John Locke, in his social contract
theory, states that the most threatened thing in the state of nature is
property. In lecture we discussed that property does not equal possession. Something
is still your property even if you don’t possess it at a specific moment.
Though something is in your possession, it does not make it your property.
This week’s episode of the Big Bang
Theory centered on Howard Wolowitz getting a car, which gave him need for a parking
space at the University he works at. Of course, the parking space he got was
Sheldon Cooper’s spot. Though Sheldon didn’t have a car, he felt entitled to
the spot and said that it was his spot and though he didn't have a car to put
in it, the spot still belonged to him. If you haven’t seen the episode, this
post has spoilers, so just a heads up!
Because Howard wouldn’t give Sheldon
the spot back, Sheldon took Howard’s Iron Man helmet. Sheldon said that because
Howard wasn’t using the helmet, he could take it. In this situation, the
parking space is someone’s property and that is being threatened for both
Sheldon and Howard, but mostly for Sheldon as it was his first. This brings
about the idea of possession and property. Sheldon feels that though he does
not currently use the parking spot, he can still claim that it is his. Howard,
on the other hand, fights back saying that because Sheldon isn’t using the spot
he can’t really claim it. This is what causes Sheldon to step in and take
Howard’s treasured Iron Man helmet and use Howard’s logic to justify it.
To retaliate, Howard sits on
Sheldon’s spot on the couch while naked.
(0:00 – 0:54)
They keep making this point that
because the other isn’t using an object anyone can take it. This brings into
play Locke’s idea that the self-administration of laws is unstable because everyone
would act in a way they saw fit if their property was taken wrongfully. Each
individual has the ability, in Locke’s theory, to execute natural laws. The
state of nature is also governed by reason. The two use the same reason, but
for their own benefit. A state of war,
however, is aggression of one person upon another. Howard and Sheldon enter a
state of war when Howard doesn’t give Sheldon his parking space back and
Sheldon retaliates by taking Howard’s Iron Man helmet.
Locke says to get out of the state
of war the aggressive party must offer reparations for the damage that was
done. In this case, Howard apologizes to Sheldon and tries to be the bigger
man.
(0:20 – 1:52)
Since Howard, at least in Sheldon’s
eyes, made the first aggressive move, he was the one that needed to attempt to
establish peace, thus Howard gave up the parking space for Sheldon. This portrays
Locke’s idea of overcoming the state of war as it depicted the two solving the
problem amongst themselves and following the laws of nature.
This episode helped show that the
state of nature and state or war are separate entities and that we do encounter
such issues in media today. I’m sure we all have similar issues in our own
lives too, not just on television. It is interesting to see that it did play
out in a way that Locke describes in his social contract theory.
In my opinion though, Sheldon was
being quite unreasonable because really, what is a parking space for if not for
parking an actual car. Sheldon is a dramatic kind of person in that everything
must go his way and he feels that his logic is always correct, so I can see why
the episode played out the way it did. However, in a more real situation I do
wonder how this would have actually occurred, if two people could actually
solve this themselves or want others to help come up with a solution. Would it
play out in such a way that matched up with Locke’s social contract theory? Or
maybe another social contract theorist’s ideas?
Sources: -BBT image: http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/the-big-bang-theory/EP00931182
-1st video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Om-1mIrMw
-2nd video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZD6gWMmMRU
-Info about Locke's theories is from lecture and the assigned reading "Second Treatise" by John Locke
This is an excellent example of Locke's social contract theory and I really enjoyed your post. It's interesting that state of nature and state of war can still occur on some level even though today it seems as if everything has written rules. Actually, it seems as though today we can look at state of nature and state of war as almost childish concepts. We like to think of ourselves as being mature enough to work things out between ourselves and not to be overly selfish. However, it seems that if these two states are natural is being mature unnatural? And if it's unnatural, is that really a bad thing?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf this situation were to play out in real life it would obviously depend on the personalities of the two people involved. But assuming these people can be considered "average people" then I believe the situation would play out the same way. The only way I feel as if a state of war would not be entered is if the person who wanted to use the parking spot asked the parking spot's owner beforehand. There is something about being placed in a society and having distinct property rights that makes each of us angry when someone takes something that is ours. I do feel Sheldon was justified in getting upset with Howard because Howard did not ask first before using the spot. I do agree that not using the spot means that Sheldon should probably allow someone with a car to use it, but it is still his spot. As you are saying, your house is still your house even if you go to the store to get some milk. I doubt that Howard would find it acceptable if someone came to live in his apartment in the time that he was away from it and tried to justify doing so by saying that since Howard wasn't there he didn't really have rights to the apartment. Overall, when something is deemed as a particular person's "property" then any use or actions that have implications for this property have to be approved by its owner. Or else it is likely, as made evident by this episode, that a state of war will be entered.
ReplyDelete