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JOHN LOCKE: BETWEEN CHARITY AND WELFARE RIGHTS
Author(s) -
Rea Bruno
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of social philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.353
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1467-9833
pISSN - 0047-2786
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9833.1987.tb00140.x
Subject(s) - individualism , appeal , possessive , ethical egoism , interpretation (philosophy) , capitalism , communitarianism , philosophy , sociology , law , law and economics , political science , liberalism , politics , linguistics
In the past quarter century C. B. MacPherson's reading of Locke has enjoyed a wide appeal. We are all by now familiar with Locke as the ardent proponent of possessive individualism, with its accompanying acquisitive tendencies and egoism. To be sure, MacPherson's interpretation has not gone unopposed. Of late it has been challenged in all its fundamentals by the scholarly and ingenious work of James Tully. Far from seeing Locke as providing the theoretical underpinnings for unbridled capitalism, Tully puts forward the view that Locke was sympathetic to the possibility of radical redistributive measures. That is, that he was not in principle opposed to rights to welfare.