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John Locke: Father Of Liberalism

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

(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

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From the 16th to 18th century, countries in Europe were experiencing new ideas and reforms. Philosophers like Locke believed in social equality. They have discussed the purpose of a government and spread their ideas. Locke’s ideas led to the revolution in France, who didn’t have rights under absolute monarch’s control. After the French gained their rights, people in Haiti started to fight because they wanted to have the same rights that French gained during the reform.

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Locke states that they must “give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature”. This is for the intention of better preserving himself. Locke favored representative government, where citizens are permitted to vote and elect members to represent the public in government. 3.

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• Thomas used Aristotle’s view of natural law to justify the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in political as well as religious matters. For the purpose of explaining the fundamental reasons of law he used Aristotle’s philosophy and added the use of an eternal ruler. John Locke • John Locke had a distinct influence on the writers of the American Constitution by advocating for human rights and liberty through democracy. In saying so, he believed that the mass majority of ordinary people can be capable of giving consent to their governor/ruler as opposed to the Monarch government. However if the ruler did not comply with the needs of the people, Locke believed that the public had the justified right to rebel.

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It’s been over 200 years since the original thirteen colonies of America fought their revolutionary war against Great Britain, in hopes of achieving their independence. We shall be going through a few areas of the Revolution, such as the military, social hierarchy, the role of men and women during the war, the colonists’ values of equality and their social contract response to the British government’s abuses, and we’ll compare these areas to the present day. The American Revolution started around April of 1775, when British redcoats and American militiamen exchanged gunshots in Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. However, that was only the beginning of the fighting; the reasons for the war date from years prior, when resistance from the

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Bishop Bossuet believed that the Prince of the nation was held accountable to no man, stating that no man has power near equal to his. This means he was judge, jury, and executioner for the people. There was no fair trial; it was simply, whether or not the king found you innocent. Then there is Locke’s viewpoint; Locke viewed everyman born equally, with the same rights and privileges as any man beside him. This is to say that Locke believed it was wrong for a nation to be ruled by one man based on his bloodline or privilege of class.

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Philosophical ideas impacted human history, particularly in government. Niccolo Machiavelli and John Locke ideation molded human history on how power should be divided equally amongst the people and the ruler. Their theories began the steps to construction of the U.S government. Machiavelli ideas migrated the power in monarchies away form the power of the church to the King/Queen. Particularly starting in Florence during the renaissance and political enlightenment.

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Locke believe all people are born free and equal with three natural rights life, liberty, and property. Locke’s theory had a deep influence on modern political thinking. The belief in progress gave people the confidence that human reason could solve social problems. The rise of individualism encourage people to use their own ability to reason in order to judge what was right or wrong.

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The Enlightenment was a time period in which people began to embrace individuality and many Enlightenment thinkers arose. The Enlightenment was a movement that was highly based upon reason and logic. It occurred around the mid-1700’s and helped develop a new way of life. John Locke was an influential thinker during this time. John Locke is a french philosopher and writer who developed Natural Rights.

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John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people.

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In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, Locke focuses on the definition and function of property in chapter four. Locke wants to argue that man can attain private property in several ways (Socrates 6 sect. 25). Locke believed that there are two arguments for the acquisition of private property in a state of nature. First the labor-mixing argument and the value-adding argument (Locke 7 sect. 27). His argument states that if one mixes one’s labor with unknown land or resources, one then owns the unowned land or resources (Locke 7 sect. 27).

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During the time when the world only saw monarchies, Hereditary Monarchy was a common notion. It was when the throne was passed down to members of the same royal family. It was believed that these members had royal blood and were born to be rulers. Locke’s theory went against this notion by proposing that if all humans are born with blank minds, they are all born equal. There is no one person that is “born to be a ruler”.

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Justice is one of the most important moral and political concepts. The word comes from the Latin word jus, meaning right or law. According to Kelsen (2000), Justice is primarily a possible, but not a necessary, quality of a social order regulating the mutual relations of men As a result of its importance, prominent and knowledgeable people have shared their views on justice and what it means and how the state is involved in its administration. The likes of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke among others have written extensively on the concept of justice.

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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.

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Thomas Hobbes proposed that the ideal government should be an absolute monarchy as a direct result of experiencing the English Civil War, in which there was internal conflict between the parliamentarians and the royalists. Hobbes made this claim under the assumption that an absolute monarchy would produce consistent policies, reduce conflicts and lower the risk of civil wars due to the singular nature of this ruling system. On another hand, John Locke counters this proposal with the view that absolute monarchies are not legitimate as they are inconsistent with the state of nature. These two diametrically opposed views stem from Hobbes’ and Locke’s different understandings of human nature, namely with regard to power relationships, punishment, and equality in the state of nature. Hobbes’ belief that human beings are selfish and appetitive is antithetical with Locke’s contention that human beings are intrinsically moral even in the state of nature, which results in Locke’s strong disagreement with Hobbes’ proposed absolute monarchy.

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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.

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