Locke’s “Moral Rectitude”; Rationality, the Will and Moral Emotion in the Composition of Lawful Social Virtue

초록

Significant scholarly work has examined John Locke’s understanding of virtues in his moral, social, and political thought. While much of this literature has focused on the role of habituation and discipline in crafting virtuous moral subjects and citizens, it is not clear that this approach can explain the key Lockean virtue of “moral rectitude,” which is Locke’s term for the virtue of upright lawfulness. This paper argues that “moral rectitude” involves a tripartite structure of moral reason, voluntariness, and appropriate emotions, which current studies are ill-equipped to explain. Considering Locke’s theory of will allows his understanding of moral rectitude to be reconstructed, and his efforts to incorporate this in his political thought to be brought to light. Here, a salutary goal of Lockean governments, including legislatures, judicatures, and codified law, is an “epistemic regime” for citizens to both inform and inspire their moral rectitude and the reasoning, will, and emotions constitutive of it.

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