WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS AND LIMITS OF POLITICAL POWER / TUTORIALOUTLET WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS AND LIMITS OF POLITICAL POW
What are the functions and limits of political power
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Two Treatises of Government, he defended the claim that men are by
nature free and equal against claims
that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. He
argued that people have rights, such as the
right to life, liberty, and property, that have a foundation independent
of the laws of any particular society.
Locke used the claim that men are naturally free and equal as part of
the justification for understanding
legitimate political government as the result of a social contract where
people in the state of nature
conditionally transfer some of their rights to the government in order
to better ensure the stable,
comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property. Since
governments exist by the consent of the
people in order to protect the rights of the people and promote the
public good, governments that fail to do
so can be resisted and replaced with new governments. Locke is thus
also important for his defense of the
right of revolution. Locke also defends the principle of majority rule
and the separation of legislative and
executive powers. In the Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke denied
that coercion should be used to bring
people to (what the ruler believes is) the true religion and also denied
that churches should have any
coercive power over their members. Locke elaborated on these
themes in his later political writings, such as
the Second Letter on Toleration and Third Letter on Toleration.
For a more general introduction to Locke's history and background,
the argument of the Two Treatises, and
the Letter Concerning Toleration, see Section 1, Section 3, and
Section 4, respectively, of the main entry
on John Locke in this encyclopedia. The present entry focuses on