Abstract

John Locke believes that moral values are not innate in human beings. Quite the contrary, for him, whatever behaviour is consistent with the law is to be defined as morally good. Only specific laws, however, qualify as yardsticks for the evaluation of an act from an ethical perspective. Locke assumes that there are three such groups of laws: divine laws, civil laws and laws of opinion or reputation. This article sets out to scrutinize the motivation of human action against the background of Locke’s legal philosophy. It then analyses how Locke deduces ethical principles. As Locke sees the different groups of law as hierarchically ordered, it can be shown that natural law influences ethics substantially. Thus, natural law becomes the pivotal factor in Locke’s ethical conception.