John Locke was one of the greatest English philosophers, known with his empirical points of view, which had a certain influence on the development of political philosophy and property issues.
This influential political thinker presented a new idea of Empiricism; at the abstract level, people are all God’s creations, and this is why they have natural rights and should be equal to each other. His Second Treatise of Government is one of the brightest works about political philosophy, its influence on society, and origins and aims of any existed government. Locke was not afraid to admit that each person in this word has the right of life and property that cannot be changed by any of the civil law.
However, such ideas had to have clear and strong evidences, this is why John Locke had no other way but gather as many arguments as possible to prove his standpoints. Nowadays, it is very difficult to use the ideas offered by Locke at the end of the 1600s, his rational development and desire to be equal in all spheres of life turn out to be the issues, which are hard to achieve; this is why modern development is not always good, but just one more means to demonstrate someone’s wealthy and abilities.
Land development is one of the most burning issues nowadays. People from different countries during different periods of time tried to present their own ideas and offered the best ways out to solve the possible problems, connected to land development and property. To my mind, one of the most remarkable ideas were presented by John Locke at the end of the 1600s.
He admitted that government should protect private property in order to save the public good. God divided everything in equal forms among people, this is why he “hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life, and convenience. The earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the support and comfort of their being” (Locke, 18).
However, there was one more point that could not but be mention while discussing Locke’s ides. He underlines the fact that human body and its movement are the property of a person, this is why all those efforts, which a person uses to make his/her life better and safer, and the results of this work belong to this person only.
Such attention to human rights and their equal possibilities create numerous changes within the sphere of politics and economics. People should have enough grounds to believe that they have enough powers to live in this world and that “industrious and rational” will never be changed into “the covetousness of the quarrelsome and the contentious” (Locke, 21).
According to Locke, there are three major restrictions in property that any person should take into consideration. One of them lies in the fact that a person has the right to have as much as he/she is able to use it before it. The second is all about the duty of one person to leave something for another person.
And, finally, the third restriction tells that a person has the right to have something as a result of own work. All these restrictions prove that Locke could not agree that excessive development of real estate may influence considerably the life of an ordinary person. Locke demonstrated his belief that everything happens as it should be because God controls it and divide functions.
However, when money use starts developing, all these restrictions lose their meanings and other not less important issues take the leading positions. Locke’s ideas in The Second Treatise against large-scale real-estate development cannot be supported by many readers. In his ideas, he may even underline the significance of human property but not the significance of human life.
Due to such approach according to which property turns out to be much more significant than life and other issues, lots of philosophers and other thinkers of Enlightenment could not agree to the ideas of Locke and called them not properly based. But still, many Scottish and American philosophers and politicians found his ideas more persuasive than lots of those, which were already known and proved.
Of course, nowadays, human property is the issue, that is characterized by hot discussions. Rich people have all chances to control any property, any land and its development. Poor people have nothing to do but work on rich people in order to be ready to earn for living. We cannot say for sure that God presents equal possibilities to every person. Someone is born to be rich and powerful, to control property, and to improve this world.
Some people still do not have a chance to get good education in order to get a chance to enlarge own level of knowledge and be useful for this world. Real estate development is quite inherent to this world, and Locke’s ideas as for equality between people turn out to be a bit ridiculous.
The last question I want to answer in this paper is whether it is true that development is always good or it may serve only the wealthy. Well, in fact, even according to Locke or even taking into consideration the current conditions, changes and development of one sphere touch the other spheres as well.
This is why development is crucially important for both poor and rich people. Is it always good? Telling the truth, it is impossible to say that our development has positive outcomes only, this is why it is necessary to remember about the consequences before take some steps, which lead to development.
John Locke was a powerful thinker and philosopher at the end of the 17th century. His ideas as for property development and the rights, which are inherent to any person cannot but attract the attention of many people.
His beliefs that everything is divided by God, and nothing can be changed cause admiration of some people and lead to numerous misunderstandings from the others. If we take into consideration his ideas and use them to analyze the situation of modern South Florida, we will see that expressive real estate cannot be neglected.
If people have possibilities, desire, and money, they get more and more property of different sizes. Locke could not agree with such unfairness, however, he lived during the 16th century, and we live and grow in the 21st century and should be ready to new changes and development.
I do not want to underline that Locke’s ideas have nothing in common with our modern world, but still, his ideas were developed when money did not play a significant role in people’s life; and nowadays, money is considered to be a significant factor for human and property development.
Works Cited
Locke, John. Second Treatise Government. Hackett Publishing, 1980.