Locke Theory of

Consent and Theory

of Trust
 English philosopher 
 and physician, widely
regarded as one of the
most influential
of Enlightenment 
 thinkers and
commonly known as
the "Father
of Liberalism".
 -JOHN LOCKE
John Locke (1632–1704)

In the Two Treatises of Government,

he defended the claim that men are
by nature free and equal against
claims that God had made all people
naturally subject to a monarch. >
 Men are naturally free and equal as
part of the justification for
understanding legitimate political
government as the result of a social
contract where people in the state of
nature conditionally transfer some of
their rights to the government in
order to better ensure the stable,
comfortable enjoyment of their lives,
liberty, and property. >
 Since governments exist by the
consent of the people in order to
protect the rights of the people and
promote the public good,
governments that fail to do so can be
resisted and replaced with new
governments.
Locke is thus also important
for his defense of the right of
revolution. Locke also defends
the principle of majority rule
and the separation of
legislative and executive
powers.
In the Letter Concerning
Toleration, Locke denied that
coercion should be used to
bring people to (what the ruler
believes is) the true religion and
also denied that churches
should have any coercive power
over their members.
His analysis begins with individuals in a
state of nature where they are not
subject to a common legitimate
authority with the power to legislate or
adjudicate disputes.
From this natural state of freedom and
independence, Locke stresses
individual consent as the mechanism by
which political societies are created
and individuals join those societies. 
Locke clearly states that one can only
become a full member of society by an act
of express consent (Two Treatises 2.122).
The literature on Locke’s theory of
consent tends to focus on how Locke does
or does not successfully answer the
following objection: few people have
actually consented to their governments
so no, or almost no, governments are
actually legitimate.
Locke’s most obvious solution
to this problem is his doctrine
of tacit consent. Simply by
walking along the highways of
a country a person gives tacit
consent to the government
and agrees to obey it while
living in its territory. >
Locke begins his argument by claiming
that all men are naturally free.
In his state of nature, men are free to
“Order their actions, and dispose of their
possessions, and persons as they think
fit, without asking leave, or depending
on the Will of any other Man.”
Yet, in a government, some people
obviously come to have power over
others. How?
Locke claims that the state
gains those powers when the
citizens give them to the
society. “He authorizes the
Society, or which is all one, the
Legislative thereof to make
laws for him as the public good
of the society shall require.”
This, Locke thinks, explains why
resident aliens have an obligation to
obey the laws of the state where they
reside, though only while they live
there.
Theory Of Trust
In taking the first step out of the
natural state into civil society, man
demonstrates an enormous
amount of trust. According to
Locke, he who is in the state of
nature possesses two powers:
to “do whatsoever he thinks fit for
the preservation of himself, and
others within the permission of the
law of nature”
to “punish the crimes committed
against that law”
 Theory of Trust

Trust is as central to Locke’s theory

of the social contract
trust is quite simply the faith and
confidence one has that things will
turn out
A government without trust is
akin to a knight without his
armor, powerless and redundant.
Trust determines whether or not
men are willing to substitute society
for the natural state. It delineates
the boundaries and affects the
effectiveness of a government. Most
importantly, trust is the measure by
which men judge whether a
government deserves to remain in
existence. as one hopes.
Governance, the next area of
concern following the start of civil
society, is where trust proves
indispensable if it is to be effective.
While all laws crafted by the
legislative power require the
consent of the people to be valid,
not all judgments must follow the
law to the letter.
Indeed, to adhere blindly to the
written law without regard to
ever-changing circumstances
cannot be deemed good
governance.
Good governance, therefore, very
often relies at least as much on the
prudence and wisdom of the
executive as it does on the well-
crafted laws from the legislative,
because it is impossible “that the
first framers of the government
should, by any foresight, be so much
masters of future events”
Locke writes, “the trust must necessarily
be forfeited” .
Because government is instituted for the
purpose of the common good, and its
authority derived from the people’s
reliance upon it to meet that end, it can no
longer be legitimate nor necessary if it
betrays the public trust “in not preserving
the form of government agreed on, and in
not intending the end of government
itself”
Thus the concept of trust in the
Lockean context signifies the most
potent evidence that sovereignty
resides in the people. The
legislative, though it may be the
supreme power while government
subsists, is ultimately “only a
fiduciary power”
By the exercise of trust, it is the
community who decide
whether or not the social
contract between people and
government remains valid. The
power to pull the plug, so to
speak, is always at their
disposal.
To conclude, “trust” in the Lockean
sense is the embodiment and
projection of popular sovereignty. It
symbolizes the political power and
legitimacy that a government which
is trusted by the people possesses.
In view of this, it is no wonder that
trust is so important to Locke’s
construction, because its power can
spell the difference between freedom
and enslavement.
Trust determines whether or not men
are willing to substitute society for
the natural state. It delineates the
boundaries and affects the
effectiveness of a government.
Most importantly, trust is the
measure by which men judge whether
a government deserves to remain in
existence.
THANK YOU…