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2026 - Volume 10 - Number 1

A Critical Assessment of John Locke’s Theory of Private Property

Rafeal Oluwaseun Odelana * ORCID: 0009-0007-5018-2665
Obafemi Awolowo University, Faculty of Art, Department of Philosophy, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA

Olusola Ayomide Asaju * ORCID: 0009-0000-5887-5617
Obafemi Awolowo University, Faculty of Art, Department of Philosophy, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA

Open Journal for Studies in Philosophy, 2026, 10(1), 13-22 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsp.1001.02013s
Received: 30 October 2025 ▪ Revised: 31 March 2026 ▪ Accepted: 21 April 2026

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
This paper presents a critical assessment of John Locke’s theory of private property. It argues that Locke’s foundational provisos for property acquisition against spoilage, the sufficiency condition, and the labor limitation are rendered ineffective by the advent of a monetary economy and the acceptance of wage labor. The analysis further contends that Locke's framework leads to undemocratic principles by excluding non-property owners from political participation, overlooks the plight of the physically challenged, and fails to adequately protect the right to self-preservation for all. Through critiques of the boundary problem, utility maximization, and environmental consequences, the paper concludes that Locke’s justification for private property is fundamentally flawed and ultimately rejected.

KEY WORDS: property theory, private property, class structure, exploitation, land scarcity.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Rafeal Oluwaseun Odelana, Obafemi Awolowo University, Faculty of Art, Department of Philosophy, Ile-Ife, NIGERIA.

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