Locke's Views

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.

mine. He believes that war should not be used unless it’s the last possible option we

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.

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,

Good night ladies and gentleman, I’ve been given the honor to present the Enlightenment Award to a man well known by his valuable contributions: John Locke. As all of you know he cannot be present today but I’m sure he would be proud to see how we have kept his ideologies alive, how his political philosophies influenced the 18th century society and how his ideas affect the modern American Culture. I’m incredibly thankful because I get to talk about this man and his accomplishments like his most noted works “Two Treatises of Government”, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”, and “A Letter Concerning Toleration”. Locke founded the empiricist theory of knowledge, inspired other philosophers and laid the groundwork for the American and French Revolution.

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 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, born August 29th, 1632 in England became one of the most influential people during the 17th century. Locke was born in a tiny cottage by a church in Waringhton, Somerset, near Bristol to John Locke and Agnes Keene. Both he and his father shared the same name, John Locke. Senior Locke was a country lawyer and a clerk to the Justices of the Peace who fought on the Parliamentarian forces as a captain of cavalry during the English Civil War of 1640s. Using his connections through the war, he placed his son in the prestigious Westminster School in London. After Locke Jr. finished his studies at Westminster School in 1652, he received admission into the Christ Church College in Oxford, where he focused on the basic curriculum of logic,

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Undeniably, Locke had some of the most important and innovative ideas during the Enlightenment Era, but was he right? Were his philosophies correct? That remains for every single one of us to determine on our own. There is no such thing as a right or wrong philosophy as it all depends on the beliefs a person has, which are created based on the environment they grew up on, and the influences others had on them. As Locke believed, we are born with no innate ideas and that knowledge and convictions are earned through experiences in life. Locke’s document focuses on important topics such as the power of people over their state, branches of government and most importantly in this case; property. Locke’s stance on property originally consist of the simple principle that if you put labor in it, it’s yours. Everyone had the right to own property and if they worked for it, they were entitled to be the owners. What is very interesting on Locke’s document, is that he tends to always refer to God and to the way God made things to be, which for an atheist doesn’t necessarily make a strong argument. However Locke’s argument on that if I pick an apple, it means I have applied my labor and therefore is mine, doesn’t leave much to disagree with, but of course things are not to remain that simple.

James Madison and John Locke each created similar but somewhat different ideas about human nature. Whereas John Locke put more hope in human nature, Madison looked down on it with more critical analysis. Locke’s argument may provide few important points in general, but it is Madison who ultimately explained why people work in the specific way we see today and produce the government we enjoy. In fact, some of Locke’s arguments can be tied to Madison’s philosophy and be seen as useful explanations for Madison’s viewpoint toward self-centered human nature.

Secondary qualities are powers of a primary quality to produce various sensations in us. Examples of secondary qualities that are represented in our mind from primary qualities include colors, sound, taste, and smell. In other words, secondary qualities are understood by our mind in combination with the senses, but they originate from the primary qualities of the primary substance. 5. If green is a secondary quality which belongs to the mind and not to objects, then how does Locke explain why I see green when I look at grass?

Political institutions become more specialized and complex as they become more modern. Roskin, Cord, Madeiros & Jones (2012) argued that this process can be seen as our societies became more developed. From primitive extended families, where a single leader decided most things, through tribal councils and city-state assemblies that combined legislative, executive, and judicial functions, to the prevailing feudal system in the Middle Ages, with a balance among a monarch, nobles, and leading churchmen, the first true balance of power (p.233).

When considering knowledge, Locke is interested in the ability for us to know something, the capacity of gathering and using information and understanding the limits of what we know. He believes this also leads him to realise what we perhaps, cannot know. [1] He wants to find out about the origin of our ideas. His main stand-point is that we don’t have innate ideas and he aims to get rid of the sceptical doubt about what we know. The innate ideas which Locke sets out to argue against are those which “the soul receives in its very first being, and brings into the world with it”. [2] “Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters”. [3] This quote depicts the idea of the “Tabula Rasa”, that at birth are minds

It was the Founding Fathers’ view of power that led them to declare their independence from Britain. When the French and Indian War ended, Britain gained a large amount of territory which costed a large sum of money to defend from trespassers. Consequently, Parliament started to tax the colonists without their consent. This unbalance of power caused tensions between Britain and the original 13 colonies. Therefore, the Founding Fathers decided that power should be distributed equally amongst the people and that government should be limited. These views were only strengthened when John Locke wrote “The Second Treatise of Civil Government”, which discussed natural rights, consent of the governed, and limited government. Many of the ideas of John Locke were widely accepted and used by the Founding Fathers, specifically Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of independence, Jefferson altered Locke’s phrase “life, liberty, and property” into “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. These three ideas of Locke exist to this day in American political culture. Liberty is at the core of American values, some individuals quote Patrick Henry who said, “Give me liberty, or give me death” in the Revolutionary War. This famous statement of the Revolutionary War reflects that if there is no freedom (liberty) to choose or express oneself, then there is no purpose to living a life where one is not in control of their destiny. The second ideal, consent of the governed, describes how