The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries saw a radical intellectual evolution in Europe, commonly referred to as the Age of Enlightenment. Freed from the previous supposition that humanity was subject to the unknowable will of God, and emboldened by recent scientific advances that made the mysteries of the natural world suddenly knowable, the Enlightenment Thinkers believed in the power of investing intellectual capital to improve the human condition.
One of the most influential of the Enlightenment Thinkers, John Locke, was an English philosopher and physician. Locke studied government and theorized the value of society, politics, and government, as well as how they might be improved upon with the participation of the governed. Locke philosophized …show more content…
For example, he specified that “natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule (p. 205).” It must be understood that even the notion of the “law of nature” was a novel, new idea made possible only by the recent scientific discoveries of the time. Locke’s theories on politics and government were made possible by the Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity as a law of nature. In contrast to the definition of natural liberty in which only the laws of nature govern, Locke discussed the value of a social contract of government which limits some natural individual liberties for the benefit of the common good: the liberty of man, in society, is to be under no legislative power, but that established, by consent, in the commonwealth; nor under the dominion of any will, or restraint of any law, but what that legislative shall enact, according to the trust put in it (p. …show more content…
The purpose of government is to protect these fundamental rights. The American Revolutionaries borrowed Locke’s phrase when penning the Declaration of Independence, asserting their right to overthrow the rule of King George as he had failed to protect these fundamental rights. John Locke’s writings also demonstrated a support for religious toleration, what today we would call religious tolerance. Although his writings are littered with mentions of God and he used God as a sort of self-evident proof of the validity of his arguments, Locke supported a separation of church and state, and believed that the government should not be utilized for the church, nor should the church be utilized for the government. Locke was possibly the earliest supporter of the separation of church and state.1 What the American Revolutionaries termed “the pursuit of happiness,” John Locke identified as
One of the most influential of the Enlightenment Thinkers, John Locke, was an English philosopher and physician. Locke studied government and theorized the value of society, politics, and government, as well as how they might be improved upon with the participation of the governed. Locke philosophized …show more content…
For example, he specified that “natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule (p. 205).” It must be understood that even the notion of the “law of nature” was a novel, new idea made possible only by the recent scientific discoveries of the time. Locke’s theories on politics and government were made possible by the Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity as a law of nature. In contrast to the definition of natural liberty in which only the laws of nature govern, Locke discussed the value of a social contract of government which limits some natural individual liberties for the benefit of the common good: the liberty of man, in society, is to be under no legislative power, but that established, by consent, in the commonwealth; nor under the dominion of any will, or restraint of any law, but what that legislative shall enact, according to the trust put in it (p. …show more content…
The purpose of government is to protect these fundamental rights. The American Revolutionaries borrowed Locke’s phrase when penning the Declaration of Independence, asserting their right to overthrow the rule of King George as he had failed to protect these fundamental rights. John Locke’s writings also demonstrated a support for religious toleration, what today we would call religious tolerance. Although his writings are littered with mentions of God and he used God as a sort of self-evident proof of the validity of his arguments, Locke supported a separation of church and state, and believed that the government should not be utilized for the church, nor should the church be utilized for the government. Locke was possibly the earliest supporter of the separation of church and state.1 What the American Revolutionaries termed “the pursuit of happiness,” John Locke identified as