LOCKE’S PROPERTY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: NATURAL LAW AND THE SHAPING OF MODERN POLITICAL COMMON SENSE
LOCKE’S PROPERTY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: NATURAL LAW AND THE SHAPING OF MODERN POLITICAL COMMON SENSE

Summary/Abstract: The conceptual and theoretical change in nineteenth century political philosophy entailed a deep recategorization of inherited traditions of thought that moulded modern political “common sense”, making our intellectual past to some extent either invisible or incomprehensible. This recategorization led to what might be called a new “interpretive conjuncture”. In this regard, it is important to note that in twentieth century political philosophy the dominant framework for understanding the past was a liberal one. This work will explore some of the conceptual and philosophical consequences of this issue by considering some misunderstandings of the work of John Locke. It is argued that some of Locke’s characteristic ideas, such as property, were rooted, among others, in a longstanding tradition of natural law thought, even though we now often encounter these ideas in distorted forms.

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