Locke on Equality

Abstract

Scholars overlook that Locke has two distinct concepts of equality entrenched in his political theory. By recovering the centrality of natural law in Locke, these two concepts of equality can be easily identified. The first I call “natural equality,” which includes every human being regardless of rational capacity, each possessing rights to life, liberty, and property. The second is “law-abiding equality,” which includes the subset of people who adequately recognize the dictates of natural law. This distinction is significant because it helps overcome the conflict in liberalism between universal dignity and the necessarily exclusionary character of citizenship.