John Locke: Father Of Liberalism

John Locke was born on the 29th of August in 1632, Somerset, England and lived a full life working as a physician whilst also practicing philosophy until his death on the 28th of October in 1704. He carries the title of “Father of Liberalism”, and is one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers. During his life, England was going through a period of heavy turmoil and Locke was able to see many shifts in power finally resulting in the 1688 “Glorious Revolution” which he personally helped to start through use of his published works. He was a stout believer in the ideals of individual liberties and individual properties, every man is born with equal rights and the government should be formed for the people by the people. The establishment

This made it so that any dissenting citizens of this country were actually sinning against God’s decision. This system is not entirely bad as it provides equilibrium for a society that shares the same religion to exist with most people abiding by the same sort of rules, supporting harmony. However, Locke had said that,“Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent no one can be put of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.” (269) This idea seeks to distance Locke’s ideal society against this monarchy by saying that not just most but all people deserve the right to be in power. If someone does interpret the Bible differently and sees that this idea of divine right is a fallacy, then according to Locke, they are being governed without consent and unjustly. Locke believed that the “majority rule” should make the decisions in any free society as this would allow for continuing peace through the majority’s desires being sated. This would inherently leave out the minority of people that disagreed with the majority or those that might not be as prosperous as the

(304)” The purpose of government according to Locke is to provide a structure with which to protect each individual’s rights and private property. Through this system of owning property through labor, it sets off a chain reaction of events leading to a society that perpetuates class systems based on monetary gain and accumulation of wealth. Locke defended against this argument by saying that according to God, man must not horde more than he can use but this argument is hard to use in today’s society. The monarchy of Locke’s time provided an infrastructure that still maintained equilibrium for its citizen’s through strict regimen of Biblical based laws and morals. Both Locke and the Monarchy that he argued against do not completely provide an equal opportunity for all people but more people can live happier in a society established through Locke’s