government theory

Chapter 27 On the State of Nature

4.In order to understand political power properly, and to trace its origin, we must study man's most primitive state of nature.It is a state of perfect liberty, in which they determine their own actions, and dispose of their property as they see fit, within the limits of the laws of nature, without the permission or orders of any other.

It is also a state of equality in which all power and checks are reciprocal, no one has more power than another, and people of the same race and status, being born without distinction, can enjoy the same Natural conditions, endowed with the same physical and mental abilities, all should be equal, and there can be no relationship of subordination or subjection, unless God somehow reveals His will, placing one person above another, and expressly placing no Questionable dominion and sovereignty are vested in him.

5.The wise Hooker regards the equality of human beings based on nature as obvious and unquestionable, and thus regards it as the basis of the obligation of mutual friendship between human beings, and on this basis stipulates various obligations that people should fulfill to each other, From this he derives the important principles of justice and benevolence.His exact words are: "The same natural need to make people know that loving others is as much a duty as loving oneself; How can I expect to have all my needs satisfied, what everyone desires? Unless I try to satisfy all the same demands of others of the same nature. Giving people the opposite of such demands will surely use them in every way. They are not happy, just as I am not happy in this situation. So, if I do harm to others, I can only expect punishment, because there is no reason for other people to show me more love than I show them. Therefore, if I demand that those who are of my nature love me as much as possible, it is a natural duty for me to have the same love for them. From the point of view of our equal relations with those who are like us, Natural reason has deduced certain rules and dogmas which are known to all and guide life." (Politics of Religion, Vol. [-])
6.Although this is a state of freedom, it is not a state of indulgence.Although in this state man has unlimited freedom to dominate his person or property, he is not free to destroy himself or any living creature he possesses, unless it is obliged by a nobler need than mere preservation .The state of nature has a law of nature governing it, to which all must obey; and that law, reason, teaches all mankind, who will obey it, that all men are equal and independent, so that no one may infringe life, health, liberty and property of others.For since men are all creatures of the omnipotent and wise Creator, servants of the one and only Creator, who came into this world at his command, to do his business, they are his. Possessions are his creations, and how long they exist depends entirely on him, not on themselves; and since we have the same faculties and share everything in the same natural society, we cannot think that there is any relationship of master and slave between us. , can allow us to destroy each other, just as we are made to use each other, just as the lower creatures are made to be used by us.Just as every man must preserve himself, and cannot alter his position, so, for the same reason, when he can preserve himself without question, he should preserve the rest of mankind as far as he can.No life, nor anything that tends to preserve another's life, liberty, health, or property, should be taken or damaged except in order to punish a criminal.

7.In order to restrain all people from infringing on the rights of others, from doing things that harm others, so that everyone abides by the natural law aimed at maintaining peace and protecting all human beings, the right to enforce the natural law should be placed in the hands of everyone, so that everyone All have the right to punish those who violate the natural law, so as to prevent the violation of natural law.Natural law, like all other human laws, is useless if no one in the state of nature has the power to enforce it, to protect the innocent and restrain the criminal.And if anyone can punish others for their crimes in a state of nature, everyone else can do the same.For, in that state of perfect equality, in which no one is superior to another, or has a right to dominion over another, by the law of nature, every man must have a right to Do.

8.Thus, in the state of nature, one man thus acquires power over another, which he cannot abuse.When he catches a criminal, he cannot be dealt with according to his emotional impulse or unrestrained will, but only according to the instructions of calm reason and conscience, and according to the crimes he committed, punish him, and try to correct and restrict him. role.Because correction and conditioning are the only reasons that can make it legal for a person to hurt another person, we call it punishment.In violating the laws of nature, the criminal has shown himself to live contrary to the rules of reason and justice, which are the measure of conduct which God has ordained for the safety of man, and is therefore dangerous to man.He ignores and breaks the restraints which protect man from harm and encroachment, which is an aggression against all mankind, and against the peace and security of all mankind which is maintained by the law of nature, by which every man, on the basis of his By protecting the rights of others, one has the right to check or, if necessary, destroy everything that is injurious to them, by giving the offender of the law of nature a chance to repent, and thereby stopping him, and by his example deterring others from committing the same crime again. fault.In this case, by this reasoning, every man has a right to punish the criminal and to act as the executor of the law of nature.

9.I do not doubt that this may seem a strange doctrine to some.But before they object, I ask them to hear me explain: By what right does any prince or nation have the right to put to death or punish a foreigner who has committed some crime in their country?It is certain that the laws they pass through the legislature do not bind a foreigner: they are not made against him, and if they were, he is under no obligation to be bound.The laws that are in force with the subjects of the kingdom are not binding on him.Those who have the supreme power to make laws in England, France, Holland are as powerless to an Indian as to any other man in the world.Therefore, if by the law of nature every man is not entitled to punish acts which violate it, though in his cool judgment he thinks it necessary, I cannot comprehend that the magistrate of any society should punish a man who belongs to another country. , for, as far as he is concerned, they have no more power than the law of nature confers on others.

10.The acts constituting crimes are mostly illegal and inconsistent with the rules of just reason, and a person will fall from this, and declare himself to abandon the principles of humanity and become a harmful person. damaged by his crime.In such cases, the person who has suffered any damage has, besides the joint right of punishment with others, a special right to make the offender pay for the damage.Others can also assist the victim in obtaining corresponding damages from the offender if they think it is fair.

11.From these two distinct rights--one shared by those who punish crimes for the purpose of repressing similar crimes, and the other a right to claim reparation which belongs only to the injured party--it follows that, That is to say, the judge enjoys the common power of punishment based on his status. When the public welfare requires that the law is not enforced, he can often exempt the punishment of the criminal act according to his own authority, but he cannot make the victim give up the damages he deserves. .The right to demand in his own name belongs to the victim and can only be waived by him.

Just as every person has the right to defend all mankind and to do all reasonable action therefor, to punish the crime and to prevent its recurrence, so the victim has the right, based on self-defense, to claim for himself the goods or servants of the criminal power.Every man, therefore, in the state of nature, has the right to kill a murderer, both as an example to prevent others from doing the same irreparable harm, and as a safeguard against the criminal who has Loss of reason - God's common gift to man - he declares war on all mankind by inflicting violence and carnage upon another, and thus can be treated as a lion or a tiger or some other beast with which he cannot coexist as a threat to the safety of man to destroy.An important law of nature rests upon the foregoing: "Whosoever sheds blood, by another's blood is shed." Cain was convinced of this, that every man had the right to exterminate such criminals, So he shouted after killing his brother: "Everyone who meets me will kill me." This has long been clearly written in people's hearts.

12.For the same reason a man in the state of nature may punish lesser violations of the laws of nature.Some people may ask: Is it the death penalty?My answer is: The degree of punishment for each crime is light, according to whether the punishment is enough to make the criminal feel that the crime is not worth it, make him know repentance, and warn others not to commit the same crime.The crimes which can be committed in a state of nature are punished in the same degree and in the same degree in a state as they are in a state of nature.Though I shall not here enter into the details of the natural law and its punishments, it is certain that there is such a law, and that to a student of natural law and a reasonable man it is like the express laws of nations. As plain and plain as they are, perhaps even more so, just as sound arguments are easier to understand than the fantasies and intricacies of intrigue in which men try to express in words contradictory and hidden interests.This is indeed the case with the domestic laws of various countries. These laws are only just when they are based on natural law, and they must be stipulated and interpreted on the basis of natural law.

13.Against this strange doctrine—that is, that in a state of nature every man has the power to enforce the law of nature—I am sure there will be objections: that it is unreasonable for men to be arbiters of their own cases; Instead favor yourself and your friends.On the other hand, they will punish others unduly with ill-intention, sentimentality, and vindictiveness, and the result will only be chaos and disorder; so God has indeed used governments to restrain violence and partiality of men.I may also admit that civil government is a just remedy against the troublesome situations of the state of nature.The disadvantage of being judges in one's own case is indeed great, for we can easily suppose that an unjust man who has injured his brother would not be so justly convicted.

But I would have those who objected to remember that despots are only men; and that the state of nature is indeed intolerable if government is instituted to abolish the evils which necessarily arise because men are the judges of their own cases.I would also like to know that if a ruler over all has the power to be a judge in his own case, and to dispose of his subjects as he pleases, no one has the slightest power to intervene or control those who act according to their own preferences, and what he does Whatever is done is governed by reason, error, or emotion, and subjects must obey it. What kind of government is that?How much better is it compared to its natural state?Things are much better in the state of nature, in which one is not subject to one's lawless will; and if the judge makes a wrong decision, whether in his own case or in another, he All are responsible to the rest of humanity.

14.A question is often asked as a powerful objection: Where do man in this state of nature now have, or have ever been?It suffices for the present to answer this question as follows: that all the sovereigns and rulers of the independent governments of the world are in a state of nature, and it is evident that there will always be some in the world who are in that state. people in state.I mean all princes and rulers in independent governments, whether united or not.For not every contract can terminate the state of nature among men, but only the contract of joining together into a society, thus constituting a state; human beings can enter into other agreements and contracts with each other, and continue to be in the state of nature.Two men on a deserted island, as Garcilaso mentions in his history of Peru, or in the woods of America between a Swiss and an Indian, are to them an exchange and a contract. Binding, though they are perfectly in a state of nature with respect to each other.Because honesty and trustworthiness are not qualities that belong to people as members of society, but to people as people.

15.For those who think that man has never been in a state of nature, I quote what the wise Hooker says in Religious Politics, Book I, Section X: "The laws hitherto mentioned"— That is the law of nature—"absolutely binding on men, even when they appear in several persons, though they have never had any fixed organization, nor have they ever had any solemn agreement among themselves, stipulating What should or should not be done. But since we cannot independently provide the supplies which our nature requires, which is necessary for a life fit for human dignity, so in order to compensate for the deficiencies and Insufficient, we naturally seek to live and live with others, and that is why men banded together in the first place to become political societies.” I also assert that all men are naturally in this state, and remain so until they agree as a member of some political society.I believe later parts of this paper will make this clear.

(End of this chapter)