Roderick is troubled by John Locke. He visits Mr. Parvelescu in his office.
"I'd like to agree with John Locke, because he's such an important political philosopher...but his arguments seem so, well, quaint."
Mr. Parvelescu peers at him over the top of his glasses. "Whether or not you agree with John Locke is irrelevant to anything. What matters is that you understand John Locke."
"Okay."
"Suppose you went to a museum and saw van Leeuwenhoek's microscope from around the same period in the late 1600s. Would you say 'Dude, that van Leeuwenhoek was retarded because he didn't use an electron microscope?'"
"No."
"You would likely think that van Leeuwenhoek was a pretty smart guy to take the materials and tools available to him, improve on them and discover something new, right?"
"Um, yes." Roderick is wondering who the heck this van Leeuwenhoek is and what he has to do with political philosophy, but he says nothing because Mr. Parvelescu can be kind of harsh on you if he thinks you're ignorant.
"So think of the texts in this course as cultural artifacts, like van Leewenhoek's microscope. John Locke was part of a debate about the respective role of King and Parliament. Separately, Hobbes and Filmer advocated for the King; Hobbes used 'state of nature' reasoning to support his argument, while Filmer used Biblical references. By using 'state of nature' reasoning against Filmer, Locke drove a wedge between philosophical naturalists and religious devotees, dividing the opposition."
"It sounds like a battle."
"Politics is war carried on by other means." Mr. Parvelescu pauses and takes satisfaction in the brilliance of this comment, which cleverly inverts Clausewitz' dictum that 'war is politics carried on by other means'.
"But...does it mean anything? Outside of this particular conflict in late Seventeenth-Century England?"
"Locke's idea of natural rights strongly influenced Enlightenment thinkers, the American Founders and continues to inspire those who oppose the assertion of absolute power, kingly or otherwise."
"What do you say to people like Justin, who say we should simply ignore Locke?"
"He's a Communist."
"OK, but what then? Shoot him?"
Mr. Parvelscu pauses to ponder this one. There is a certain merit to summary executions for avowed Communists, he figures, but in practice it gets a little messy. "You just have to decide which side you're on. If you favor liberty and personal freedom, read John Locke and take him seriously. If you voted for Obama, on the other hand, nothing matters other than the latest techniques for online political organizing, so forget about it."
On the way to the Dining Hall, Roderick bumps into Lily Chang, who wears a daringly low-cut red dress. "Going to lunch?" she inquires.
Roderick is most certainly going to lunch, and looks forward to dining with Lily. After that heavy conversation with Mr. Parevelescu, he needs some quality decolletage-gazing time.
