As for knowledge, Locke believed that "the best and surest way to get clear and distinct knowledge is through examining and judging ideas by themselves" (Locke, 1997, VI: I).
The Family -- Locke lived in a time in which the family was patriarchal and central to the argument of the opponents to limited government. In early-modern England the family structure was more authoritarian, intolerant, and sexist. Locke's political theory had revolutionary implications that could easily be exported to governments, and as an individualist, it is easy to see why Locke would look upon inequality and mindless subjugation as unproductive and antithetical. In this the natural rights family was radical in the sense that it held that everyone born was capable of actualization. The family was a microcosm of government, and also served as a way to train individuals into their roles and responsibilities within society (Ward, 2010, pp. 136-42).
Private Property- in a rather egalitarian way, Locke's view of property can be expressed in three parts: 1) use only as much as needed before it spoils; 2) leave enough for others (don't hoard); and 3) appropriate property through one's own labor (Two Treatises, 2.27-31). This makes sense when thinking about Locke's political philosophy -- since humans must be cooperative to have a just and productive society, each must be able to be comfortable, own land, etc. But not have so much that others cannot actualize themselves. Property, though, for Locke was also life and liberty (Two Treatises 2.87). The idea of property fits in with the...
Locke and Rousseau on the Question of Inequality John Locke's Second Treatise of Government argues that "men are naturally free" (55). In other words, Locke believed that humans, in their natural state, and prior to the creation of civil society, would have been a kind of sovereign entity, possessing a set of natural rights prescribed by God and nature, and those rights would have afforded individuals the opportunity to protect themselves
This body then has the right and duty, especially if elected to represent to build the laws and enforce the judgment of those laws, as a reflection of the will of the consensus. Locke, having developed a keen sense of a rather radical sense of the rights of the individual and the responsibility of the civil government began his work with the development of what it is that constructs the
To achieve his ends man gives up, in favour of the state, a certain amount of his personal power and freedom Pre-social man as a moral being, and as an individual, contracted out "into civil society by surrendering personal power to the ruler and magistrates, and did so as "a method of securing natural morality more efficiently." To Locke, natural justice exists and this is so whether the state
Political Obligation When it comes to political science and philosophy, there are many subjects and points of analysis that are very intriguing, widely discussed and heavily debated. There are also certain people, both past and present, that have proved themselves as scholars on those political subjects. Such is the case with both John Locke and David Hume. One particular subject that both men weighed in on was the role of consent
Liberty and Political Liberalism The political liberalism of the 17th and 18th centuries was far different than the contemporary conceptualization of liberal politics. In the evolution of modern liberalism, liberalism was once conceived as an absence of coercion by a sovereign. "The heart of liberty is the absence of coercion by others; consequently, the liberal state's commitment to protecting liberty is, essentially, the job of ensuring that citizens do not coerce
Others might allege that Mugabe has held elections, unlike John Locke's legitimate sovereign. But the presence of elections does not necessarily guarantee the existence of a good and fair representative government, or even the existence of a legislature. The BBC news reported that during the 2002 Zimbabwe election "some people from Europe were in Zimbabwe to watch how the voting was run. The Norwegian observers said the election was severely
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