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John Locke's Principles Of Morality

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John Locke: He is the father of British empiricism. He defines morality as based on the command of God. According to Locke, the basic principles of morality are decreed by God and are self-evident. From these self-evident principles, detailed rules of conduct can be deduced with certainty as in mathematics. In other words, Locke maintains that good actions tend to cause pleasure while bad action tends to cause pain. For Locke, morality is the law of God, and God supports his laws with sanctions. God also will punish those who violate the moral law and reward those who keep them. Immanuel Kant: Immanuel Kant argued that moral requirements are based on a standard of rationality he dubbed the “Categorical Imperative.” Immorality thus involves …show more content…

In other words, reason is not concerned with morality but with speculative truth such as those of mathematics and physics. Morality for him is based on sentiments, natural feeling, natural tendencies and passion. These are what move man to action and they determine the choice of action. Moral approval and disapproval are based not just on rationality but also on sentiments, feelings and emotions. We approve actions to be good because of its natural inclinations and also because it pleases us, and we disapprove actions to be evil because there are no natural inclinations and also because they displease us. Thus, morality is a matter of natural feeling, natural tendencies or inclination and not a question of …show more content…

Sequel to the time of Nietzsche, morality has been seen from the light that it is the commandment transmitted to us by a supreme lawgiver whom we must obey. Thus, the idea of the supreme lawgiver must be seriously defended for if it disappears, our morality must go with it and what a disaster that would be. Nietzsche however deviates from the popular consensus as far as morality is concerned. In tracing the origin of morality he wanted to point out that the force of morality is not the function of its divine or semi-divine origin and that crediting a god with our moral code is but a myth. For him, moralities evolved over time as natural phenomena in answer to a need to hold society together, to ensure their perpetuation and to help contain the drives and impulses which could without some check or sublimation, threaten or destroy the fabric of human relations. Furthermore, Richard Schacht said

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As teens rebel against their mothers, so to did America rebel against the British during the 18th Century. However, also like children they followed their mother’s footsteps. Oliver Cromwell led a revolt against the Staurt monarchy and similarly colonists revolted against the British. During this time, an English philosopher named John Locke wrote works on political philosophies, mainly against the Stuarts. John Locke would have believed that the American colonists justified their resentments against the British especially, since the British stole their fundamental rights of liberty, property, and life.

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John Locke views civil society—a group that is under the authority of an exclusive leader who is in charge of protecting their welfare through legislation—as a crucial repellant to absolute monarchy as well as vital to protecting an individual’s property, because its origin which is the paternal model where an individual gives up certain rights in return for protection from an executive. In his Second Treatise on Government, Locke pushes the idea that God did not intend for a man to be alone, but to have the option of joining a society amongst other men. Continuing with this notion, he explains the origins of the civil society through the paternal model which he considers as the beginning of society of people coming together under one man.

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Additionally, his view of equality makes a better case based on the fact that it was not inadequate to the political realm. Locke also emphasized on religious toleration except atheism. Moreover, he also supported the general toleration of religious beliefs and at the same time remained pessimistic with the ex-communication of non-believers. Locke's political and religious understanding of life played an essential role in influencing his understanding of equality (Broers 1). In this case, these things put in the picture his moral code and also give details of the seemingly opposing ideas of his thinking.

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Darwin's philosophy goes as far as to explain the origin of morality. Today, natural selection and the theory of evolution is widely accepted. It is understood that all species, included our own, has benefited from the fine tuning of our traits by means of natural selection. Since humans are descended from animals, who seem to have little to no moral scale, morals were not created before natural selection. Rather, what eventually separated us from our animal ancestors was our development of intellect and morality.

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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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