Introduction
Not only is John Locke a central figure within epistemology and metaphysics, his thought has had a vast impact on constitutional affairs and other political and legal matters. Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and his Letter Concerning Toleration are canonical works of political philosophy. However, ideas relevant to the topic of justice can be found throughout Locke’s substantial output, not least in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which includes his best-known writing on the nature of freedom. Locke is typically taken to have played a leading role in the elevation of individual rights within Western liberal conceptions of justice and wider morality (although see Curran 2013, and Bell 2014, for alternative views). His rights-based theory of property has been particularly influential, both to theorists and practitioners.
Locke’s Conception of Justice
It is generally assumed that, for Locke, the domain of justice pertains centrally to matters of rights. His...
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Lowe, R. (2023). Locke, John: On Justice. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_924-1
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