Comparing John Locke And Karl Marx

Decent Essays
Locke claimed that men are naturally free and equal in justifying the understanding of legitimate political government. This was as a result of a social contract. In this contract, people in the state of nature conditionally transfered some of their rights to government so that they could ensure stable and comfortable pleasure of their lives, liberty, and property. The philosophy of both John Locke and Karl Marx, compare that both believe in the important role of government of securing a good quality life in the people.

On the contrary, John Locke believes in democracy. Lock defends the principle of majority rule and approves of the separation of legislative and executive power. Karl Marx views it as a road to socialism where the government

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    John Locke was one of the men during the Enlightenment period who believed that the citizens have certain rights that cannot be taken away. These rights include life, liberty, and protection of one’s property. He believed that the people should have the right to choose the government, who protects these rights. In America, the colonies were being ruled by Great Britain and were forced to abide by any laws that they had set into motion for them. Thomas Jefferson took Locke’s ideas and made his own rights, that include, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for the people stated in The Declaration of Independance.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Locke an english philosophe says in the Second Treatise on Civil Government, “a state of perfect freedom to order their possessions and to order actions… within bounds of the law of nature… ”(Document A). In other words John Locke argues that people should have freedoms within limits. According to Locke, if the government fails the people, the people have the power to overthrow the government. Freedom was the main idea of Locke’s thoughts about government because, all…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    That none was allowed to take your property without your consent. Locke, in his theory of liberalism wanted to live in a state where human beings were allowed to make their own choices. Marxism, on the other hand was best lead by Karl Marx who believed that an economic system in which resources and the means of production are publicly owned (…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Locke believed that the government should be ran by the people and everything should be made in the people’s favor. In the situation where the old government fails he recommended the legislative and executive branches but this decision is should be made by people. John Locke once stated in the “Second treatise on the Civil Government” “All Men are naturally “a state of perfect freedom… within the bounds of the law of nature”(Document A). What he meant from this is that We are all free and no one can stop us.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In other words, Locke believed that each person is born naturally free and should be protected by the state of nature, which he defines as the government. Locke first established that to understand political power one first has to understand the law of nature. Locke believed that all men are equal unless God said contrarily. Locke viewed equality as the foundation of his beliefs and that under…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Locke felt that in a state of nature, all men are in perfect freedom and born with a right to liberty and property. This state of perfect freedom is neither good nor bad, however, it is anarchic. Locke believed that people cannot enjoy this state of freedom and that this state of freedom is voluntarily given up in order for people to acquire the advantages of a civilized society. Rousseau’s idea of the state of nature is that all people are free and equal, but primitive and animalistic. In contrast to Locke’s ideas, Rousseau believes that in a state of nature, people do not own property.…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The founders of the Declaration of Independence sought to create a government that would be formed from the ideas and concepts that they had encountered through their various readings and studies. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are by far the most influential thinkers of the Constitution and continue to affect American thought even today. Many of John Locke’s ideas directly correlate with those included in the Declaration of Independence yet they are reworded to suit the needs of the new government.…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction ‘During and after the English Revolution (1642-88), different English thinkers reacted differently toward the revolution, based on their own life experience and philosophical outlook’. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke strongly argued distinct notions of political power. One absolute kinship, the other a democratic republic. In this essay it will firstly state and discuss the relation between state and sovereign according to Thomas Hobbes. In doing so Thomas Hobbes ideas will then be compared to John Locke’s.…

    • 2054 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Locke And Hobbes

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Locke believed in a legitimate government that had a social contract. That the people would give up some freedom and in exchange the government had to provide them with protection.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Locke believed in a limited, representative government while Rousseau believed in a direct form of government by the people. Locke believed that the powers of the government are to be limited. He believed the government should only exist to protect life, liberty, and property and if the government were to overstep that authority, then the public would have a right to overthrow the government. As I said before, Thomas Jefferson paid homage to these ideals during his drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Along with separation of powers between the House of Commons and House of Lords,2 Locke’s ideals greatly influenced American government where power is vested in a bicameral legislature along with an executive and judicial branch.…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He was positive towards human nature and believed that humans were born with natural rights. He expressed his beliefs in documents called Two Treaties of Government and The Second Treatise of Civil Government. “Man being born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect freedom, and an uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature, equally with any other man…” is a quote from The Second Treatise of Civil Government. It is shown in both documents that Locke believed that governments were formed only to maintain and protect natural rights. He disagreed with the idea of an absolute monarchy, but instead said that limited power was more effective.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the comparison of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau and their respective ideas of The Social Contract I would like to begin by breaking down what the Social Contract is and all its encompassing ideas. The concept of social contract theory is that before civilization man lived in the state of nature in its purest form. There was no central body of governance and no law to regulate society. This meant there were hardships and oppression on certain sections of the society because they had nobody fighting for them. To overcome from these hardships people entered into agreements known as “social contracts”.…

    • 1704 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Philosophers John Locke and George Berkeley agreed that knowledge is derived from experience. However, while Locke argued that knowledge is also acquired through our senses, such as, primary qualities, the perception, and secondary qualities, the object perceived, Berkeley argued that our minds and ideas are the sole essence of most knowledge, except knowledge of self and knowledge of God. As a subjective idealist, he believed that physical objects only exist as they are perceived. More specifically, there are no primary or secondary properties of objects in themselves, and also, matter cannot be discovered through sensory perception. Both philosophers claimed that knowledge comes through experience, but Berkeley argues that material objects cannot exist if not experienced.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Locke’s system of the social contract and Marx & Engels Communist views were similar in that both systems intended to create a government that would be based on fairness and equality for all citizens. However, the execution method between these two ideas was different, as Locke believed in allowing the government to have granted power over the people, and Marx and Engels believed in merging the government with the…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two philosophers that have heavily influenced the world of philosophy as we now know it, René Descartes and John Locke, have not always agreed on the same beliefs. In fact, they almost always argued on what each other felt was true except for the unlikely agreement on a few things. This brings me to one particular argument dealing with the issue on innate ideas. Descartes side of the argument believes that we born with ideas (innate ideas) and Locke believes our ideas come from experience and the senses. Ideas have to stem off of something and the only way for us to have that base for an idea is to experience it.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays