Enough bellyaching about people being gone. I'm sure the new people are just as nice.

When Locke speaks of a State of Nature, he speaks of a state that humans naturally return to when no ruling body is in place to command their lives. This state of nature is important to understand because it describes the basic rights that every human has. In class, one question seemed to remain unanswered, “What entitles us to the rights that we claim to have?” While this has caused many stops in conversation in the past, Locke seems to answer it right away. According to Locke, men have rights because they have “ a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit… without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man” (Locke 4). Locke speaks of this state because it provides the basis for every human having rights. In other words, Locke is saying that the state of nature is important because it gives a human the right to govern his or her own body as he or she wishes. Yet Locke also addresses the issue of why people want to leave the state of nature. Essentially, people wish to leave the state of nature because they are not comfortable with having so much control over their own lives. In my personal experience, this is true even when I am doing something as simple as clothes-shopping. Even though it is my money and I may use it as I like; I still find myself asking my family whether they believe something is right for me or if it is a good value. Men and women wish to leave the state of nature because it lessens the burden on their own minds to make decisions.