Locke’s Second Treatise
I. Liberalism
II. Nationalism
III. Socialism/Marxism
II.
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
Liberalism
Ascendance of
liberalism around the
world today
That is, globally we’ve
seen an upsurge in
political movements
committed to the ideals
of liberalism
II.

Liberalism
Definition

In United States,
liberalism means:
 Hillary Clinton, Jesse
Jackson, Al Sharpton,
Ted Kennedy
II.

Liberalism
Historically, liberalism is
built on 2 key ideas:
 Limited Government
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
It was the political
solution to the struggle
for religious toleration
Attempt to keep politics
out of religion. The
government should not
worry about the state of
men’s souls
Give freedom of religion
to the people
Why is this a good idea?
II.

Liberalism
A key component of limited government is:

Rights



Theoretical underpinning to the notion of religious
toleration is that individuals have rights against the
state
We each have a right not to be interfered with by the
government or by other people
These rights are natural – they accrue to us simply by
the fact that we are human beings
Suppose you are a District Attorney in
a community that is composed of easily
recognizable majority/minority
communities.
A member of the majority community
has been killed and witnesses have
reliably identified a member of the
minority community as the perpetrator,
but the police have been unable to find
the exact person
The majority community is screaming
for vengeance and on the verge of
rioting.
We know that in the course of the riot,
at least 10 people from the minority
population will be killed in mob
violence.
As the DA you suggest the following
course of action to the mayor:


In order to avert the riot
and save lives, you
take a member of the
minority community at
random, accuse that
person of the crime,
and stage a very public
arrest/execution
As the mayor, what do
you do?
II.
Liberalism


Rights mean that no matter
how good the consequences
of a particular action may be,
these consequences cannot
override individual rights
Why rights?



Each individual possesses
dignity
Each of us is priceless
Roots are in the rise of
Christianity


Secularized form – in lieu of soul
premise – treat people as ends,
not as means to an end
Every human being has infinite
weight, so can’t use any
calculation to justify hurting
some for the greater good
II.

Liberalism
So one component of liberalism is limited
government

The second component is capitalism


By capitalism, we mean the idea that as long as a
transaction has no negative diseconomies and is
mutually advantageous, the transaction is
permissible
A deal made between two consenting parties and
no one is getting hurt, the state should not get
involved in the transaction
II.



Liberalism
The market is a private place where people
voluntarily dispose of their own property
Locke will present two arguments – one
secular, one religious – to show where this
right comes from
The overall idea justifying these economic
rights is roughly parallel to our political rights
in that the state should not interfere with
people doing what they want to do with their
property
II.

Note, the argument itself need not be limited
exclusively to property and thus exclusively
the purview of the (political) right wing


Liberalism
E.g., sexual freedom, drug freedom arguments
could work equally well
Since the world is embracing variants of this
view today, an examination of its historical
evolution and philosophical premises is both
warranted and educational
II.



Liberalism
The key idea linking to the two strains is the
primacy of the individual
That is, the individual is the basis of power –
political, economic, social.
Political power does not come from divine
right or the rule of the stronger, but the will of
the people
II.


Nationalism
The French Revolution, and to a lesser
extent, the American Revolution destroyed
the ideas underlining feudal political
arrangments, most particularly the idea of the
divine right of kings and aristocracy
In positing that power comes from below,
from the people, these revolutions helped
forge the idea that these disparate individuals
have broader social connections with each
other
II. Nationalism
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The French Revolution brought to the fore the idea
of a French people united in a French nation
Initially, Napoleon could frame his moves across
Europe as liberalizing, that is, as attempts to rid
peoples of illegitimate monarchies
One unintended consequence of this, of course, is
that French domination then helped forge national
unities among the conequered peoples (as we saw
in the case of Spain last week).
Revolutions of 1830
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
After Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo, his
abdication, the Bourbon line was restored as
rulers of France -- Louis XVI’s brother was
installed and he ruled as Louis XVIII until
1820
In 1820, another brother was installed as
Charles X
Revolutions of 1830
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Charles X attempted to rewind the clock and act as
previous kings had ruled (ie., on the basis of divine
right rather than as a constitutional monarchy
constrained by the will of the people.
By 1830, another period of severe economic
distress (high food prices, unemployment, and
deteriorated living conditions).
Strained relations between the Chamber of Deputies
(akin to a parliament) and Charles led to Charles
dissolving the Chamber, clamping down on press
freedom, and call for new elections under new rules
favoring the crown
Revolutions of 1830
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These moves in turn sparked widespread
revolt in Paris.
The Chamber refused to acknowledge the
king’s decree
Charles calls in the military to put down the
uprising and the military instead withdraws
from Paris
On 29 May, the revolutionaries had control of
Paris
Revolutions of 1830

New decree from the Chamber of Deputies:
“France is free. Absolutism has raised its flag
and the heroic population of Paris put it
down. Paris, when attacked, has by arms
caused the triump of the sacred cause...”
Revolutions of 1830

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Charles initially tried to regain control of Paris by
appointing the duc of Orleans as Lieutenant General
of Paris
He attempts to have his grandson recognized as
King and then abdicates the throne
On 7 August the throne was declared vacant by the
Chambe of Deputies and they offered the crown to
the duc of Orleans, who took the crown and ruled as
Louis Phillippe under a constitutional monarchy
End of Bourbon rule in France