Questions On The Doctrine Of The State Of Nature

Locke is one of famous thought leaders in Enlightenment time, his advocacy of theories, although and his same time's thinkers' has the superposition with some areas, but its unique aspect was still obvious. At the same time, it is also precisely this particularity forces us to have to go to analyze Locke's political philosophy specially. A fact without doubt is that, the doctrine of the state of nature was at that time the philosophy beginning which the numerous thinkers used in common, was not exceptional in this aspect for Locke. Therefore, understanding fully the doctrine of the state of nature becomes our most important business to attain the Locke's thoughts, but this urges us to pay attention to the work called "Two Treatises of Government" which embodies this doctrine altogether.In the eyes of Locke, the doctrine of the state of nature is composed of the state of nature, natural law and property rights these three important ideas. Therefore, this article analyzes the doctrine of the state of nature from the resistance of the doctrine of the state of nature to its"the rival"the revealed theology, the relation between the state of nature and natural law, the relation between the state of nature and property rights, the relation between natural law and property rights, the quality of the state of nature and other many angles. Moreover, considered Locke' characteristic proving model of the god–man, this article also attempts to clarify the entire the doctrine of the state of nature under this great explanation background. At the same time, in the process of demonstration, compares in detail the similarities and differences between Locke and other thinkers in this subject, by time arriving accurately at its position and significance in Locke's political thoughts.As the doctrine of the state of nature in the era of Locke was not a natural thing, he realized he must first defeat revelation theology, in particular, the theory of patriarchy based on creation which was advocated by famous Filmer. For this reason, the entire second part of "Two Treatises of Government" is designed to remove this thorny "disorder". By discussion and proof of chapter II of this paper, Locke negates the intention of Filmer and all the evidence for it presented in detail in some strange way, i.e. "out of context". Nevertheless, taking into account that Locke is fundamentally impossible to refute the core principle or premise of the theory of patriarchy, in this sense, his criticism can then only be regarded as a "mockery" only. However, Locke's approach of "Shattered Glass" has achieved the desired effects, because most readers have believed Filmer's thought physiognomy described by the second part of "Two Treatises of Government". That being the case, Locke also could start his own doctrine of the state of nature in accordance with"reason".After that, following the argumentation structure of the first part of "Two Treatises of Government", this paper discusses respectively the body-positions of natural law and property rights these two major themes in the doctrine of the state of nature. This relates to the self possibility of natural law and natural property rights, but also relates to the distinction between the state of nature and the state of war. By the corresponding argument, this paper shows that both the existence and punishment force of natural law are suspicious, it would not be able to ensure its own reality, at the same time, but also would not be able to effectively constrain behaviour human. When the property is placed in the state of nature, the human desire to obtain material due to the invalidity of natural law has been endless release. It would appear that the so-called natural property rights is likely to be a contradictory concept, because no measures or principles to ensure the safety of all the individual wealth. Based on these arguments, this paper regards that there is not the fundamental difference stated on the outset by Locke between the state of nature and the state of war, but at best can only be treated as a conceptual difference. At the same time, precisely because of this fundamental flaw of the state of nature, political society and the government are at a critical juncture artificially created in order to safeguard human life, peace and prosperity.Finally, through the roundabout analysis of the first few chapters, this paper's conclusion part is to deal with the problem of the state of nature is a historical fact or logic fiction, which declares the body-position and significance of the doctrine of the state of nature in Locke's thoughts. After the detailed argumentation, this paper assumes that, despite Locke understands the state of nature on the level of logical reasoning, but he is more emphatic the historical characteristic of the state of nature than his precursor Hobbes. This is because he recognizes that in order to avoid any form of authoritarian rule, particularly "Leviathan" conceived by Hobbes, the state of nature not only must be rational, but also must to a certain extent be real. Only in this way, those people who are ruled by tyranny have the right to actually rebel against the unfair treatment confronted by them. In Locke the doctrine of the state of nature not only calls for the country's birth, but also sets the scope for the country's goal, that is to say, "protecting private property". This is the position and value of the doctrine in Locke's political thought.