The capacity contract: Locke, disability, and the political exclusion of “Idiots”

Abstract

Underlying Locke's social compact is a capacity contract that hinges political membership on rational capacity. Unlike the sexual and racial contracts that enforce domination, Locke's capacity contract promises both exclusion and democratic solidarity. This twofold interpretation follows from Locke's treatment of disability and, in particular, his construction of idiocy as both fundamentally human and analogous to nonhuman animals. As a domination contract, the capacity contract marks some bodies as more vulnerable than others and strips them of political membership to safeguard political legitimacy. The democratic capacity contract, however, sees vulnerability as an essential marker of human life that prompts men to form the social compact to counteract everyday injustices.

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