John Locke Research Paper

The Key to Locke Born in 1632, John Locke is known as one of the most famous philosophers from the seventeenth century. Not only recognized as an esteemed philosopher, Locke was also a physician and political theorist. He was very important because he helped build the foundation on which the government stands today. In 1668, he was elected into the royal society where he studied medicine and later became a physician. Locke believed in “The Enlightenment,” which is the theory that reason is greater than faith and science is greater than religion. Locke believed that the government has two parts- the legislation, which creates laws, and execution, which enforces these laws- and that if the government tried to combine both parts, it may mess

In the essay, Locke began to analyze the human mind and how people acquire knowledge. Within this essay, Locke established the “Tabula Rasa” theory or “blank slate” theory, which means that every human is a “white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas” (Locke 1). Published in 1690, “this paper considers the well-known tension between Locke's definition of knowledge and his claim that we can know of the existence of things without the mind by sensation” (Allen 249). It can also be said that one of his goals was to “determine the limits of human understanding” (Uzgalis 1). Made up of four books, the essay was not just on a single topic, as it differed from different types of philosophy. According to book I, Neither Principles nor Ideas are Innate, “the origin of mental content and lay out Locke's empiricist account of concept acquisition” (Newman 1). Book II, Of Ideas, illustrates Locke’s opinions on the way humans get their ideas and think. Within the 33 chapters of book II, Locke states that “all ideas come from sensation or reflection” (Locke 87). He is a firm believer that humans are in control of their own thoughts. In book III, Of Words, Locke expresses his perspective on his theory that the words in our brain are not always capable of coming out on their own. Locke believed that “a man may have a great variety of thoughts that could bring profit and delight to others as

The text is divided into two books, or treatises. The first treatise, The False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and his Followers, are Detected and Overthrown, illustrate his perspective on slavery and his opinion of Sir Robert Filmer’s book, Patricia. Locke opens his introduction stating that "slavery is so vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation; that it is hardly to be conceived, that an Englishman, much less a gentleman, should plead for it” (Locke 1). Within the first few lines, he begins to criticize Sir Robert Filmer’s piece of work, Patricia, in which Filmer claimed that all men are born slaves. Locke claimed that Filmer influenced all men to believe that they are slaves. The second treatise, An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government, is concerned with political power, state of nature versus state of war, a man’s freedoms and right, and government. In the first chapter, he states that political power “may be distinguished from that of a father over his children, a master over his servant, a husband over his wife, and a lord over his slave” (Locke 2). He believed that although some powers are put in place just to divide the poor and the wealthy, other powers are put in place for good reason. Some professors don’t agree with Locke’s theory though and argue “that mind