John Locke : Philosophies And Contributions Essay

English philosopher and political theorist, John Locke experienced the English Civil Wars first-hand which would later prompt him to question the purpose and structure of government. The wars were the result of conflict between a king who claimed absolute authority by divine right and a Parliament that believed itself to have authority independent of the crown. The English Civil Wars provided the context in which Locke would develop the arguments for his most famous work, the Second Treatise of Government. In the work, Locke begins by claiming that without the existence of government humans exist in a state of nature. Since there is no governing body in the state of nature individuals are free to

John Locke was perhaps one of the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke discusses the move from a state of nature and perfect freedom to a then governed society in which authority is given to a legislative and executive power. His major ideas included liberalism and capitalism, state of nature, state of war and the desire to protect one’s property.

The Founding Fathers of the United States relied heavily on many of the principles taught by John Locke. Many of the principles of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government may easily be discovered in the Declaration of Independence with some minor differences in wording and order. Many of the ideas of the proper role of government, as found in the Constitution of the United States, may be discovered in the study of Locke. In order to understand the foundation of the United States, it is vital that one studies Locke. A few ideas from Hume may be found but the real influence was from Locke. Rousseau, on the other hand, had none.

The Second Treatise of Government provides Locke's theorizes the individual rights and involvement with the government; he categorizes them in two areas -- natural rights theory and social contract. 1.Natural state; rights which human beings are to have before government comes into being. 2.Social contact; when conditions in natural state are unsatisfactory, and there's need to develop society into functioning of central government.

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

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

John Locke presents ideas within “Toleration and Government” which form a liberal ideology. The aim of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses within John Locke’s ideology. Paragraph I will discuss the main concepts in the text. Paragraph II will identify the ideology’s explanation of political phenomena, it’s criteria and standards of explanation, and it’s cultural and social orientation. Paragraph III exemplifies elements which I found strong within Locke's work.

   In the tomes of history, many philosophers have outlined their visions of a perfect society.  Until recently however, few have ventured into the waters of religious tolerance.  One such philosopher was John Locke.  Writing in the late 17th century, Locke advocated a complete separation between church and state.  He argued for an unprecedented tolerance of people of all faiths.   Although Locke's views became widely popular throughout Europe and the Americas, they did not meet with unanimous approval.  Many earlier philosophers disagreed with Locke.  Two such philosophers were Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas.  Aquinas disagreed in three key respects:  Compulsion, toleration, and authority.  Aristotle, on

John Locke published in 1690 a twenty yearlong masterpiece, which ultimately becomes the masterwork of this great philosopher, titled as An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. This philosophical treatise took twenty years to complete when he began his work on The Easy in 1670. Locke composed The Essay in order to formulate what it is and is not likely attainable for us to fathom and perceive. John Locke’s aim was not to establish utmost certainty but to fathom the amount of substance we can distribute to distinctive categories of knowledge. What is knowledge according to John Locke? Locke went about answering this question by splitting up his philosophical essay into four books, where the first three provided the infrastructure for the arguments set out in Book IV. Do we enter this world with a mind that is a blank slate or is a person born into this world equipped with knowledge? Paramount to Locke’s discourse during the whole of the Essay is the notion that when an individual born into this world their mind is a blank slate. Locke argued that all of our knowledge is from information one collects from the five senses – we enter this world knowing nothing – experience is our master teacher and imparts knowledge. This is the underlying score of empiricism that is so often contributed to Locke, a philosophical theory in contrast to innatism – the theory that knowledge is inborn – and to rationalism where the attain knowledge of reality through the power of reason apart

Locke and Rousseau present themselves as two very distinct thinkers. They both use similar terms, but conceptualize them differently to fulfill very different purposes. As such, one ought not be surprised that the two theorists do not understand liberty in the same way. Locke discusses liberty on an individual scale, with personal freedom being guaranteed by laws and institutions created in civil society. By comparison, Rousseau’s conception portrays liberty as an affair of the entire political community, and is best captured by the notion of self-rule. The distinctions, but also the similarities between Locke and Rousseau’s conceptions can be clarified by examining the role of liberty in each theorist’s proposed state of nature and

Education has been ever developing since the inception of the first schools. The early theorists believed that children were mini adults. Children were treated the same as their adult counterparts. They were given jobs at early ages, and dressed the same as their parents. This belief, that children were just little adults, was called Preformationism. Though this may seem like an antiquated idea, aspects of Preformationism are still scene in today’s society. “We often lapse into the same thinking today, as when we expect young children to sit still for hour, or when we assume that their thinking is the same as ours” (Crain 5). Clearly there was the need for new theories, which would better explain child development and education. This is where Locke and Rousseau come in.

The United States of America is known for being a complete cultural melting pot. With these cultures comes the application of a wide-range of philosophies. Political Philosophers such as John Locke and James Harrington along with the seekers of religious freedom the Pilgrims set a standard for government’s role in American’s lives. This standard is then transformed into what James Madison referred to as “factions” or as contemporary Americans would refer to as Political parties. All of these variables thus factor into how American’s view law and order represented in Supreme Court cases such as Marbury vs. Madison along with McCulloch vs. Maryland. United States political institutional development is constantly evolving before, during and after the ratification of the United States Constitution due to an influx of different cultures ideals and opinions.

In the history of humans, great minds are always influenced by other greater minds. One of the greatest thinkers of all time was Aristotle. His ideas and contributions influenced many modern philosophers such as Kant, Marx and Rousseau. An influence of this sort can be seen in the present days and ideas of many of these philosophers have completely changed the history. In the same way, one of the most influential philosopher and thinker of the Enlightenment era is John Locke. His contributions proved great importance to the development of epistemology and political philosophy during those times, and is regarded as the most influential thinker to contribute to the liberal theory of government. John Locke wrote many critical documents relating to the separation of powers and how people should be governed. In essence, it can be argued that the actual founder of the Declaration of Independence is actually John Locke due to his ideas of rejecting the divine rights of the King and including these ideas in Two Treatises of Government which was adapted into The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson.

Ideologies are often born out of a minority view conceived upon a critique on the functioning of the current state of society and epoch. These ideologies each contain specific and unique ideas and beliefs that are never universally accepted, for if they were no other form of ideology would ever manifest. Liberalism is perhaps one of the most commonly accepted political ideologies that frequents present society; this ideology revolves around individual freedoms and equality under our current capitalistic economic relations. John Locke is often noted as the father of classical liberalism – of which other forms of liberalism came from – due to his influential works in favour of ideas that reflect what is now known as liberalism. Alongside

Based on the article there has some comparison between John Locke and Rousseau thinking of the early childhood education on reason and freedom toward political societies. John Locke, he believes every human born without innate ideas. He believes that children have “tabula rasa” they are lives with their blanks minds. Children need us as adult to guide them and provide them their knowledge from the environment through learning and practice from time to time; they need to be mold and shapes by us through our observation. This doesn’t mean that they do not require individual personalities or certain things that they either prefer or not. Locke believes that different child has different personalities, temperament, attitudes and with different