John Locke
John Lockes Philosophy On Justice & Opinion About The Death Penalty
Western concepts of justice are derived from Greco-Roman philosophical traditions and the teachings of Christ. From Greco-Roman traditions comes the ancient maxim, “to live honestly, to hurt no one, to give everyone his due.” For John Locke (1632-1704), the concept of justice is a major underlying theme throughout his political thought as a whole. For Locke, natural justice sets the limits and provides the direction for civic justice via the concept of natural rights. Moreover, at its most basic level, Locke’s theory of justice is a natural law theory even more than a natural rights theory. Whereas individual rights are inalienable, they are nevertheless based upon, and limited by, the law of nature. According to Locke, justice is inconceivable without personal property, where there is no property, there is no justice. The essence of Lockean justice is the security of each person’s personal possessions as a right based on the law of nature.
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution.
Many people think that John Locke was against the Death Penalty because his idea of the natural right of life, but this is incorrect. John Locke was not against the death penalty. He was really in favor of it in certain point. He said that to have the death penalty, also called Capital Punishment, there must be a civil government that allows it because as expressed in the social contract theory he made with Hobbes, in a civil government executive power is passed to the government. He said that who will say if the death penalty is accepted will be the civil government, that is encharged to protect people rights, because they have political power, which means that they can create laws for society. He
Western concepts of justice are derived from Greco-Roman philosophical traditions and the teachings of Christ. From Greco-Roman traditions comes the ancient maxim, “to live honestly, to hurt no one, to give everyone his due.” For John Locke (1632-1704), the concept of justice is a major underlying theme throughout his political thought as a whole. For Locke, natural justice sets the limits and provides the direction for civic justice via the concept of natural rights. Moreover, at its most basic level, Locke’s theory of justice is a natural law theory even more than a natural rights theory. Whereas individual rights are inalienable, they are nevertheless based upon, and limited by, the law of nature. According to Locke, justice is inconceivable without personal property, where there is no property, there is no justice. The essence of Lockean justice is the security of each person’s personal possessions as a right based on the law of nature.
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution.
Many people think that John Locke was against the Death Penalty because his idea of the natural right of life, but this is incorrect. John Locke was not against the death penalty. He was really in favor of it in certain point. He said that to have the death penalty, also called Capital Punishment, there must be a civil government that allows it because as expressed in the social contract theory he made with Hobbes, in a civil government executive power is passed to the government. He said that who will say if the death penalty is accepted will be the civil government, that is encharged to protect people rights, because they have political power, which means that they can create laws for society. He