John Locke : An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, And More Essay

When looking at the Declaration of Independence and the justifications which Jefferson used in order to encourage the dissolve of the ties between the United Colonies and Great Britain, it becomes apparent how much of the theories of John Locke that Jefferson used as the basis for his argument. Focusing particularly on the second paragraph of the Declaration, the arguments for the equality of each man and the formation and destruction of governments come almost directly from Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The other arguments in the Declaration of Independence deal primarily with each citizen's rights and the natural freedoms of all men, two areas that Locke also spent

With the exception of Native Americans, there is no race of people that originated in America. Yet today, we all come together under the colors of red, white and blue, sing the National Anthem and call ourselves "Americans". Despite our differences in religion, norms, values, national origins, our pasts, and our creeds, we all combine under one common denominator. Alain Locke addresses this issue of cultural pluralism in his article, "Who and What is `Negro'?" In this article, Locke states that, "There is, in brief, no `The Negro'. " By this, he means that blacks are not a uniform and unchanging body of people. He emphasizes that we, as Americans, need to mentally mature to a point where we do not view

John Locke was an incredibly encouraging figure in the development of the ideals and methods of political functioning in the United States of America. John Locke applied many of his studies to write one of his most famous and moving works. “The Second Treatises of Government” is the document which ultimately struck the United States in their creation of the Declaration of Independence. In Locke’s work he had focused on the idea that governments shouldn’t be dictated by anyone person, but ultimately should be a united entity in which everyone in the country has a say in what is happening. For example, John Locke believed that the government should be in charge of deciding who should be the leading figure of power and protecting their citizens’ “Life, Liberty, and Property”. He also believed that if the government failed to fulfill their duties of protecting their people and establishing a limit of power for the leading figure of the country, it was the responsibility of the citizens to “overthrow the government.” John Locke kept a similar mindset to that of Hobbes when it comes to the government and its power. Locke’s work and ideas would go on to be highly influential upon Thomas Jefferson during the process of writing the draft of the Declaration of Independence. In this document Jefferson kept very close ties to Locke’s ideas to create what he believed would be the ideal government.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, both had an impact on influencing the development of liberal ideology. Due to this, the term “rights” is now prevalent everywhere in politics. “Natural rights” is the principle in which, every individual is born with rights and these cannot be removed by force or law. It is the entitlement to act or to be treated in a specific way. The essential human law of nature is the preservation of mankind. In order to maintain stability in society, Locke exclaimed humans should have a right and duty to live peacefully without any threat.

Indeed, Locke’s approach on human knowledge as an external obtained asset is closely linked to his view on ethics. According to Locke, ethics is learned by example coming from the external environment. Certainly, such examples can derive from teachers or other influential individuals who have had the chance to experience life on a broader extent. Due to such transcending thinking, Locke was perceived as a “‘culturally engaged’ philosopher responding to the cultural crises of the Modern Europe, in which a fracture of tradition and warfare had created a need to define the nature and scope of knowledge” (Marshall 468). His contribution was important because it provided people at that time with an alternative system of ethics that took into account reason and was not solely based on what others held ethical and/or unethical. It is this notion of reason, the factor

The Critiques of John Locke John Locke (1632-1704) was an influential British philosopher and political theorist whose philosophies and theories continue to inspire. He wrote several groundbreaking critiques which challenged popular theories of his time and proved to be revolutionary. He is often viewed as the founder of British Empiricism and one of the foundational influences of modern, liberal governments. In what is widely considered his most revolutionary work, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke established the principles of modern Empiricism. He supposed “the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters” until it is written on by experience.

The Enlightenment theory philosophies of John Locke offered a future that could drastically change government, economic and social ideals. Thomas Jefferson borrowed liberally from the enlightenment theory from John Locke, specifically focusing on Locks theories of the equality of men, natural rights, and that people should have a say on how the government treated people. Jefferson created a draft document created a bold experiment, America. The enlightenment philosophy of John Locke theorized that that men were inherently equal, and Jefferson sought to prove this point. In the seventeenth century, Locke proposed a number of theories that would prove a force for change in how government treats their citizens. Locke’s theories of equality and natural rights of men propelled, enlightenment century revolutionaries to propose putting Locke’s enlightenment theories into practice. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Draft of the Declaration of Independence provided an active application of enlightenment theory. The Grand Experiment was about to begin.

What is real and how do you know it? A rationalist would say that if you can prove something as real within your own mind and it does not rely on the outside world, or more commonly known as the senses, it can be considered as true. However in John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, it is evident that Locke believes and supports the empiricism approach to answering the question what is real. One of the main objectives in the essay was to differentiate between what is real, and what isn’t, and more importantly what can we consider knowledge? The boiled down idea was that knowledge comes from involvement in reality. The only way to find out if something is real is to use a combination of our senses to reach a conclusion. Locke believes

The theory of innate knowledge states that some knowledge is part of the mind from birth and therefore we are not born with a “blank slate”. This means that innate knowledge can only ever be a priori and not a posteriori. A priori is knowledge that only be gained through reason and a posteriori is knowledge which can only be gained through sense experience. Innatism assumes that the knowledge we acquire is not only gained through experience and the senses.

What would the American government be like today if it was not for the mind and political theory of John Locke? Some historians and philosophers believe that without John Locke our government would only be a shadow of what it is today. Arguably, one of his most important political and philosophical works was his Two Treatises of Government. There he argues that the function of the state is to protect the natural rights of its citizens, primarily to protect the right to property. John Locke, in many eyes, can be viewed as one of the father’s of Democracy. He embraced many of ideas in his theories on the state of nature and the rise of political society today. In Locke’s political society,

In An Essay on Human Understanding John Locke summarizes his stance on the foundation of human knowledge with the phrase “tabula rasa,” meaning blank slate. In his dissertation he refers to the idea that individuals are born without any predestined ideas or memories, and that they develop into unique individuals solely through the influence of their environment. I have come to think of myself as a blank slate, that is slowly being filled in by the influence of my family.

To own your property, you must be able to work for it, each man may have their own, but they also can only have one. Since you are basically laboring you can not have more than one property because it would not be fair. For example, the man who takes care of the land is the owner of the land by the man farming the land he is basically practicing labor. If you are putting in work for your property there should not be a problem. After taking Locke’s private property consideration into account

In his book Some Thoughts Concerning Education, John Locke suggested ways that reading might be introduced to young children. In Section 150 of the book, Locke wrote, "Contrivances might be made to teach children to read, whilst they thought they were only playing." Explain what Locke meant by this, basing your thinking on examples from the reading. Then, discuss whether you agree disagree with Locke and why.

Another problem with Locke’s insistence that innate ideas do not exist, is that necessary truths, that is, contingent propositions (2+2=4), cannot be acquired through experience alone. If necessary truths exist, that would at least infer that innate ideas exist and are merely revealed through experience for necessary truths are a priori, which implies that innate knowledge exists as a disposition. Beyond this, there is the possibility that we can form an idea without a corresponding sensory impression. While not without its flaws, the argument that one can generate an idea without first being exposed to the relevant sensory experience is illustrated in Hume’s ‘missing shade of blue’ example. Locke claims that in order for an idea to be in the mind, we must be conscious of it, which indicates that there is not much leeway allowed for memory, that is, a power of the mind to revive perceptions it once had. The question then, is whether we can know things without being conscious of them. It seems as though it is possible, but it is important to note that regardless if we can or not, what is unconscious must have once been conscious. For this reason, a potential response Locke would give to Hume with reference to the ‘missing shade of blue,’ is that even if one is able to fill it in, they would still be using their senses in some way to access that knowledge and perhaps it would be “knowledge made out of a long train of proofs,” which highlights the mental fatigue factor in play.

John Locke linked human behavior with our nature. He argued in his works that men are governed and guided by the rules within our nature. “The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obliges every one, and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” (2nd Treatise.6) Even without any manmade laws that specifically guide us what and how to do a certain thing, we are programmed to follow basic rules mutually understood by every human on Earth. Locke brought up that these rules discourage, in fundamental, people from gaining power by depriving that of others. He noticed, by specifically employing the word mankind, that the ability to accept and live by this rudimentary rule is the ultimate characteristic that makes us who we are. It is the ability to respect other’s