John Locke was very influential during the age of the Enlightenment. His writings challenged the philosophies of thinkers of the time, including both Scots and Americans. He was the first person to identify himself through his consciousness. He began to believe that there were endless possibilities of the human mind.
John Locke was born in Wrington, England on August 29th, 1632. He grew up in a Puritan household, and he was baptized the day he was born. His family was moved to Pensford shortly after he was born, growing up in a Tudor house. Because of his father and upbringing, Locke received a very high education. He first attended Westminster School in London in 1647, whose leader had earlier led John’s father. He then attended to Christ Church in Oxford. Locke had trouble understanding the curriculum of his undergraduate study, and this had a tendency to hurt his studies. His interest strayed to modern philosophers instead of the precise material he was taught in his classes. One of his friends introduced him to the study of medicine, and he found his real passion. He obtained a bachelor's degree, then a master's degree, and finally he received his bachelor's of medicine in 1674.
His career as a physician took flight in 1666. That year he met Lord Anthony Cooper, who came to his town to have his liver infection treated. After Locke treated him, he hired Locke to be his permanent physician. He continued to study medicine with a man named Thomas Sydenham. Cooper's infection soon got worse, and so Locke sought the advice of other physicians. He convinced Cooper that he should get the cyst removed surgically, which was a risky operation at the time, but the infection was successfully removed. Cooper believed that Locke saved hi...
... middle of paper ...
... government system functioned quite properly due to the unique balance of power more so leaning towards society. His view on people’s abilities and freedoms inspired and determined others. He helped us recognize in ourselves what he says in his works and philosophies. He also helped us to learn about our human natures, behaviors, and aspirations for freedom and happiness in the world. Without Locke’s revolutionary ideas, the United States and its values would not be the same, and we would not have some of the greatest ideas of empiricism.
Works Cited
Uzgalis, William, "John Locke." Summer 2010. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) 1 Oct 2010, 18:36
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2010/entries/locke/.
"John Locke." 2010. Biography.com. 1 Oct 2010, 17:56
http://www.biography.com/articles/John-Locke-9384544.
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.
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...
...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).
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...
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
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.
John Locke had many accomplishments, here are some of them; He had two major pieces of writing they were, An essay concerning human understanding, and the treatises of Civil government. He also influenced other people as well as philosophers. He inspired the French philosopher Voltaire and even motivated Thomas Paine and his ideas about revolution, not to mention influencing
John Locke is known as the “Father of Classical Liberalism” and is said to be one of the most influential philosophers. Locke believed that all humans are born with natural rights and had the right to protect their “Life, liberty, health and possessions”. Locke also believed that we have the right to overthrow our government if we didn’t like it or got tired of it and he wanted a limited
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 civil society, the concepts with which each theorist associates liberty, and the means of ensuring and safeguarding liberty that each theorist devises.
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
John Locke and Thomas Hobbes both believe that men are equal in the state of nature, but their individual opinions about equality lead them to propose fundamentally different methods of proper civil governance. Locke argues that the correct form of civil government should be concerned with the common good of the people, and defend the citizenry’s rights to life, health, liberty, and personal possessions. Hobbes argues that the proper form of civil government must have an overarching ruler governing the people in order to avoid the state of war. I agree with Locke’s argument because it is necessary for a civil government to properly care for its citizens, which in turn prevents the state of war from occurring in society. Locke also has a better argument than Hobbes because Hobbes’ belief that it is necessary to have a supreme ruler in order to prevent the state of war in society is inherently flawed. This is because doing so would create a state of war in and of itself.
John Locke was a British philosopher and Oxford academic and medical researcher. Locke was regarded as one of the most influential thinkers and was known as the “Father of Classical Liberalism”. Locke was considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, and was equally important to social contract theory. His work significantly influenced the development of epi...
Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke are all great thinkers who were greatly influential in forming philosophies that would affect the future of politics. By analyzing each philosopher’s ideology, we can identify which thinker’s theory reflected modern era liberalism the most. For this paper I will be arguing that, John Locke provides a more compelling framework of modern era liberalism because of his perception of the state of nature, the social contract and the function of government.
John Locke, Concerning Human Understanding , The Great Books Of The Western World; The University of Chicago Press, 1952
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...