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Locke believed that in order to understand the nature of power we must examine the origins of it. He felt that "Nature is a state of perfect equality amongst all men. In this state, no one man has more power or jurisdiction than any other man." His stipulation for this equality, however, was that a person who was out to harm himself or others should not be given equal rights under the law.
The response of the skeptics is to claim that daily reality contradicts Plato, and that contrary to number one, tyrants, motivated by unjust principles, may be found to be happy. Moroever, they argue that contrary to number 2, saints and renunciates are known to suffer, rather than to be happy. This is where Plato's theory of the Soul is established. He argues to the contrary that the three basic energies of the soul must be ordered in order for a person to be happy. The Emotions (reactions like anger or fear) and the Appetites (needs for food, sex, money, etc), must be ruled by Reason (thinking, persuasion, arguement) in order for a person to be truly happy. When the lower passions are ruled by Reason, a person is also therby just.
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