John Locke's Ideas

From Aristotle to John Locke to Thomas Jefferson, the ideas of great philosophers influenced the foundations of the United States. When Jefferson began writing the Declaration of Independence, he wanted to make this new country based on the basic fundamentals. He wanted to base the country on what was considered the natural laws. Jefferson had many philosophical minds to ponder when writing the document, such as Aristotle and most importantly John Locke.

In his Second Treatise on Government Locke focus’ on liberalism & capitalism, defending the claim that men are by nature free and equal against the idea that God had made all people subject to a king. He argued that people have ‘natural rights’, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, that hold the foundation for the major laws of a society. He says, “…we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit.” (2nd Treatise, Chapter 2, sec 4). John Locke used this claim, that all men were naturally free and equal, for understanding the idea of a government as a result of a social contract. This is where people in the state of nature transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better guarantee the steady and comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property.

On August 29 1632 John Locke was born in a town named Wrington and lived in a small Somerset village. His mother died when John was at a very young age. His father was a country lawyer and died a couple years after his mother. He went to Westminster in1646 and then Oxford in 1652. In 1666 John started practicing medicine on Lord Ashley. Ashley and Locke became known to become good friends. In 1668 Locke was elected to be in the Royal Society. The Royal Society was for improving natural knowledge. John did a lot of amazing things in his life time and he accomplished a lot and the one thing that influenced John the most was most likely to be that his parents died at a very young age and that usually has a great effect on children that can later lead into adult hood.

The political philosopher, John Locke is known best for his ideas that influenced Thomas Jefferson while writing the Declaration of Independence. Locke’s views on government were very respected by our founding fathers, even though they were very different from the government styles of his time.

Locke’s describes private property as a person’s labor mixed with nature's resources. Seen as an example in a farmer cultivating a plot of land for his own sustenance and the qualification of that farmland as private property through his labor. Given that nature is given to us by God for humans as an equal source of resources, it is then enforced to to distill only one’s need from nature as it is limited to personal equality across religious mandate. This is an important guideline that quantifies measurements to

In his writings, he proclaimed his opinion of mans natural right. He believed every man had the right to life, liberty, and property. That the government should put its efforts into protecting these God given rights, for the power the government holds is given to it by the people. Locke states, “But though men, when they enter into society give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of Nature into the hands of society. . . ” He is explaining the sacrifices people make by moving into an organized society. He states that by giving up these things, protection is placed upon the persons property, because governments make laws to protect each citizens rights. However, in some cases, when the general public believe fit, the people can remove their legislative power. They then can replace it with someone who respects the power given to them, and follows the peoples wishes instead of their own

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.

John Locke was born on August 29, 1632, into a middle class family during late Renaissance England. Locke started his studies at Christ Church in Oxford. He then went into medical studies and received a medical license, which he practiced under Anthony Cooper. They became friends, and when Cooper became Earl of Shaftesbury, Locke was able to hold minor government jobs and became involved in politics. Shaftesbury steered Locke towards the views of a government whose law was fair to all, and all were under the law.

John Locke was born in england in 1632. He made a major impact on the enlightenment by thinking about government and peoples rights. Lock wanted constitutional monarchy. Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which the monarch's power is limited by as basic set of laws.His ideas reflected a tradition of limitation on the english monarchy. Then at the year 1215 english nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Cart. Magna cart was basically that even monarchs had to obey english laws and respect certain individual rights. Later parliament became the main check on the monarch's power. During a war in the 1640s Locke's father fought on the side of the parliament. This influenced Locke about his father's beliefs. Then

A salon is an exclusive gathering of intellectuals, often lead by a financially independent woman, to converse about interesting ideas. A salon would be filled with deep and lively discussion, which had fostered key ideas from the Enlightenment. John Locke belongs at a salon as he was a very influential thinker during the Enlightenment, bringing up many new and revolutionary ideas, such as the idea of limited government, social contrast, and the limits on human understanding. The Enlightenment was an era filled with revolutionary thinkers bringing up new ideas in science, philosophy, society and politics.

When you are a kid you do not think about owning property you just think of it as a new house a new place to live. What if one day the government came in and they took all of the land you are living on away and you have to start over in a new house. That does not seem too fair to those people who worked really hard to get the perfect land. There are two main people who have disagreeing arguments on if citizens should have the right to property or not. “Locke saw ownership of property as fundamental to a good government and society and believed that all citizens had a right, if they had the means, to acquire and own property.

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

John Locke was born on 29 August 1632, in Wrington, Somerset, England, to Puritan folks. His father also called John Locke and his mother’s name was Agnes Keene. His father was a nation legal counselor and

Locke's Essay 1. In the Introduction, Locke outlines his method. Describe the three steps he will take in his essay. Step one of Locke’s method constitutes an inquiry into the origin of ideas that we obtain through observation and looks at how understanding can come about from these origins.

Throughout history, there have been many political philosophers whom influenced the government seen in history books and in modern-day society. Despite the varying ideas about government by each political theorist, aspects of each individual idea can be seen in several political documents such as the United States Declaration of Independence. One of these political theorists being Thomas Hobbes, who believed that people would benefit greatly from a Monarch. While John Locke, another renowned political theorist believed that, though the government could help the people, but did not need absolute control over every aspect of their lives. Though, both theorists had different ideology on the structure of the government the ideas would later go on to influence several political documents including the United States Declaration of Independence.