Natural Rights and the New Republicanism by Zuckert Michael P

Author:Zuckert, Michael P. [Zuckert, Michael P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781400821525
Publisher: Princeton UP
Published: 1994-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

NATURAL LAW: NATURAL SOCIABILITY AND NATURAL MORALITY

Locke’s last two arguments allegedly persuading of the existence of the natural law also raise the kinds of issues of immanence we have been considering, but the real focus shifts to other matters. In his consideration of the themes raised by these arguments Locke attempts to supply an account of why people so persistently but unjustifiably posit a natural law of the immanent sort. By disposing finally of the immanent natural law, Locke completes his preparation of the ground for his introduction of his more Pufendorfian transcendent natural law.

The fourth argument Locke brings forward for consideration “derives from human society”: the law of nature appears to be prerequisite to the possibility of “association or union of men among themselves,” for society depends, on the one hand, on a “constitution of a regime” whereby the powers of rulers and the duties of subjects are specified and, on the other, on “the keeping of covenants” (fols. 18–19). The law of nature, according to this argument, supplies the moral glue of obligation to ground these two all-important sets of practices grounding human society. Echoes of Grotius’s law of nature, making for or deriving from human sociability, are very apparent here. The Grotius connection points to the broader theme implicit in this argument: the law of nature as thus understood confirms or assumes that human beings are sociable by nature.

Locke himself is no more persuaded by this Grotian argument regarding the character of the law of nature than he was by the Dutchman’s argument regarding consensus. In order to appreciate the force of Locke’s reply to this argument, one must note that Locke takes for granted that human society, “association or union among men,” does exist. That is not at issue; all that is at issue is whether that fact implies or depends upon the existence of natural law. Horwitz pointed out one key fact—“Locke’s acknowledgement” (I would add, insistence) “that natural law is hidden from men and therefore is, at best, known to very few.”47 If most human beings do not know the natural law—if, in fact, there are some societies in which no human being knows it—then knowledge of the natural law must not be necessary for the cohesion of society (fols. 33, 38, 41–42, 64–66, 68–72).

The kinds of human agreements or consensus that ground regimes or support contract do not, according to Locke, necessarily point to or rely on the law of nature at all. In the important seventh Question, the chief locus of his response to Grotius, Locke not only denies the existence of general consensus, but such consensus as he admits to exist rests on an altogether different foundation. He divides consensus into two types—“positive” and “natural.” According to Locke, “a positive consensus [is] one which issues from a compact, either tacit, as when some common human necessity or advantage draws men to it, . . . or expressed” (fol. 63). Locke denies any natural law connections to such compacts: “Neither of these

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.