Document Type : Science - Research (Political Science)

Author

• Farshad Shariat

Faculty member of Imam Sadiq University

Abstract

Jonn Locke: Arguments of Colonialism and Capitalist Ethics


Dr. Farshad Shariat


Surveying chapter 5 from the second Treatise of Government, the present article aims at indicating the fact why and how this chapter from Two Treatises of Government forms the main axis of economic liberalism in a capitalistic system. In other words, referring in this chapter to the ownership of work and presenting an ethical justification of the possession of lands in African colonies, John Locke puts an end to the disputes of colonialism and proposes a mechanism to the British politicians of the 19th century. This mechanism saved England from social, political, and economic collapse.


In other words, establishing a rational and rather ethical mechanism, Locke attempts to prove firstly how and why the large domain of colonies in North America is permissible or legitimate, and secondly with respect to the influence of European rivals, it is considered something practical and rational.


Analyzing these arguments and the economic crises of England, the present article seeks to reveal and interpret the internal logic of Locke,s economic theory based on the approach taken by those who have broken the mould of the ethical theory of Locke in the last decades of the 20th century.

Keywords

• Locke
• Colonialism
• capitalist ethics
• ownership
• economic liberalism

Main Subjects

• political science