around Athens asking its citizens what sometimes were very uncomfortable questions. He believed that oneof the biggest problems people face is that they claim to know more than they do. As a matter of fact, Socrates would claim thatthe only thing he knew, was that he knew nothing.

Socrates began attracting many curious young men to his side, including a young wrestler named Plato, who would study by Socrates’ side until his eventual forced suicide by the Athenian state.

Plato

Plato could arguably be called the world’s first scholar-athlete.Though Socrates did not write any works himself, Plato would

write many books starring Socrates. This is how we know of his work.

Also wrote works that were important to political science, such as The Republic

Founded the Academy in Athens in 387 BC where Aristotle would study for twenty years.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Background:

Son of Nicomachus, a physician to the Macedonian royal family.

Trained at the Academy, Plato’s school in Athens

Founded his own school, the Lyceum

Returned to Macedon and appointed tutor to Alexander the Great.

Nicomachean Ethics (350 B.C.)

The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into the Politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the "philosophy of humanaffairs."

The title of the Politics literally means "the things concerning the polis."

To Aristotle, politics is the master art which envelopes all human activity

“If, then, there is some end of the things we do, which we desirefor its own sake… clearly this must be the good and the chief good. Will not the knowledge of it, then, have a great influence on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be

more likely to hit upon what is right... It would seem to belong to the most authoritative art and that which is most truly the master art. And politics appears to be of this nature; for it is this that ordains which of the sciences should be studied in a state, and which each class of citizens should learn and up to what point they should learn them; and we see even the most highly esteemed of capacities to fall under this, e.g. strategy, economics, rhetoric; now, since politics uses the rest of the sciences, and since, again, it legislates as to what we are to doand what we are to abstain from, the end of this science must include those of the others, so that this end must be the good for man…the ends at which our inquiry aims…is political science.”

-Nicomachean Ethics, Book I Section 2

What is political science?

- Who gets what, when, where, and how. -Harold Lasswell

But as political theorists, we ask more fundamental questions about the human condition.

We ask questions such as:

What is man?

What is man’s purpose?

and

Under what ideal social conditions can man pursue his purpose?

Aristotle tells us that man is both a rational and political animal.

Humans are capable of thought and are naturally social animals.

In fact, he tells us that an apolitical human being is not truly human at all.

“Any one who by his nature and not simply by ill-luck has no state is either too bad or too good, either subhuman or superhuman- he is like the war-mad man condemned in Homer’s wordsas ‘having no family, no law, no home; for he who is such by nature is mad on war: he is a non-cooperator like an isolated piece in a game of draughts”

-The Politics, Book I, Chapter ii

“We also [state] that by nature man is a political animal. Hencemen have a desire for life together, even when they have no need to seek each other’s help.”

- The Politics, Book III, Chapter vi

So we understand that all men are naturally rational and political animals

Dual meaning here to the word “natural”

1. Necessary for survival, such as family.

2. Final end or telos of a thing

The political community is natural in the second sense.

Aristotle uses a scientific/empirical methodology in his approachto politics.

In order to gather data for his work The Politics Aristotle sent his students to collect 156 constitutions from around Greece to construct his theory.

Aristotle’s outlook is empirical but also teleological.

Teleological=ends or purpose

What is man’s teleological purpose?

“To decide what happiness is, it is necessary to determine what the function of man is, because excellence consists in performingone's function well. Man's function is that which sets him apart from all other beings, an action which only human beings can perform. Thus the function of man is activity of the soul

according to reason. Acting according to reason means acting virtuously. Therefore good for man is activity of the soul "according to the best and most complete virtue."

-Nicomacean Ethics, Book 1, Section 6

The “Best” or “Happy” life (eudaimonia) can only be reached througha life of arête.

Man’s end is arête or virtue. That is, the pursuit of excellence.

The spirit of arête can be best seen in athleticism. Think Hussein Bolt breaking a world record. That is arête in sprinting.

What social conditions are ideal to fostering eudaimonia through a lifetime of arête?

Aristotle explains that the governments designed to foster eudaimonia share an important principle.

The issue at hand is less about who rules, but how they choose to administer the state.

What is Aristotle’s ideal political organization?

There is none, instead we are presented with a series of options,some virtuous, and others deviated.

Who? Virtuous Deviated

The One Monarchy Tyranny

The Few Aristocracy Oligarchy

The Many Polity/Constitutional Govt.

Democracy

Virtuous: “Rule for the Common Good”

Deviated: “Rule Out of Self Interest”

Aristocracy: Literal translation is “power (held by) the best”

Not a ruling, hereditary class ruled by laws of primogenitor.

Democracy: Rule by the poor, for their own self-interest.

“For tyranny is a kind of monarchy which has in view the interest of the monarch only; oligarchy has in view the interestsof the wealthy; democracy, of the needy: none of them the common good of all. Tyranny, as I was saying, is monarchy exercising therule of a master over the political society; oligarchy is when men of property have the government in their hands; democracy, the opposite, when the indigent, and not the men of property, arethe rulers.”

-The Politics, Book III

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

An Italian Dominican friar and priest.

Immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the traditionof scholasticism.

Also known as “Doctor Angelicus”, “Doctor Communis” and “Doctor Universalis”

Aquinas and Aristotle agreed that man’s purpose was happiness.

“…we will consider happiness, since it is said to be the ultimateend of human life.”

-Treatise on Happiness, Question 1, Introduction

Aquinas views the world through a Catholic paradigm.

Happiness is divided by Aquinas into two categories

1. Imperfect Happiness which is attainable in this world

2. Perfect Happiness which is only attainable through a direct relationship with God in his presence.

Aquinas departs from Aristotle in which he disagrees that man uses his reason alone to become virtuous and attain happiness.

Law does and should guide all human reason.

In order for law to be able to guide reason, it must meet certaincriteria.

Criteria of Law

1. Must be rational

a. Anything that God wills is rational (God is the ultimate law giver)

2. For the Common Good

3. Enforced under the proper authority

4. Must be promulgated (publically announced and accessible)

“…the definition of law may be gathered; and it is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated.” –Summa Theologica, Question 90, Fourth Article

Here, Aquinas gives us an analysis of what constitutes just-or inhis words-“good” laws, as opposed to unnatural or tyrannical laws.

Just law can be subdivided into a few groups.

First there is the Eternal Law.

What he means here is the Eternal Order

This is God himself as well as all of creation. This includes both the natural and supernatural world. Due to human imperfection and our corporeal state, we cannot have any direct understanding of the eternal law unless joined with God in Paradise.

“…a law is nothing else but a dictate of practical reason emanating from the ruler who governs a perfect community. Now it is evident, granted that the world is ruled by Divine Providence…the whole community of the universe is governed by Divine Reason.Wherefore the very Idea of the government of things in God the Ruler of the universe, has the nature of a law. And since the

Divine Reason’s conception of things is not subject to time but is eternal…therefore it is that this kind of law must be called eternal.” –Summa Theologica, Question 91, First Article

Divine Law describes law that has come to mankind as part of revelation. There are two types of Divine Law

1. The Old Law (The Old Testament)

2. The New Law (The New Testament)

The Bible

The Natural Law (lex naturalis) is the natural creature’s participation in the eternal law (order).

-What does Aquinas mean by this?

“…this is the first precept of law, that good is to be done and ensued, and evil is to be avoided…whatever is a means of preserving human life, and of warding off its obstacles, belongs to the natural law…those things are said to belong to the natural law, which nature hastaught to all animals, such as sexual intercourse, education of offspring, and so forth….thus man has a natural inclination to know the truth about God, and to live in society: and in this respect, whatever pertains to this inclination belongs to the natural law; for instance, to shun ignorance, to avoid offending those among whom one has to live, and other such things regardingthe above inclination.”

–Summa Theologica, Question 94 Of the Natural Law, Second Article.

Human Law stand aligned with Natural Law.

Human Law is a particular derivation of the Natural Law

Venn diagram with natural law encompassing human law

Four Principles of Human Law

1. Self-Preservation

2. Species Preservation

3. Live in Community

4. Seek Knowledge of God

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance.

He was for many years an official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs.

He was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics.

He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry.

Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1517 as a guide for his own prince,Lorenzo De Medici

Machiavelli was a champion of realpolitik, or the direct pursuit of power.

“Since it is my intention to write something of use…I deem it is best to stick to practical truth rather than to fancies. Many men have imagined republics and principalities that never existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation.” –Donno, Niccolo Machiavelli

By fancies, Machiavelli means the theories postulated before his time including Plato, Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Machiavelli did not believe (as his predecessors did) in arête and the teleological purpose of man. Where Aristotle and Aquinas believed that man is inherently good, Machiavelli rejects this idea as not only fallacious but dangerous.

He believed that those acts which were “other than good” are necessary for acquisition and preservation of power in society.

He discusses frankly, the necessity of cruel actions to keep power.

He was in the business of power preservation not piety.

Machiavelliamism: The political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power.

In the arena of power, the ends justify the means

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Hobbes was born “A twin to fear”

Due to his mother, who gave birth to him during a time of threat by a possible invasion of the Spanish Armada and the coming of the Spanish Inquisition. She was so afraid, she went into labor early thus “Hobbeswas born the twin of fear”.

Father was an Anglican minister and was known to fall asleep during services in which he was the presiding minister. Would get into a fist fight outside of his church with another minister and would flee never to beseen by his son again.

Spoke four languages including Latin and Greek as a child.

Had a rigorous training in Scholasticism from Magdalen College at Oxford at fourteen.

Calvinist. Though prosecuted for “atheism”.

Not our understanding of atheism, he did not prescribe to the specific dogmas of the Christian Canon of his day.

Hobbes was a product of the enlightenment, a move away from theological or religious based thinking to inquiry founded on scientific reasoning.

His thought was profoundly influenced by his experiences during the English Civil War (1642-1651).

The war was waged between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers) over what form of government England shouldmaintain.

This was a tumultuous period in British history, leading to the execution of Charles I in 1649, his son Charles II’s exile, the rise and fall of Oliver Cromwell, and the re-establishment of theEnglish monarchy in Charles II in 1660.

Lots of political instability within the state

In 1651 Hobbes would publish what would be considered one of the greatest works on political thought ever written in the English language, Leviathan.

Some consider Thomas Hobbes to be the father of classical liberalism

What is “classical” liberalism?

Emphasis on the idea of individualism. The individual is important as is rationality, the consent of the governed, free speech, free press, and capitalism.

Also, representative government, limited government, and contractualism.

Replaces the idea of blind faith.

Skepticism, rationality, and individual choice are a focus.

He would also be the first to develop the idea of the social contract.

Though the term social contract itself would not be used until Rousseau’s Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique (Of the Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right) 1762

Hobbes uses the term “covenant”

Social Contract Theory: A morally justified agreement made amongst individuals through which an organized society is broughtinto existence.

The classic form of social contract theory suggests that there isa stateless society from which individual’s wish to exchange for stability and security that only a system of political rule can provide.

Hobbes conducts a thought experiment, since there is no way to tell if the state of nature ever actually existed. Since it is prehistoric (pre-culture, pre-writing, pre-industry)

“In [the state of nature] there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently, no culture of the earth, no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time,no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, bruitish, and short.”

-Leviathan Part I Of Man, Chapter XIII

Hobbes took the view that man was fundamentally vicious so could expect to live in a state of continual war of “every man against every man”. Living in constant conflict and fear the development of a civil society with industry or culture would be impossible.

The State of Nature: Hobbes describes the state of nature as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

“To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent: that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, have there no place. Where there isno common power, there is no law; where no law, no injustice. Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.”

-Leviathan, Part I On Man, Chapter XIII

In the state of nature exists perfect equality amongst humans. All have the right to do as they please, when they please, how they please, where they please, to whomever they choose.

The only thing standing between a person and what they want is another individual.

The Goat Example:

If I’m bigger than you, I can punch you in the face, take your goat, and walk away.

But we are all equal, so through “secret machinations” you can recover your goat.

But when I fall asleep, you can bash me in the head and take the goat back.

All is fair in the state of nature

This creates a situation where all of one’s time is spent protecting their person, property, and loved ones. Security is anillusion.

To Hobbes, the state of war is not simply a life of violence, butthe potential for violence. So in the state of nature, though you may not be actively engaged in combat, you still exist in a perpetualstate of war.

Think, The Walking Dead

Show Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydRVlKjXrOs

This is an example of the Hobbesian state of nature and man’s state of war (every man against every man).

Desiring peace and security people would, by mutual consent, appoint a ruler over them all. The ruler would guarantee their collective defense and their personal security and in return theywould obey his laws and give him their complete obedience.

“…thereby to secure them in such sort as that by their own industry, and by the fruits of the earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly, is to confer all their power andstrength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may

reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will…andtherin to submit their wills, every one to his will, and their judgments, to his judgments…And he that carrieth this person is called SOVEREIGN, and said to have Sovereign Power; and every one besides, his SUBJECT.”

-Leviathan, Part II Of Commonwealth, Chapter XVII

Hobbes conceived the state as an artificial creature.

“For by art is created the great Leviathan called a Commonwealth or State…which is but artificial man; though of greater stature and strength than the natural for whose protection and defense it was intended” –Leviathan

To Hobbes the state is not a natural byproduct of human instinct.It is artificially created for the sole purpose of protecting thelives of subjects.

Though he leaves an assembly as an option; to Hobbes, the ideal state was an absolute monarchy.

Hobbes created a ruler with absolute authority, who was irrevocably handed the power to enforce unity and obedience. To preserve his own life each citizen must give absolute and unconditional obedience to the sovereign and his laws and so in the Leviathan State the social contract justifies authoritarian government.

The sovereign in the Leviathan is not in any way subject to the laws that he establishes for the commonwealth.

“A[n]…opinion repugnant to the nature of a commonwealth is this: That he that hath the sovereign power is subject to the civil law.”

-Leviathan Part II On Commonwealth, Chapter XXIX

If the sovereign is responsible for civil law, and he breaks it, does he punish himself?

-Can’t be a judge in one’s own case

Appoint a co-sovereign to prosecute him?

-What if they disagree? If they are both sovereign, who is right?

Appoint a judge over the sovereign?

-What if that judge transgresses the law? Appoint a judge over him? What if that judge breaks the law? Appoint anotherjudge? The problem continues ad infinitum.

The sovereign has full authorization by means of the social contract to do unto his subjects anything that he deems necessary.

Though he is subject to God for the violation of natural law, he isin no way responsible to his subjects for his actions.

I.e. The sovereign passes a law against theft. If the sovereign steals my goat, I don’t have a right to it back or to punish him for his actions. But the sovereign still has to answer to God forbreaking one of his commandments.

The Exceptions

“If the sovereign command a man (though justly condemned) to kill, wound, or maim himself, or not to resist those that assaulthim, or to abstain from the use of food, air, medicine, or any other thing without which he cannot live, yet hath that man the liberty to disobey. If a man be interrogated by the sovereign, orhis authority, concerning a crime done by himself, he is not bound (without assurance of pardon) to confess it, because no man…can be obliged by covenant to accuse himself.”

-Leviathan, Part II On Commonwealth, Chapter XXI

The sovereign’s subjects enjoy the right to rebel only under the condition that the sovereign does physical harm to come to them. Nor is the subject bound to confess to a crime they have committed.

Even in cases of capital punishment (for murder for example), thesovereign has the right to prosecute and punish you for violating

the law; but you have a natural right to rebel against him despite this.

There is an obligation to follow the law, but when the law contradicts one of these exceptions (regardless of why) one retains the right of rebellion.

Why? The Leviathan state is created in order to protect the livesof the people within the commonwealth. To take a person’s life inthe commonwealth could be considered a breach of contract. Every other right the subjects have surrendered to the sovereign.

Hobbes’ Liberalism

The role of the Leviathan State is limited to protecting its citizens (limited government).

Apart from the duty of the state to prevent conflict most other forms of intervention into the affairs of men are unjustifiable.

This is Hobbes’ Liberalism

John Locke (1632-1704)

Personal Background

Family: Puritan traders; father was captain in Parliamentary army in civil wars of 1640s

Service to Earl of Shaftesbury as physician and researcher

Two Treatises of Government was first published, anonymously, in December 1689 as a theoretical justification for resistance to the sovereign

First Treatise directed against Sir Robert Filmer’s 1680 publication of Patriarcha defending the divine right of kings

Filmer claimed that the right of kingship was passed down from the biblical Adam to the rulers of Europe.

Locke is considered by some as the father of Classical Liberalismfor his treatment of social contract theory in his Second Treatise ofCivil Government

Unlike Hobbes, Locke did not take such a pessimistic view on the state of nature.

Believed that the state of nature is a condition without civil authority or obligation, it is one of perfect freedom.

People are born perfectly free and equal, as well as in the absence of an arbitrator, a moral authority that dictates peace and stability.

Locke’s conception of the state of nature lacks the violence and turmoil inherent in Hobbes’ interpretation.

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: …men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker…”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter II Of the State of Nature

He believed that government should be established and governed byconsent.

But consent is necessary but not sufficient to the social contract. A legislature is necessary to ensure government by consent.

“The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of Nature for his rule. The liberty of man in society is to be under no other legislative power but that established by consent in the commonwealth, nor under the dominion of any will, or restraint ofany law, but what that legislative shall enact according to the trust put in it.”

–The Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter iv Of Slavery

Locke also did not accept that absolute monarchy was the best structure for a state or the best way to govern society.

To Locke, the legislature ought to be the first instrument of government established in the new state

“The great end of men’s entering into society being the enjoymentof their properties in peace and safety, and the great instrumentand means of that being the laws established in that society; establishing of the legislative power; as the first and fundamental natural law, which is to govern even the legislative itself, is the preservation of the society, and…every person in it.”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter XI Of the Extent of the Legislative Power

The legislature is also the most powerful and supreme of institutional powers

“…there can be but one supreme power, which is the legislative, to which all the rest are and must be subordinate…”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter XIII Of the Subordination of the Powers of the Commonwealth

The legislative branch, in this case is necessarily supreme in that its sole interest is the preservation of the natural rights of the citizens, and to make laws in accord with the interest of the citizens of the society.

Locke believed that by nature, man is endowed with a series of inalienable rights. Included in these are the rights of life, liberty, and estate.

“The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property. To which in the state of nature these are many things wanting”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter IX Of the Ends of Political Society and Government

By estate, Locke means property. And when he refers to property, heis collectively describing life, liberty, and estate.

But what does Locke mean by inalienable rights?

Inalienable: Rights that one not only hold inherently which the state may not impede upon, but that cannot be forfeited even voluntarily.

Why? This “property” is not ours to dispose of. One cannot forfeit their life, because it does not belong to them, it belongs to God.

I.e. One cannot voluntarily give up their own life, or willingly become a slave.

“This freedom from absolute, arbitrary power is so necessary to, and closely joined with, a man’s preservation, that he cannot part with it but by what forfeits his preservation and life together. For a man, not having the power of his own life, cannotby compact or his own consent enslave himself to any one, nor puthimself under the absolute, arbitrary power of another to take way his life when he pleases. Nobody can give more power than he has himself, and he that cannot take away his own life cannot give another power over it.”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter IV Of Slavery

When man enters into the social contract, he does so in order to protect his natural property, as well as resolve conflicts over property rights.

But Locke’s Social Contract differs from that explicated by Hobbes.

Locke rejects the need for a monarch who holds absolute authorityin the state, stating that to surrender your freedom in the stateof nature to live within the Leviathan

“….is to think, that men are so foolish, that they take care to avoid what mischief’s may be done them by polecats, or foxes; butare content, nay think it safety, to be devoured by lions.”

-Second Treatise of Government, Chapter VII Of Political or Civil Society

The state of nature is not as bad as Hobbes describes. When we move to civil society we should not leave the state of nature foran oppressive political system.

As stated earlier, he also denied Hobbes’ claim to the sovereign’s nearly godlike power by preserving the individual’s inalienable rights.

“[Legislative] power, in the utmost bounds of it, is limited to the public good of the society. It is a power that hath no other end but preservation, and therefore can never have a right to destroy, enslave, or designedly to impoverish the subjects.”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter XI Of the Extent of the Legislative Power

Remember that Locke believed the legislative body should hold themost power, since it is closest to the will of the people, who ultimately give consent to the rulers.

Locke, in many ways similar to Aristotle does not promote a best form of government.

Locke stresses that the form of government should:

1. Protect the natural rights of the citizen

2. Be based on majority rule

3. Places constitutional restraints on government (limited government)

Locke emphasizes how government must be by consent and administered by majority rule.

“Men being, as has been said, by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent. The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with othermen to join and unite into a community, for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst another, in a secure

enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against anythat are not of it…When any number of men have so consented to make one community or government, they are thereby presently incorporated, and make one body politic, wherein the majority have a right to act an conclude the rest.”

-Second Treaties of Civil Government, Chapter VIII Of the Beginning of Political Society

But let’s back up and look at inalienable rights again.

We said inalienable rights include life, liberty, and estate.

Also, he identifies a fourth right-the right to rebel against unjust laws and their makers.

“And thus the community perpetually retains a supreme power of saving themselves from the attempts and designs of any body, evenof their legislators, whenever they shall be so foolish, or so wicked, as to lay and carry on designs against the liberties and properties of the subject: for no man, or society of men, having a power to deliver up their preservation, or consequently the means of it, to the absolute will and arbitrary dominion of another; whenever any one shall go about to bring them into such a slavish condition, they will always have a right to preserve what they have not a power to part with; and to rid themselves ofthose who invade this fundamental, sacred, and unalterable law ofself-preservation, for which they entered society.”

-Second Treatise of Civil Government, Chapter XIII Of the Subordination of the Powers of the Commonwealth

Why? The purpose of Locke’s social contract is to create a state which protects the life, liberty, and estate (property) of the individual. If the state fails to meet this obligation, it is in breach of the social contract, and can be deposed.