How Did John Locke Contribute To Nationalism

431 Words1 Page

Background information –
John Locke was born on August 29th 1632 in Somerset, England. He went to Westminster school and Christ Church, University of Oxford. He studied medicine in his year of Oxford which was a role of his major life. Became an influential philosopher writing about: political philosophy, epistemology, and education. His father was a country lawyer and military man who served in English civil war. In 1647 he enrolled in school at Westminster. He graduated in 1674 with bachelors in medicine.
Philosophy and Ideas –
One of the most influential political philosophers. In Two Treatises of Government he defended that men are free by nature and equal against all claims of god. John argued that people had rights to life, liberty, and property. Locke used the claim to justification for understanding the politically government. Also, important for his defense of the right of revolution. Locke defends the right of majority rule and separation of legislative and the executor powers. In the Letter Concerning Toleration he rejected that people should join on true religion.
Contribution to the Enlightenment – …show more content…

He is mostly best known for his huge outburst of one year between 1689 and 1690. Had huge contributions to the development of Epistemology and Political Philosophy from his ideas and influences. Locke was considered one of the first British Empiricists. Locke argued that all ideas were derived from experience and the knowledge that we have. Locke is often cited as the origin of modern from his Philosophy of Mind. Locke saw kinds of properties of being two different kinds. Locke claimed that “the mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone. Locke established himself as a political theorist of the highest order in

Show More
Related

  • The Enlightenment Dbq

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers was John Locke, an English philosopher and physician. His work and ideas had a incomputable impact on modern day society. He was known as “Father of Liberalism” due to his opinions of freedoms and liberty. According to Locke, the people were entitled to have control over themselves as long as it adheres to the law. The Second Treatise on Civil Government by John

    Read More

  • John Locke Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Locke believes everyone is born with a blank slate. Locke was born in England in 1632. When he was about 10 years old the English civil war was starting. He went to Christ Church,Oxford for college. Locke wanted to become a minister but instead became a doctor.

    Read More

  • The Government During the Age of Absolutism and the Enlightenment

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Locke was perhaps the best example of someone who rejected the absolute view of government and had views that were radically different from it. Locke believe that people were born reasonable and moral – it was their natur...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of John Locke: The Second Treatise Of Government

    2379 Words  | 5 Pages

    John Locke is considered one of the best political minds of his time. The modern conception of western democracy and government can be attributed to his writing the Second Treatise of Government. John Locke championed many political notions that both liberals and conservatives hold close to their ideologies. He argues that political power should not be concentrated to one specific branch, and that there should be multiple branches in government. In addition to, the need for the government to run by the majority of the population through choosing leaders, at a time where the popular thing was to be under the rule of a monarch. But despite all of his political idea, one thing was extremely evident in his writing. This was that he preferred limited

    Read More

  • Enlightenment DBQ

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Locke, an English philosophe, like many other philosophes of his time worked to improve society by advocating for the individual rights of people. John Locke strongly believed in more rights for the people and was against oppression. In his book, Second Treatise on Civil Government, Locke stated, “(W)e must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions . . .” (Document A). Locke means every man is naturally equal, no one was created better and he has certain guaranteed rights. This helps society because it would deny a monarch to strip a person of their guaranteed rights and it would make the monarch less powerful and his/her power would be given to the people. The greatest change to government Locke states as necessary, “(W)hen the government is dissolved [ended], the people are at liberty to provide themselves, by erecting a new legislative [lawma...

    Read More

  • John Locke's Second Treatise On Government

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Locke believed that the role of the government was to protect property and resolve disputes through administrative justice or by creating legislation. The government would be created through the consent of the people. Locke believed that freedom in the state was “having the liberty to order and use your property and to be free from the arbitrary will of another.” No one person can claim divine right to rule, because there is no way to determine if that person is actually divine or not. If government is not fulfilling their duty, the people have a right to overthrow it (i.e. revolution; was a major influence for American revolutionaries). For Locke, law is enlightening and liberating to humans. “law manifests what’s good for everybody.” The key reason for political society is for men to improve land. Locke believes men have mutual interest in coming together to protect land. Men must enter an agreement because there are a few bad apples, though not everyone is bad. If these few apples can be dealt with, their impact can be

    Read More

  • The Enlightenment and the Declaration of Independence

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Locke was an English philosopher who lived during 1632-1704. In political theory he was equally influential. Contradicting Hobbes, Locke maintained that the original state of nature was happy and characterized by reason and tolerance; all human beings were equal and free to pursue "life, health, liberty, and possessions." The state formed by the social contract was guided by the natural law, which guaranteed those inalienable rights. He set down the policy of checks and balances later followed in the U.S. Constitution; formulated the doctrine that revolution in some circumstances is not only a right but an obligation; and argued for broad religious freedom.

    Read More

  • John Locke's Second Treatise, Of Civil Government

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    Review this essay John Locke – Second treatise, of civil government 1. First of all, John Locke reminds the reader from where the right of political power comes from. He expands the idea by saying, “we must consider what estate 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.” Locke believes in equality among all people. Since every creature on earth was created by God, no one has advantages over another.

    Read More

  • John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    What John Locke was concerned about was the lack of limitations on the sovereign authority. During Locke’s time the world was surrounded by the monarch’s constitutional violations of liberty toward the end of the seventeenth century. He believed that people in their natural state enjoy certain natural, inalienable rights, particularly those to life, liberty and property. Locke described a kind of social contract whereby any number of people, who are able to abide by the majority rule, unanimously unite to affect their common purposes. The...

    Read More

  • Biography of Alain Locke

    1936 Words  | 4 Pages

    Locke started his career teaching English at Howard University. Later on however, he became head of the Department of Philosophy. While he was working, he had developed some other interests in other fields as well. He liked music, art, literature, political theory, and anthropology to name a few.

    Read More

  • Enlightenment Influences on American Ideals

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Locke, one of the leading philosophers of the European Enlightenment was very important when it came to political thought in the United States. His ideas of the reasons, nature, and limits of the government became especially important in the development of the Constitution. In one of his most famous writings of that time, Two Treatises on Government (1689), Locke established a theory where personal liberty could coexist with political power ; meaning that the people would agree to obey the government and in return, the government would have the responsibility of respecting the people’s natural rights. In other words, he laid out a social contract theory that provided the philosophy and source of a governing author...

    Read More

  • Influence Of Ancient Romans On Us Government

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...wo systems that our government has today with the three different branches of government, each of which has some power over the others to create balance. John Locke influenced the American Revolution, and many other American governmental leaders who were crucial in outlining our country’s government. He gave Thomas Paine the inspiration to bring a nation to its feet, and he also influenced James Madison who drew up the principles of liberty and government (John Locke). John Locke’s Natural Rights are the basis for our Declaration’s “unalienable rights”. John Locke’s emphasis on constitutionalism and human understanding influenced our government with the ideas of limited government, balance of power, and a representative ruling body. With his written views he has shaped our country’s executive and legislative governmental power to this day (John Locke).

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Glorious Revolution And American Revolution

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Locke used the arguments that a government is nothing if it is not supported by the power of its citizens. He argued that the citizens of the government were not well represented in the government so it was justified to be overthrown. This is what he thought about the overthrowing of King James of England in 1688. Locke argued that if the people in a country were to dissolve then the government in that country will also dissolve. He saw a country as a big group of people with similar views. He talks about how society decides to act as a whole group. When they split apart is when society becomes different groups and the government then falls. Many colonists were from England and witnessed or knew about the Glorious revolution and felt like they were mistreated the same way the people of England did at that time. Locke’s ideas played a major role in influencing the colonists to realize they were not being treated fairly and they had a right to fight for freedom to create their own

    Read More

  • John Locke's Influence on the Founding Fathers

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, Locke influenced the Founders of the United States heavily. The rights of man in the preservation of their property, lives and liberty have been guaranteed because of these ideas. Hume, though a skeptic, I believe would not be as skeptical now because there is now history of a government by the consent of the governed. Rousseau’s ideas have been vanquished by Locke’s ideas.

    Read More

  • John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first philosopher, John Locke, laid the foundations of modern empiricism. Locke is a representational realist who touches reality through feelings. He believes that experience gives us knowledge (ideas) that makes us able to deal with the world external to our minds. His meaning of ideas is "the immediate object of perception, thought, or understanding." Locke's ideas consist of simply ideas which turn into complex ideas. Simple ideas are the thoughts that the mind cannot know an idea that it has not experienced. The two types of simple ideas are; sensation and reflection. Sensation is the idea that we have such qualities as yellow, white, heat, cold, soft, hard, bitter, and sweet. Reflection ideas are gained from our experience of our own mental operations. Complex ideas are combinations of simple ideas that can be handled as joined objects and given their own names. These ideas are manufactured in the human mind by the application of its higher powers. Locke believes in two kinds of qualities that an object must have; primary and secondary. Primary qualities o...

    Read More

More about How Did John Locke Contribute To Nationalism

Open Document