John Locke
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 Shaftsbury, Locke was able to hold minor government jobs and became involved in politics. Shaftsbury steered Locke towards the views of a government whose law was fair to all, and all were under the law. In 1679, Shaftsbury was tried for treason against James, Duke of York, who would later become King James II. Shaftsbury had tried to prevent James's right of succession, so he fled to Holland, and Locke followed. Locke returned to England with Queen Mary when she overthrew James II in the Glorious Revolution. The support which Locke showed for Mary demonstrates his mindset of politics, and shows his opposition towards despotic rulers and divine right. Locke saw many important men while in England, including Sir Isaac Newton, of whom he wrote. Through Locke's friendships with numerous government officials, Locke became influential in the politics of the seventeenth century. Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding,
Humans beings decide to form a society out of the state of nature because there must be unity among men in order to protect one another, and so that they may punish offenders of the justice. The most salient reason that Locke's theory of government is so effective is because the entire society, including the government, as well as citizens, balances itself equally, through the power of the ruler, so that everyone has a set limit to their powers. If one man kills another man's sheep, then the people have the right to kill one of his sheep, without committing a crime. written in 1690, dealt with the subject of human philosophy, and was written with consistency to the theories of Newton. The government does not have the ability to raise taxes without the consent of the people, nor to separate its powers. John Locke became convinced that true knowledge cannot be attained in natural science, but only through concrete mathematics. If a person commits a crime, the people have a right to punish him. Locke's theories on government are also justified by the fact that man is capable of doing good towards others, and the society helps men protect one another. The law of nature states that people attain property through the labor they do. The people allow the ruler to govern, and it is with their consent that he is able to do so. All aspects of the government are checked by other sources, so the government is steered into a straight path of justice. Locke's theory of government supports itself in many ways. The branches of government are always in check with one another, so that no one branch becomes dominant over the others. The basic points of Locke's system of government were that there should be a constitutional government, in which the power goes up.
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