John Locke And George Berkeley

In the 17 and 18 the philosophers hoped they could discover new ways to understand and improve society.The four philosophers were John Locke,Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft each one of them were writing about different areas of human society, including government,religion,economy, and the social role of women.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were the giants during the 19th century American Transcendentalism movement. Their influential work brought upon shared beliefs on concerning spiritual perspectives, government interference, and the ideology of cultural values in American society. Nature has a multitude of meaning if looked at it from all angles, but deeper within nature is the reflection of what you exert while in it. However they agree on the human condition, the two authors speak with different tones that reflect how nature affects the entirety of man’s spirit. While both Emerson and Thoreau practice the spirit of the human condition, Emerson focused his energy on how “[nature’s] philosophical import [is]…unchanged by man” (215.) where Thoreau implied that we are “subjects of an experiment” (1051).

The enlightenment era arose in the modern cultural ideology of the 18th century, as ideas among philosophers had a widespread effect among the society. The age of enlightenment, in western society, projected the rejection of traditional Christianity, western philosophy, intellectual advances, scientific, and cultural life, government legitimacy and authority. Upon the enlightenment period multiple philosophers emerged, the individuals arose to leading figures using reason to understand all aspects of human life. The motivations for the enlightenment came primarily from the Englishmen, John Locke. John Locke was a philosophical influence in both political theory and theoretical philosophy, which was embraced among the era of 1789-1914 and

The story “lord of the flies’’ by William Golding, the novel correlates to the philosophical views of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. John Locke was an English philosopher that surmised man's natural moral compass would point towards good, Locke's philosophical writings stated “ that individuals in a state of nature would have stronger moral limits on their actions. Essentially, Locke thought that our human nature was characterized by reason and tolerance. People, Locke believed, were basically good’’ ( Locke and Hobbes Overview 2). John Locke thought if people were given no rules they would make a paradise, flourishing in law, order, and structure, Thomas Hobbes believed people were naturally cruel and chaotic, with a need of a strong ruler to make decisions. Hobbes stated, “Who felt that mankind was inherently evil and required a strong central authority to ward off this inclination toward an immoral behavior, Locke believed that human nature allowed men to be selfish’’( Locke and Hobbes Overview 2 ). Thomas Hobbes believed a strong iron-fisted ruler was needed for the safety and well being of a society. The ideals of man in a natural state, follow Thomas Hobbes philosophical view represented through Jack's brutish and monarch like attitude which lead to them living in a dystopian society.

Locke and Hobbes started with a central notion that people with similar “state of nature” would on their own accord come together as a state. Locke believed that individual would not perpetually be at war with each other. He believed humans began with a state of natural characteristics of absolute freedom with no government in site. Hobbes work differs from that of Locke’s because he felt people needed a strong central authority to ward off the inherent evil and anarchic state of man. Locke believed that within the state of nature man would have stronger morals and thus limit their actions. Locke also, credited people with the ability to do the right thing within a group. And the natural rights and civil society where Hobbes differentiated with this by believing that people had to resolve their natural rights and the their were privileges granted by the sovereign. Locke believed the relationship between citizens and government took the form of a social contract, in which in exchange for order and protections provided by institutions the citizens agree to surrender some of the freedoms within the state of nature. This was also, agreed that power of the state was not absolute but exercised according to law. If broken by the state it forfeits and the contract becomes void. This allots for the citizens of the state to have a “voice” and power for change to replace the government with moral obligation by the governed. Hobbes believed absolute power was the price man should

18th century French philosophes debated and studied many topics. Some of the main ideas or topics studied by these well educated people were government, religion, economy, and gender roles. Famous philosophes such as John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft, discussed different ideals and roles the government should play in the lives of the common people. Each philosophe had a different main idea and opinion on society. While they all had different focuses, they all shared a similar belief, that individual freedom was a key element in a stable and peaceful society.

About a century ago, such scholar as Nietzsche disregarded the principles of modern “factualism”. Later on, Weber established the end of the era of generalists. One cannot but state extreme specialization and narrowly focused technical work to have changed certain visions into straight forward realities. Concerning this essay, it is mainly aimed at analyzing the sociological speculations of two outstanding thinkers John Winthrop and Ralph Waldo Emerson that, in view of widely-acknowledged scholars, reflect the state of public opinion even though they date back over two centuries; to be precise, the focus lies in comparing and contrasting the utopian visions of the two above mentioned thinkers, making emphasis on what utopia meant for these two authors and the way it was supposed to be achieved. Moreover, the paper is focused on interpreting and coming to terms with the pivotal social movements of Puritanism as well as transcendentalism. Speaking about the peculiarities of social theories, it is necessary to take a view of recognized changes in vast domains of social life and culture. The research will emphasize the main reconstructions of social and cultural theories due to historical events. The essay is also targeted on finding out whether it is logically to discount all the concepts, methods of the past, and acknowledge the new theoretical assumptions.

He as well said that humans are like objects when it comes to existence, God’s idea. Berkeley said, “This perceiving, active being is what I call mind, spirit, soul or myself” (Berkeley, 55). Since he believes that everything exists in the mind, Locke’s primary and secondary qualities are only a collection of idea. Berkeley says, “...Colours and tastes exist only in the mind...and to prove the same thing of extension, figure and motion” (Berkeley, 57). Berkeley argues that “... Various sensations, or ideas imprinted on the sense, however blended or combined together, cannot exist otherwise in a mind perceiving them” (Berkeley, 55). He explains that ideas can only resemble ideas, therefore, external objects does not exist since it cannot create perception. When we think about a certain object, to Berkeley, it is not that he thinks that it does not exist, rather he believes that it is merely a collection of

John Locke “proved to be the most influential philosophical and political thinker of the seventeenth century” (Kagen 213). He lived in a period of great political change; Locke’s upbringing came to influence his philosophies, and these ideas had much significance in regards to the Enlightenment.

Philosophers Thomas Hobbs and John Locke argue that having a government is the only way for a society to avoid the state of nature. However, Hobbs and Lock argue for completely different methods of government, monarchy and republic, which are both means to break out of the inherent state of nature. One such method, argued for by Hobbs, is an absolute monarchy where you subdue your liberty for security. Whether or not the absolute monarchy is tyrannical, Hobbs portrays the state of nature as “poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” For the most part the state of nature, as referred to by Hobbs, makes the population accept the tyranny of a monarchy because that is better than the state of nature. The colonies rejected Britain’s Monarchy for its lack of representation, which caused a revolution. Furthermore, after the American Revolution the articles of confederation was drafted to create order after independence was gained. The articles of confederation is extremely weak, and does not tie the newly birthed nation together cohesively. There are a plethora of problems with regards to the articles of confederation, but the most profound is the lack of power vested in the national government. Therefore, the constitution should be ratified since it maintains balance of national and state government, additionally, the constitution fosters the overall growth of the nation through its ability to collect taxes, maintain cooperation between states, and represents the population

Secondly, George Berkeley, a representational idealist, believes that knowledge comes from experience, but he perceives his thoughts in a different way then Locke. He doesn't believe that things from your senses can be reality. Berkeley believes that if our minds did not produce an idea, then God delivered and perceived his experiences to us, but he also says that empiricism and Christianity cannot be used together. We have a small role to play out and God makes sure that everything gets done. Berkeley was very mind dependent; he had faith that there is no world without a mind. With this in mind, he felt that all objects we encounter in experience are nothing more than mind-dependent collections of ideas. This is known as Esse est percipi, or "To be is to be perceived." He also believed that reality is nonphysical and everything that exists is either minds or the ideas they perceive.

Can you name poets that were clear examples of Bright Romanticism? A form of poetry that has an optimistic outlook. It stress an importance of nature. That has a valued a feeling over reason. A following of the heart rather than the mind. Also the setting apart from society. There are two who comes to mind; Thoreau and Emerson. Where Emerson and Thoreau were clear examples of Bright Romanticism exemplified by the inclusion of nature, a positive view of mankind, and a poetic style that broke traditional method.

Niccolo Machiavelli and John Locke are, in simple terms, two vastly different kinds of people. They were separated by nearly two centuries, and lived in two different countries. Despite their contradictions on sovereignty, both Locke and Machiavelli shared a primary concern- the betterment of society.

John Locke (1632-1704) and William Godwin (1756-1836) were both English philosophers. Locke and Godwin discuss their views on the origin, purpose as well as extent of authority of a government in their publications. Locke felt that government originated from a social contract and advocated governments which respected their citizens while Godwin saw any form of government as a form of evil thus he advocated self-government and believed that having no government was the ideal state but in the event of being under a government, minimal authority should be exercised. This essay discusses the difference in their views and I will pay attention to the extent of government authority.

According to Berkeley, the world does not exist on its own, perceptions solely do. However, the world does not exist independently of the mind. Berkeley 's argument relies on the existence of a God, who keeps things in place when a person is absent or not around. Hume believes that things including people are nothing but what he perceives as “bundles of perceptions”. He claims that people infer the objective world based on perceived unity and continuity in our observations. Meanwhile, Locke compares the mind to a blank piece of paper. He states, “white paper, void of all characters, without any