John Locke and Karl Marx were famous philosophers who were famous for their respective theories on class and society. The two thinkers had several conflicting ideas and philosophies, including their views on whether private property was a natural right or not. Both Locke and Marx’s views on private property were set nearly a century apart and were also very different from each other. This paper intends to elaborate Marx and Locke’s ideas on private property and highlight the differences in their theories.
John Locke expounded that man was endowed by god certain natural rights such as life, liberty and property. Property was the most important of these natural rights because it was a product of his own labour. Locke elaborates his idea of property in Second Treatise Of Government. He says that god gave earth to all men to hold in common, but men can make a part of the earth his private property by adding his labour. According to Locke, private property of man is whatever “we mix our labour with”. It includes “the labour of [our] body and the work of [our] hands” (Locke, 151). When a man ploughs a field, it becomes his, as well as the fruits of that land. Locke emphasizes the importance of private property because he believes that it defines the boundaries of individual freedom.
In addition, Locke's said that the government’s main purpose is to protect individuals’ private property. Nature does not ensure the safety of individuals’ private property from everyone else and therefore the government should protect private property. Locke opposes nature, claiming that in the state of nature civil law ceases to exist where the victor continuously punishes the aggressor. Once conflict over private property occurs, then people will together draft a social contract with an aim of protecting their property. Private property allows men to craft a government as conflicts over property can lead to formation of a contract drafted for the people and by the people.
In contrast, Marx opposed the idea of private property and postulated new ideas for the distribution of property. Marx called for the necessity of abolishing private property and distributing the wealth of a nation to the workers. While Locke said that private property would result in civil order, Marx claimed that private property is the root of all evils as property gives social power. Marx believed that civil order, peace, and equality can only be achieved by dissolving private property. Marx was opposed to Locke’s idea of private property as he believed that ownership of private property would result in capitalism, which allows only two possibilities: “be a loser or a winner, exploit others or be exploited yourself” (Marx, 153).
Marx expounded that in the state of nature there is no privately owned property, and production is based on hunting and gathering. What is not consumed becomes a surplus property and must be stored. Unlike Locke, Marx believed that “government, religion, media, philosophy, even the education system itself— all the institutions of capitalist society —serve the interests of the capitalists who control them and keep the working class in their place” (Marx, 154). He propagated socialism, under which ownership of production would not be private, but collective.
Works Cited
Locke, John. The Property Motive In The Individual and the Collective: Conflict and Cooperation
Marx, Karl. The Class Motive In The Individual and the Collective: Conflict and Cooperation
