The historical development of the world from 1690 to 1830 wouldn’t be what it was if it weren’t for John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Locke’s Second Treatise not only sparked individualism, but also revolutions, and was a guide to the creations of declarations around the world. Two main revolutions and declarations that Locke’s ideas inspired were the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
The Enlightenment was an extraordinary milestone in the history of mankind. Brilliant minds came together and started to realize that the world around them was built on science. Instead of assuming divine intervention was behind the miracles of the universe, they realized that there were logical explanations. Along with the ideas of reason and knowledge, the Enlightenment also began creating thoughts of liberty and equality. These concepts quickly caught on and after a number of years, they were inspiring the independence-seeking Patriots in the eighteenth century.
John Locke was a very smart philosopher, and he stated many reasonable points that we still go by today. The points that were argued by Locke were the natural rights, such as life, liberty, and property. These were in the social contract that assured a free man’s peace. Life. The most important inalienable right.
In this paper, my goal is to outline the key objections raised against John Locke’s view of personal identity and the soul, explain Catherine Trotter Cockburn’s response to those objections in defense of Locke, and demonstrate the adequacy of Cockburn’s defense of Locke while considering and addressing possible objections to that point. The primary objection raised against Locke is that he has failed to prove that the soul is immortal when under Reid’s view an immortal soul is necessary. Among the threats, within Locke’s arguments, to the immortality of the soul are the lack of constant thought and the assertion by Locke himself that we are indeed unable to know whether or not the soul is truly immortal in that sense. Locke admits of himself, “ I confess to have one of those dull souls, that doth not perceive itself always to contemplate ideas; nor can conceive it any more necessary for the soul always to think, than for the body always to move,” (Locke Book II, Ch. I). A parallel is explicitly drawn between the nature of the soul and the body, with the body not having to be in constant motion to exist and the soul not having to be in constant thought to exist as well.
These ideas were expressed in his “Tabula Rasa Theory of Human Behavior”. In his writing, Locke says,”Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas—How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.”
This is another John Locke classic with all classical elements of a great adventure book. This is a thrilling story of a man’s journey, in an attempt to correct his birth flaws. Gideon Box is representing somewhat average guy, seemingly successful doctor and a surgeon, but with some serious hidden flaws. He is antisocial, with a wrong sense of what feelings are and with no regard to other human beings. Someone who wants to satisfy basic human needs – sex, he is attracted to shallow, attractive, self-centered women.
Introductory Paragraph (description of theory) John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) is a English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism”. Locke got a scholarship to Oxford University where he spent 30 years at Oxford, studying, tutoring, and writing. He wrote influential political science and philosophy. Locke 's famous theory had to do with the Social Contract theory. The Social Contract covers the origin of government and how much authority a state should have over an individual.
He believed that everyone is equal, there should be no limited government and that the job government is to protect people from themselves. His views centered the government around the needs of people and not itself. Equality showed that people are no longer subjects but apart of a society as citizens where the government depends on them to efficiently run. John Locke's also believed that everyone was equal, but brought on the notion that humans have the ability to reason and could be trusted. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Catholic King James II was overthrown, Locke supported the Protestant Parliament.
This question has been asked for hundreds of years, are humans born inherently good or bad? Some might argue that as people mature, society’s influences ultimately determine whether or not that person will end up being good or bad. These people suggest that humans are naturally born of good intent. Many studies show that this may be true. In another case it can be argued that some people are born with a natural instinct to do bad things.
One of the most debated topics throughout the world is nature versus nurture. When psychologists debate this topic, they are studying what influences a person’s personal development. Some say that a person’s nature influences personal development while others say a person’s nurture influences personal development. A lot of people spend time contemplating which one actually does the influencing but what some do not realize is that, perhaps, both nature and nurture help shape a person’s personal development. One topic that comes up quite often is whether or not a person is born a criminal.
John Locke disagrees with the Rationalist that the soul receives innate principles, and bring them into the world with them; Locke also that there are no ideas that all humans beings are aware, then how can all human beings have the same innate principles. Locke believes that the only argument that the Rationalist had was pertaining to “universal consent”, but even this argument according to Locke, does not provide evidence of the innate truth, because “there are no ideas that all human beings are aware… ”(Velasquez, Manuel Philosophy: A Text with Readings, 12e, 12th Edition (p.334)).
In this paper, I will look at and criticize John Locke’s account of Personal Identity as well as put forward arguments of my own of what I consider to be the unreliability of that which Locke terms as consciousness in relation to and as a composition of ‘Personal Identity’. Before we can arrive at a discussion of consciousness it is essential to follow Locke’s thought process and see how he arrived at a differentiation between substance, person, self (an alternate term for person used in the latter half of the chapter) and consciousness. It is essential to realize that for Locke personal identity consists in the identity of consciousness. We know this because he says as much in the following passage: “[T]he same consciousness being preserv’d…the
John Locke stated that the identity of persons was the identity of conscious. What Locke meant by this is even if our body changes our mind doesn’t such as our memory’s. So for example many people have horror accidents where they lose their arms, fingers or even legs but either way the memory stays the same therefore they are the same person. Locke focused a lot on memory, he thought that our memory’s made us who we are and if we were to switch brains with someone and our memory were now in their body of another person. That the person who held the memory is now the same person they were before they switched bodies.
Locke also asserted that humans are blank states at birth. According to him, “All ideas come from sensation or reflection. Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas” (Locke, 1690, p. 96). However, Baillargeon’s research described earlier in the paper showed that infants possess certain knowledge from birth, such as the principle of persistence. Also, Locke’s claim fell into contradiction later in his paper.
Thesis: Human development has been regarded as one of the most highly controversial topics in the world. This debate is labeled nature versus nurture. The controversy centers on the premise that our personality, behavior, intelligence, and feelings are either genetically inherited, or environmentally earned; that we are innate creatures born with our personalities, or that they are learned by experiences and time. We are born with our personalities, but our behaviors are learned through experience and shaped thru time. Barbara Latten: "I think that inherently we are who we are.
