Second Treatise Of Government, By John Locke

Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in 384 B.C. His writings are still widely studied and discussed today and he has had a profound impact on western civilization. One of his most noted works, is the collection of his philosophic teachings in Politics. In this text, among many other topics, Aristotle discusses the accumulation, evolution, and usefulness of money in the form of a common coin. In addition to this, there is also a similar discussion of money in John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Locke was an English philosopher and physician born in 1632. His Second Treatise of Government is still widely considered one of the most well written pieces of political theory in history. In both of these texts, the
To begin this, one may refer to Locke’s speech in chapter 5 where he begins by claiming that, “That labour •marked those things off from the rest of the world’s contents; it •added something to them beyond what they had been given by nature.” He is asserting that labor is what gives ownership or property. If one does the work required to obtain an object then he owns that object without having to ask permission of all of mankind and as such, the farmer, who works on his land to grow crops, owns that land on which he works. However Locke continues this argument with, “where there is money and commerce, no-one can enclose or appropriate any part of any common land without the consent of all his fellow-commoners.” In this he is showing that money has corrupted and completely changed the system in which they lived previous to the development of money. Rather than a system in which one can only take that which he has the ability to work upon, now one can own and take without end, for there is no end to how much more or property one can own in this system. However, he finds that money solves a very important issue in the world of property and value. Previously, one could claim anything that he labored upon with one stipulation that they do not let that which they have claimed go to waste or be ruined. Money solves this issue by never spoiling or going to waste and money will always retain its value. This is good for ensuring
Firstly, they both openly acknowledge the system that existed before money in which an item’s value was found in two parts. The first which was the most common is that item’s use and what it was made to do. The second, is its bartering value in which one can trade the item for something of equal value. Secondly, they both agree that money changed the limits of property. Aristotle states that, “as their (man) desires are unlimited they also desire that the means of gratifying them should be without limit.” In this case, the “means of gratifying” is referring to money and the limitless pursuit of it. Locke similarly states that, “Nature did well in setting limits to private property through limits to how much men can work and limits to how much they need.” Both of these believe that there was a previous natural limit to how much one could own because of the need to use or barter the goods before they ruined. The invention of money got rid of that need to use are barter quickly which created a system in which there was no limit to one’s accumulation of wealth. Thirdly, they both later concede in each of their works that there are some benefits to money regardless of its unnatural state. Aristotle finds these benefits in the shadow of my previous criticism of money, money can not go to waste or ruin over time. While this did create the system of no limits on personal