The paper argues that John Locke's 'Theory of government justification' (TGJ) is grounded on a consistent moral account. This is shown by reconstructing such an account through textual analysis of The Essays on the Law of Nature, The Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and the Two Treatises of Government. The first two parts of the paper show that the account of morality that can be traced throughout Locke's works fulfills the desiderata of 1) normative strength and 2) motivational effectivene…
Read moreThe paper argues that John Locke's 'Theory of government justification' (TGJ) is grounded on a consistent moral account. This is shown by reconstructing such an account through textual analysis of The Essays on the Law of Nature, The Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and the Two Treatises of Government. The first two parts of the paper show that the account of morality that can be traced throughout Locke's works fulfills the desiderata of 1) normative strength and 2) motivational effectiveness by way of being at the same time both deontic and naturalistic. The third part introduces an epistemological objection that seriously compromises the success of Locke's project but argues that it is not fatal to it.
