The average man, though he longs for freedom, feels the need to be safe. People naturally wish to have the freedom to act on things, believe in things or say things, but, they want themselves and their families to be safe while doing so. Alongside the need for safety, man has a need for privacy. People tend to react negatively to others digging into their personal lives, creating a want for their own privacy in life. This subconscious need for safety and privacy has always trumped man’s desire for absolute freedom. Humans have a natural desire to do as they please and get upset when others try to come in and control what they’re allowed to do. It’s been proven all throughout history that people dislike being overly controlled by their governments and the main reaction from a strict government is typically rebellion. However, these people also want the government to protect them from harm. In his “Second Treatise of Civil Government”, John Locke states that “... the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very …show more content…
Locke also wrote, “But though men, when they enter into society, give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature, into the hands of the society, to be so far disposed of by the legislative, as the
Locke’mentions that power lays on us. Locke mentions, “MEN being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent” (Sec 95). According to the states of nature, men are free and independent, and all have the same rights. Moreover, he declares, natural reason has its own language, and it does not need the Bible to tell us.
The philosophe, John Locke, believed that individual freedom would create a much better government. Locke argued that are free in a state of nature and that they have the right to preserve that freedom. The easiest way to do that is to create a legislative branch that makes the laws. To also make an executive branch that carries out those laws (Doc A). If the government is failing them, they have the right to prevent that failure.
In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke introduces many innovative ideas, such as the government’s role in protecting its citizens’ natural rights, consent of the governed, and the right of the people to overthrow a government that did not properly protect their rights, all of which played an important role in the development of the French and American Revolutions. In the Second Treatise, one of the main ideas articulated by Locke is that a government is formed in order to protect the people’s natural rights, or as Locke states , “for the mutual preservation” of the people’s “lives, liberties, and estates, which [Locke] call[s] by the general name ‘property’ ” (Locke, p. 37). Locke considers these three rights to be the most valuable
John Locke asserted that government must come from the consent of the governed. The Declaration of Independence professed the right of all people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution cemented the paramount prominence of general welfare for all United States citizens. Since our beginning, we the people have been a characteristically empathetic majority. But we have not always been a beacon of equality: the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the Stonewall Riots, and even current conflicts between the police force and black Americans exemplify the occasional rift between the government and the governed.
Not only does this statement defend the people’s rights to property, but it also defends the people’s right to oppose the government when the government no longer protects these rights. In his Letter Concerning Toleration, Locke states that “nobody ought to be compelled in matters of religion either by law or force,” (A Letter Concerning Toleration), corresponding with the First Amendment, which calls for freedom of religion and separation of church and state. There, it says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
(Docs. 5, 2, 8) A similar and common idea is one of John Locke’s. He believed that rights and power should be handed to the individual, and not the government, (Doc. 1) This idea was extremely idea and, at times, hard to grasp. Some modern thinkers believed that rights should still be held onto by the government, but only leniently. (Doc. 11)
He continues to discuss how people relinquish their rights to a central point of authority to retain other rights. In the second chapter, he discusses how it is the obligation of the people to punish anyone who chooses to harm the rights of others. Locke continues to discuss how when a government decides to overstep its limits, the people have a responsibility to overthrow such a government. This is another aspect of Locke’s ideas that are incorporated into the Declaration of Independence- “ That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
The Declaration of Independence states, “--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”. In the article Why Government, it states, “But Locke also believed that governments should protect people’s natural rights.” Both of these quotes show that the purpose for creating government, is so that the protection of the natural rights of the people is ensured. Also, the idea that these fair powers are just what Men (human beings) are receiving and what they should receive from the creation of governments. Both of these quotes combine with each other, because of the pinpointed idea of how the government was created in order to benefit to the natural rights of the people, and to protect these
Annotated Bibliography Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. T.Tegg and Son, 1836. Locke, one of the most prominent philosophers of his time and till this day, his works have influenced political philosophy, and modern liberalism. His philosophy on human nature will help influence my research since he denies the claims that human are born with innate principles.
Written in 1690, Two Treatises of Government by John Locke discusses some of the most important values a society should have. Locke believes that all people enter this world with three natural rights: life, liberty, and property. If a leader attempts to take away these natural rights, the people are entitled to the ability to revolt against their ruler. Since each and every person is guaranteed these three rights, it ensures that all the members of the given society will be treated equally from the very start of their time in this world. Moreover, the idea that all people are equal, all people live in freedom, and a leader does not have absolute power, is stressed throughout Locke’s document.
John Locke (1632-1704), was an English philosopher. He was born in Wrington, Somerset on April 29, 1632. He was a very influential person and perhaps one of the most influential people of the 17th century. John Locke’s father was a very good man, he was a lawyer, and a small landowner that had been and fought in the Parliamentarian side during the English Civil War. He sent his son to the elite Westminster School.
The Lockes began their journey with the thought of having children despite not being able to conceive naturally. They decided to turn to vitro fertilization. Thanks to the new science of being able to freeze embryos they were able to have a daughter and two twin boys. That 's all they needed to be able to start the family that they wanted. Despite this they had to keep paying 600 dollars a year to keep embryos they no longer needed.
Locke (1632-1704) In order to gain the proper perspective and fullest understanding of philosophy of property will now examine the works of John Locke. Locke’s life The Philosopher John Locke was born on the 29th of August of 1642 in Somerset England, the son of a Parliamentary Army Captain; and was able to be educated at the churches college at Oxford, focusing on both philosophy and medicine. He was initially a traditionalist and taken in by the philosophies set down by Hobbes; only to later develop his own arguments and theories to explain the proper workings of mankind and the world.
Everyone on Earth has a bad side. However, this does not mean everyone on Earth is a bad person. Inherently, I believe people choose to be good as opposed to being bad and doing wrong. I side with Locke in believing that by nature man chooses to do right. Not in my life have I known someone who wakes up with intentions of making everyone around them miserable (although there are exceptions).
Only those who are born with true philosophical understanding can rule. In the Second Treatise by John Locke, Locke addresses the state of nature, which is essentially equality and freedom. Even though people have liberty, they still need to obey natural laws. On the contrary of Plato’s just city, Locke believes that absolute authority is not a civil government. A civil society is where the majority rules.