Locke's Doctrine Of Consent

4 Pages 941 Words

Locke Paper

Locke states that no man can be “subjected to the political power of another, without his consent” (VIII 95) and “consent makes any one a member of a commonwealth.” By giving their consent, citizens assign special power to the commonwealth, as well as generate and place moral status on their membership in that state. The citizen is thus obligated by his own accord to a government that is legitimized through expressed consent. This obligation also constitutes citizens obligations to the laws set forth by the government. In this sense, the government derives its authority to enforce laws based on an agreement with its citizens on the soundness of the laws insofar as they are in agreement with Natural Law itself. The government’s authority is necessary because “men being to partial themselves, passion and revenge is very apt to carry them too far, and with too much heat, in their own cases.” (IX 125)
Locke’s doctrine of consent is based heavily on his confidence in the moral aptitude of individuals who retain their self-interest amidst cooperation. If certain natural rights are violated, individuals return to the state of nature and may exercise their natural entitlement to protect themselves. When such conflict arises, it is very possible that individuals would, at the very least, initiate some form of civil disobedience, or claim they consent to no government as an anarchist.
Through enacting a form of civil disobedience, the citizen makes public a grievance with the government, and more precisely, breaks the law that is directly being challenged. In terms of Locke’s emphasis on consent, while those who break the law challenge the authority of the government as it has broken from natural law itself. However, by breaking only the law that was felt unjust, the individual affirms both the sovereignty of the state by not making revolutionary threats and at the same time gives his consent by goin...