John Locke's political theory has been the subject of many detailed treatments by philosophers and political scientists. But The Lockean Theory of Rights is the first systematic, full-length study of Locke's theory of rights and of its potential for making genuine contributions to contemporary debates about rights and their place in political philosophy. Given that the rights of persons are the central moral concept at work in Locke's and Lockean political philosophy, such a study is long overdue.

The author concentrates on John Locke's doctrine of natural rights, particularly in light of the latter's metaphysical views. Locke's denial of the objectivity of certain metaphysical principles, e.g., substance, and his polemics against the science of metaphysics itself, weaken his position as an advocate of natural rights. In the mind of the author, the negation of objective certitude concerning metaphysical principles of substance, formal causality, final causality, and so forth, erodes the basis, sufficient for a natural rights doctrine. The problem (...) that ensues upon Locke's analysis of natural rights is of profound significance: can any epistemological view establish an objective and sufficient foundation for the doctrine of natural rights? ;The criticism of the Lockean interpretation of natural rights commences with his own views on natural rights, e.g., from the Essays on the Law of Nature, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and so forth. Upon reflection of these passages, one perceives a dual basis for a natural rights theory in Locke: the rationalistic approach and the hedonistic element. With these two possible explanations serving as the justification for natural rights, the author examines the two pivotal issues of substance and person in Locke's philosophy. Since the bearer of these natural rights is a person and since a person constitutes a substantial entity, an examination of Locke's position is crucial in criticizing his doctrine of natural rights. In light of Locke's perspective regarding the issues of substance and person, the author discusses the influence of Locke's epistemological position on his doctrine concerning natural rights. ;By comparing Locke's analysis of and justification for a natural rights doctrine with the outlook of moderate realism, the author concludes the following points: the role of metaphysics in establishing the objectivity of natural rights; and the need for a comprehensive metaphysics as a basis for a doctrine on natural rights. The metaphysics of moderate realism provides a comprehensive ontological view of reality that focuses on the final end of the human person. Instead of limiting the cognitive endeavors of the human intellect, as does Locke, the philosophical insights of moderate realism expand the horizon of human certitude. (shrink)

This paper explores the duty of charity as a new interpretation key for the lockean theory of property. First, I explicit its demands, deontic status, and theological andphilosophical foundations. This analysis is complemented by a consideration of a brief essay of 1697, in which Locke proposed a reform of the elizabethan English Poor Law. As a result of this examination I conclude that even though the duty of charity does not compromise any property rights, it presupposes a minimal core of (...) redistributive justice. (shrink)

In this classic work, Leo Strauss examines the problem of natural right and argues that there is a firm foundation in reality for the distinction between right and wrong in ethics and politics. On the centenary of Strauss's birth, and the fiftieth anniversary of the Walgreen Lectures which spawned the work, _Natural Right and History_ remains as controversial and essential as ever. "Strauss... makes a significant contribution towards an understanding of the intellectual crisis in which we find ourselves... [and] brings (...) to his task an admirable scholarship and a brilliant, incisive mind."—John H. Hallowell, _American Political Science Review_ Leo Strauss was the Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Political Science at the University of Chicago. (shrink)

This study provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of the meaning of Locke's political thought. John Dunn restores Locke's ideas to their exact context, and so stresses the historical question of what Locke in the Two Treatises of Government was intending to claim. By adopting this approach, he reveals the predominantly theological character of all Locke's thinking about politics and provides a convincing analysis of the development of Locke's thought. In a polemical concluding section, John Dunn argues that liberal and Marxist interpretations (...) of Locke's politics have failed to grasp his meaning. Locke emerges as not merely a contributor to the development of English constitutional thought, or as a reflector of socio-economic change in seventeenth-century England, but as essentially a Calvinist natural theologian. (shrink)

La teoría de la propiedad de Locke tiene como escenario el estado de naturaleza, cuyo correlato empírico es la colonización inglesa de América. Este es el supuesto que permite articular la apelación a la teología para fundar la propiedad privada de modo unilateral y en cualquier lugar del mundo; el desplazamiento del criterio de necesidad a la teoría del valor para justificarla; así como el supuesto de abundancia que la hace posible sin requerir pacto político ni consenso social. En este (...) sentido, si su teoría de la propiedad resultó esencial para legitimar el liberalismo que moldeó América desde la colonización inglesa y la Constitución norteamericana, el hecho de que América sea el ejemplo para su teórico más temprano y destacado, permite comprender mejor el carácter esencial de la relación entre liberalismo y colonialismo. Locke's theory of property appears in the context of the state of nature, whose empirical correlate is the English colonization of America. This is the basis upon which three elements can be articulated: the appeal to theology in order to found unilaterally private property anywhere in the world; the change from the criterion of necessity to the theory of value to justify private property; and the assumption of abundance which makes it possible without having recourse to political pact or social consensus. In this sense, if Locke's theory of property has come to be essential to legitimize the liberalism which modelled America since the English colonization and the American constitution, the fact that America is the example for its earliest and most distinguished theorist, allows to a better understanding of the essential nature of the relationship between liberalism and colonialism. (shrink)

This is a concise and profound book from one of the world's leading political and legal philosophers about a major theme, equality, and the proposition that humans are all one another's equals. Jeremy Waldron explores the implications of this fundamental tenet for law, politics, society and economy in the company of John Locke, whose work Waldron regards 'as well-worked-out a theory of basic equality as we have in the canon of political philosophy'. Throughout the text, which is based on the (...) Carlyle Lectures given in Oxford in 1999, Jeremy Waldron discusses contemporary approaches to equality and rival interpretations of Locke, and this dual agenda gives the whole an unusual degree of accessibility and intellectual excitement, of interest to philosophers, political theorists, lawyers and theologians around the world. (shrink)

Locke, además de justificar un derecho natural a la propiedad privada, también sostiene que todos los hombres tienen un derecho natural a la caridad. En el presente trabajo me propongo defender la hipótesis de que el derecho a la caridad postulado por Locke se explica por la presencia en su teoría de la propiedad de elementos procedentes de la teología cristiana. Cumpliría la función de garantizar que, en el contexto de una economía monetizada donde los individuos son, además, desigualmente industriosos, (...) se cumpla el designio divino de que todos los hombres dispongan de medios para preservarse. (shrink)