Locke vs. Plato

Both Plato and Locke have the same basic beliefs that a government is best for the people but that is where the similarities end. Both realize the importance of government but Plato maximizes the potential of the government while Locke only describes its necessity. When Plato creates his government with the maximum potential he overlooks what the government was set up to protect, the individual. Locke tries to describe the necessity for a government and the checks that a government needs.

Locke uses his Second Treatise on Government to really define government. He does this by stating why it is needed and then talks about what the government is supposed to do. Locke talks about there being a state of nature that everybody is part of and this is where people can do anything they want. Locke also states that, because of natural law, you shouldn’t intrude on someone else’s freedom. Locke then says that the reason to have government is “making laws with penalties of death, and consequently all less penalties, for the regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the force of the community in the execution of such laws… …all this only for the public good.” (Locke, Book 1, bullet 3) So it comes down to that the reason to have government is to protect your own private property which is something that Locke goes into farther.

Plato uses The Republic to critique society by creating a perfect society. Plato views the role of the government as not to just have a set of laws to protect people’s liberty. Plato also believes that it is the role of the government to shape the society. Both Plato and Locke use the idea of the necessity of government but Plato went farther by saying that when someone joins a society they should put all public obligations over every private obligation. He never mentions private property throughout the Republic because he does not really see that as the responsibility of the government. Plato sees the government as something to create a better functioning society not something to regulate natural life.

Locke goes in depth on his view of private property. He believes that once you put work into something it becomes your own and the only restriction of this is that you can only own what you can use because if you hoard and waste then you break the law of nature. Describing this allows Locke to go into the usefulness of trade and the use of money because gold and silver are something that you can hoard that won’t go bad, and if you trade with people you can labor to get a lot of one thing and trade it for other goods. Plato’s views on labor agree with Locke and again go one step farther. He believes that it is the best thing to only produce one good and trade for everything else. He believes that it is actually an injustice to the society if you try to divide your labor and do multiple jobs. This is another example of how Plato goes further then Locke in favoring society rather than the individual. Locke believes that government is created to make life easier for everybody. He believes that it is the government’s role to provide order for a group of people. He says that the government is supposed to protect every individual’s private property including their safety. Plato believes that government is created for the greater good. He believes that it is there to organize everybody’s public spheres of life and make sure that the society functions well. He does not take into account individual’s property and the only reason he takes into account the safety of them is for the preservation of the society.