Lockean proviso
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The Lockean Proviso is a portion of John Locke's labor theory of property which says that though individuals have a right to acquire private property from nature, that they must leave "enough and as good in common...to others."
The phrase "Lockean Proviso" was coined by political philosopher Robert Nozick. It is based on the ideas elaborated by John Locke in his Second Treatise of Government. Locke's ideas of self-ownership allow a person the freedom to mix his or her labor with natural resources, originally common property, thus making it their private property. Locke concludes that people need to be able to protect the resources they are using to live on, their property, and that this is a natural right. Nozick used this idea to form his Lockean Proviso which governs the initial acquisition of property in a society. Like Locke, Nozick believes in self-ownership and thus is a libertarian. But in order for his ideas of ownership of property to get off the ground and be cogent, he devised the criterion to determine what makes property acquisition just, which is the proviso. The proviso says that though every appropriation of property is a diminution of another's rights to it, it is okay as long as it does not make anyone worse off than they would have been without any private property.
[edit] References
- Locke, John (ed. Richard Cox). Second Treatise of Government (1690).Harlan Davidson, 1982.
- Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State, and Utopia.Basic Books, 1974.
