PHIL2634 Study Guide - Final Guide: Bertrand Russell, Body Politic, Majoritarianism
Document Summary
State of nature government"s responsibility is the protection of individual rights, liberty and property. All which distinct powers happening sometimes together in the same man. Locke thus defines the role of government as a conglomerate designed to organise the natural and religious duty one has to punish offenders due to an enforcement problem in the state of nature. This points to the government"s function as complementary to by creating a body politic rather than superseding (hobbes) the state of nature. However, to maintain a narrow role of government, concessions must be made in the form of majoritarianism. Bertrand russell argues that locke"s divine right of majority can be as tyrannical as the divine right of majorities (633); there is a contradiction between his public good principle and his individualistic premises about the state of nature. However, firstly, while majority rules, minority rights are not discounted, and arises from natural law.
