John Locke Second Treatise On Government Summary

John Locke, as a founder of the theoretical system of the classical liberalism is known for his philosophical works. In his “Two Treaties on government” Locke expressed his position about the country, government and the rights of human being. In his philosophical works he criticized the idea of absolute monarchy as the power given by God. In the “Second Treatise on Government” Locke tries to understand the essence of state and government. Since the beginning of human history, people were free and equal in their rights, although this equality was merely formal than tangible. Locke expresses the idea that people are the only source of power. The country itself and the political power can appear only during certain period of the development of civil society when people fully realize the necessity of creating the country. Political power John Locke interpreted as the right of people to make laws for the regulation and preservation of their property. Locke’s philosophy is also known as the philosophy of natural right. At the beginning of people’s social life there was no government. Human behavior and interaction with other people were regulated by the natural law which was known and understandable to everyone as an inborn capacity. However, everyone could have treated these laws of the nature in the different way.
Therefore, a government was created as the main authority whose duty was to …show more content…
Locke believed that revolution is inevitable when tyranny is so oppressive, that‘people will be forced to choose between annihilation or slavery and collective violence as a self preservative’ (McGlothlin). In this case, organized armed rebel aiming to return the state on the path of freedom and law is rather a lawful way. Therefore, peaceful demonstrations in Hong Kong were lawful, so deploying force to stop the demonstration was not only a violation of democratic rights, but also the violation of human natural rights distinguished by John