Two Treatises of Government · Chapter
IV: Of Slavery explained
Locke defines true liberty as freedom from arbitrary power, contrasting it with Filmer's misrepresentation.
What happens
Locke defines true liberty as freedom from arbitrary power, contrasting it with Filmer's misrepresentation. He argues that no man can enslave himself by consent because he lacks power over his own life, and true slavery is a state of war between a lawful conqueror and a captive, which ceases when a compact is made.
Themes in this chapter
Natural Rights and Liberty
Locke defines natural liberty as freedom from any superior power on earth, subject only to the law of nature, and argues that absolute arbitrary power is incompatible with a man's preservation.
State of Nature and Social Contract
Locke explains that a compact between a conqueror and a captive ends the state of war and slavery, as no man can consent to give another power over his own life.
Characters to notice
- Sir Robert Filmer
Locke quotes Filmer's erroneous definition of liberty as doing as one pleases, then corrects it.
Key passages
“The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule.”
A person's natural freedom means being subject to no human authority, only to the law of nature.
Locke's foundational definition of natural liberty.
“for a man, not having the power of his own life, cannot, by compact, or his own consent, enslave himself to anyone, nor put himself under the absolute, arbitrary power of another, to take away his life, when he pleases.”
Since a person does not own his own life, he cannot agree to become a slave or give another person unlimited power over him.
Locke's argument against voluntary enslavement.
“This is the perfect condition of slavery, which is nothing else, but 'the state of war continued, between a lawful conqueror and a captive': for, if once compact enter between them, and make an agreement for a limited power on the one side, and obedience on the other, the state of war and slavery ceases, as long as the compact endures”
True slavery is a perpetual state of war between a rightful conqueror and a prisoner; but if they make a contract for limited authority and obedience, the war and slavery end while the contract lasts.
Locke's definition of slavery as a state of war that can be ended by compact.