Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Right to vote
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question tests basic political philosophy, specifically the theory of natural rights as explained by the English thinker John Locke. Many questions in political science and Indian polity refer to Locke because his ideas about natural rights strongly influenced modern democratic constitutions, including key ideas that later shaped fundamental rights. To answer correctly, a learner must recall which rights Locke explicitly classified as natural and understand how modern democratic rights such as the right to vote developed later as political rights rather than original natural rights.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
Locke argued that before the formation of governments, human beings already possess certain basic rights simply by being human. These are called natural rights. According to his famous formulation, individuals naturally possess the right to life, the right to liberty and the right to own property. Later, when people form a political society, the main purpose of government is to protect these natural rights. Other rights, such as the right to vote, are important democratic or political rights created by constitutional arrangements, but they are not part of Locke's original natural rights trio. Equality is an important idea in Locke's theory, because he argued that all human beings are naturally equal, but when exam questions ask specifically about natural rights, the standard list is life, liberty and property.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the standard list of natural rights given by John Locke: life, liberty and property.
Step 2: Compare the options with this standard list. Liberty matches one of the three natural rights.
Step 3: Property also matches the third element of Locke's standard list.
Step 4: Equality is an important background principle in Locke's thought, because he argued that people are naturally equal in status, but it is not usually listed as a separate natural right along with life, liberty and property.
Step 5: The right to vote is a political or democratic right that arises under a particular constitutional system. It is not one of the classical natural rights that exist before government is formed.
Step 6: Therefore, among the given options, the most clearly incorrect as a natural right in Locke's sense is the right to vote.
Verification / Alternative check:
A quick way to check is to remember that many textbooks summarise Locke with the phrase life, liberty and property when discussing natural rights. None of these words include the act of voting. The right to vote depends on citizenship, age limits and electoral laws that are framed by a state. That makes it a civil or political right rather than a natural right in Locke's original framework. Hence, choosing right to vote as the answer is consistent with widely accepted summaries of his theory.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Liberty is part of Locke's famous trio of natural rights, so it cannot be the right answer. Property is also explicitly mentioned by Locke as a natural right that government must protect. Equality, while not always listed as a separate natural right alongside liberty and property, is a core assumption in Locke's theory about the equal moral status of individuals and therefore more closely connected to natural rights than the specific institutional right to vote.
Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes confuse all important democratic rights with natural rights and assume that every modern civil or political right must be natural. Another mistake is to treat equality and the right to vote as the same type of right because both relate to fairness. In political theory, however, natural rights refer to basic claims people hold even before a state exists, whereas rights like voting come into existence only after a constitutional and legal system has been created. Mixing these categories can lead to confusion in many polity questions.
Final Answer:
The option that is not considered a natural right in John Locke's classic formulation is Right to vote.
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