Resumen

UDI, Juliana. Puritan Traces in John Locke’s Conception of Poverty. Andamios [online]. 2018, vol.15, n.36, pp.369-388. ISSN 2594-1917.  https://doi.org/10.29092/uacm.v15i36.614.

The aim of this paper is to show the influence of puritan ethics underlying John Locke´s approach to poverty –a series of attitudes towards labor, idleness, property and acquisitiveness, which Max Weber and other authors singled out as favoring the development of capitalism. As will be shown, Locke conceived poverty as a sign of individual moral corruption. He believed that poor people were responsible for their dire situations and that (re)educating them was a necessary condition to reduce poverty. Thus, his proposals to deal with this problem were intended, mainly, to cultivate the puritan virtues of industriousness, self-denial, and rational moderation of the acquisitive and consumption human propensities.

Palabras llave : Locke; puritan ethics; poverty; industriousness; self-denial.

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