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John Locke's Justification Of Political Authority

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Political authority refers to the power of the state or government to create laws that are expected to be abided by, and in turn be able to prosecute those who disobey them. These laws are moral obligations meant to ensure the good functioning of societies, and are presumably essential to minimise conflicts. In political philosophy, we are concerned with the legitimacy of political authority due to its apparent conflict with individual liberties and moral autonomy as brought up by Wolff. (quote Wolff- it is incompatible for a subject to comply with the commands of an authority merely because it is the command of the authority and for the subject to be acting morally autonomously) This essay seeks to explicate on Locke’s justification of political …show more content…

The freedom of thought involves our ability to make independent moral decisions. However, under the control of political authority, these rights are easily manipulated and can also be taken away at peril. The most basic of our rights is that of the right to life, but this can be easily taken away if one commits a crime serious enough in the face of the law. Under the veneer of political authority, laws seem to be somewhat arbitrary in their formation and execution, which brings into question the justification of such authority. The act of acting in accordance with moral obligations defined by the state for the very reason that they have been defined by the state is in conflict with our moral autonomy and protection of individual liberties, which was the supposed goal in the construction of political authority.An individual’s perception of morality and ability to make moral decisions are compromised by the fact that political authority has already perceived it for us, despite supposedly being equal and free persons. Hence, we rely on the justification of political authority for reason to be subordinate to its ideas of morality, but are faced with troubling

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The Primary objective of all leaders should be to control citizens. A society that allows authority to be challenged will never succeed. This source depicts an authoritarian or totalitarian view of what a governing body should look like. The author suggests that the primary objective of government should be the “control of the citizens”, and therefore that the individuals should entirely obey said government.

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The American Revolutionary War came about after decades of grievances on the part of the American colonies, grievances which were put in place by the British Parliamentary system. The lack of American representation in parliament paired with the multitudes of acts designed to take advantage of the colonies were cause enough for the colonies to revolt and to overthrow their government. There are few who would disagree with the American’s justification for the revolution, would Locke be one of them? No he would not, the American colonies were fully justified under Lockean reasons for revolution, considering how long they endured the grievances and the legislature that was passed against them.

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Judging from what I have read and seen off the videos shown to us for each philosopher, I believe that the biggest influence on the U.S constitution would have to be John Locke. He focused on the issues that to this day we are still concerned over which are; who should rule over us, how we should educate our children and what to do with those that have different religions from us. As mentioned, Locke had argued against Thomas Hobbes social contract so that people can have the right to over throw the ruler if the ruler acted like a tyrant. This became a big influence on the democratic revolution because to this day as we know it we still have a say in which ruler (president and government) we want to expel from giving us orders so long as we

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John Locke DBQ When reading the Declaration of Independence it is apparent that Thomas Jefferson drew inspiration from John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government. This inspiration is apparent from the way Jefferson drafted our nation’s founding document. John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government heavily influenced Thomas Jefferson’s rationale for the propriety of America’s separation from England.

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New England was fed up with the Church of England and the Puritans wanted to recreate their own religion which they thought was more what God had believed was the intended belief. They both decided that neither of them like the way England was set up and said that England was no good for their beliefs. They planned to leave England and go to the new world to set up a life where their children had the chance to be raised in a perfect society with no corruption. Concentrated on town life and industries, they made a living off of fishing, whaling and shipbuilding. Whale oil was key because it made their lamps.

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In order to determine whose idea of government is to be agreed upon, the proper way is to take into consideration why there exist two completely different ideologies of government where both forms of government believe are born generally with good nature. Like stated above, Locke believes people are fitted with understanding ( Locke two treatises ex. 77) and are under the “ law of nature’ where no one would want to hurt anyone ( Locke two treatises ex.6) and similarly, Godwin believes that men are born naturally “benevolent to their fellows’. However, both of them agreed that there will be an irrational and a greedy side of humans. The difference in their ideologies is their perspective on human nature against time. Locke is firm on the idea of having a government because he sees no change in human nature and there will forever be a need for political authority to govern the people.

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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.

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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.

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Introduction: While freedom as a concept feels fairly intuitive, nuances in interpretation can change the basis of an argument. John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America do not define liberty in precisely the same way, which in turn guides two different visions in how a government should function. When examining a core concept in an argument, it is important to inquire to whether its treatment is adequate. Is either definition of liberty sufficient, and does either author’s envisioned government adequately address liberty in that system? This paper will argue that Locke’s definition of liberty remains in the literal sphere while Tocqueville’s is more conceptual, but neither Locke’s nor Tocqueville’s

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As an individual sits in the salon with their cup of coffee, will each sip raise qualitative questions about their innate principles? By becoming indulgent towards well known statements, individuals extol them too highly causing these statements to become extraneous. If individuals divert their attention from the true meaning of these tenets, these morals should not be labeled as “innate.” Because these principles are known to be universal, individuals blindly accept them; however, what if everything they believed was untrue? Should an individual live by a set of fabrications?

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Locke's most important and influential political writings are contained in his Two Treatises on Government. The first treatise is concerned almost exclusively with refuting the argument that political authority was derived from religious authority. The second treatise contains Locke’s own constructive view of the aims and justification for civil government. According to Locke, the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one's life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others. This does not mean, however, that it is a state of license: one is not free to do anything at all one pleases, or even anything that one judges to be in one’s interest.

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Introduction 1.0 Background Study “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton Power plays an important role in the foundation of civilization and this has been the law of nature since ages. The most royalist way to show intelligent use of power is none other than POLITICS. However, it is known that power corrupts and absolute power will definitely corrupts absolutely. Politics is popularly known and seen as the power to legislate.

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Two Concepts of Liberty Summary of the essay: In this essay, the famous political theorist Isaiah Berlin tries to differentiate between the notions of positive liberty and negative liberty. Berlin briefly discusses the meaning of the word ‘freedom’. He says that a person is said to free when no man or body of men interferes with his activity. He makes reference to many philosophers in the essay, but there is more emphasis on the thoughts of J. S. Mill and Rousseau, the former being a firm advocate of negative liberty while the latter believes strongly in the ideals of positive liberty.

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This state of nature was the conditions in which we lived before there were any political governments to rule over us and it described what societies would be like if we had no government at all. In this essay I will compare the opinions given by each philosopher regarding their understanding of the state and the law. I will also discuss how their theories have influenced our understanding of the law today. Thomas Hobbes – Regarding the State and Law Firstly I would like to begin my discussion with Thomas Hobbes.

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Human right can be defined as those inalienable privileges that are inherent to all human beings irrespective of their race, color, religion, language or any other status. A definition of human rights was given by the Scottish philosopher John Locke as “absolute moral claims or entitlement to life, liberty and property.” The Virginia declaration of rights of 1776 stated that, “ all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights of which when they enter a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest posterity.” In the case of Ogba v. The state, the supreme court extra-judicially declared that “a fundamental human right is one that cannot be waived by the government or any form of legislation.”

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