State of Nature

Locke talks about the state of Nature because nature is where everyone came from. We as a species grew from nature and before laws and governments; we abided by general notions that made sense. Locke thinks the law of Nature is where we base our political views and our feelings of right and wrong. If a man does not perceive another man as being human, that can motivate him to leave the “state of Nature”. For instance, with slavery, whites did not see Africans as humans and because of that, whites had no problem enslaving them. Greed and laziness can also be driving forces to leave the state of Nature. Slaves are used for free labor from people who do not fight back; it takes a very greedy and lazy person to not earn money by doing their own work. Because the slaves did not fight back (as much as “Nature” would allow), the owners had no reason to fear the “law of Nature” because they never felt the repercussions of their terrible actions. In order for the law of Nature to work, everyone must be aware of its existence. If a man kills a father’s son, then that father has the right to kill that man; however, if the father does not kill that man then the law of Nature fails because the father did not punish the man for his actions. A man with no fear of repercussions has no need to abide by the state or law of Nature.