John Locke and Liberalism
Martin A. Tornquist
John Locke (1632-1704), the English philosopher and figure of the Enlightenment, has had a huge influence on developing political ideas that remain up to our present day. It’s hard to picture what, for example, the political landscape of the United States would look without him. In this text, I will look at some of his most prominent political ideas.
John Locke is one of history’s most prominent purveyors of that elusive, desirable and dangerous thing – Liberty.
I: Liber
Liberalism, today, represents quite a wide spectrum of ideas about how governments and societies should look. You’ll find that someone like Noam Chomsky, whose views have roots in Classical Liberalism and the Enlightenment, …show more content…
This is a primordial, primitive state that lacks all the marks of modern civilization; in other words, it’s pre-agricultural revolution. Thomas Hobbes also talked about the natural state in his work, but mostly in a theoretical sense, whereas Locke stresses that it did exist at some point. Locke describes the natural state in these terms:
“That is a state of perfect freedom of acting and disposing of their own possessions and persons as they think fit within the bounds of the law of nature. People in this state do not have to ask permission to act or depend on the will of others to arrange matters on their behalf...”
This is important; in Locke’s natural state, there is no divinely ordained ruler - or any ruler at all. Every man (and woman) is completely equal and without governance, and everyone has an equal right to enforce the laws of nature as they see fit. Locke describes these laws as …show more content…
As Locke did in his Treatises, the Declaration attributes the Rights (and also the laws of nature, which are brought up explicitly in the introduction to the Declaration) of Man to the all-powerful divine creator.1 The line, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is lifted almost entirely from Locke.2
The passage immediately following this sets forth the right to revolution:
“...To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.”
These are ideas that bear a very overt mark of Locke’s philosophy, indeed, a direct mark of the Treatises.
IIa: A word about
Martin A. Tornquist
John Locke (1632-1704), the English philosopher and figure of the Enlightenment, has had a huge influence on developing political ideas that remain up to our present day. It’s hard to picture what, for example, the political landscape of the United States would look without him. In this text, I will look at some of his most prominent political ideas.
John Locke is one of history’s most prominent purveyors of that elusive, desirable and dangerous thing – Liberty.
I: Liber
Liberalism, today, represents quite a wide spectrum of ideas about how governments and societies should look. You’ll find that someone like Noam Chomsky, whose views have roots in Classical Liberalism and the Enlightenment, …show more content…
This is a primordial, primitive state that lacks all the marks of modern civilization; in other words, it’s pre-agricultural revolution. Thomas Hobbes also talked about the natural state in his work, but mostly in a theoretical sense, whereas Locke stresses that it did exist at some point. Locke describes the natural state in these terms:
“That is a state of perfect freedom of acting and disposing of their own possessions and persons as they think fit within the bounds of the law of nature. People in this state do not have to ask permission to act or depend on the will of others to arrange matters on their behalf...”
This is important; in Locke’s natural state, there is no divinely ordained ruler - or any ruler at all. Every man (and woman) is completely equal and without governance, and everyone has an equal right to enforce the laws of nature as they see fit. Locke describes these laws as …show more content…
As Locke did in his Treatises, the Declaration attributes the Rights (and also the laws of nature, which are brought up explicitly in the introduction to the Declaration) of Man to the all-powerful divine creator.1 The line, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is lifted almost entirely from Locke.2
The passage immediately following this sets forth the right to revolution:
“...To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.”
These are ideas that bear a very overt mark of Locke’s philosophy, indeed, a direct mark of the Treatises.
IIa: A word about