Locke09

=John Locke=

media type="custom" key="4649945" John Locke was a philosopher that wrote about his thoughts on human understanding and government. He was born August 29, 1632 in Wrington, England. He was taught Philosophy and Medicine at Oxford, and then became an adviser and physician in 1667 to Lord Ashley Cooper, the first Earl of Shaftesbury and an English Politician. He moved to Holland in 1683 because the king suspected him of treason. Locke moved back to England after the king took back his threats to jail Locke, and he died on the 28th of October 1704 in Oates, England. Locke never married or had children.

John Locke's first successful writing was the // Two Treatises of Government //, published anonymously in 1689. In England, the king claimed religious power, and because he was the king, he was supported by many politicians and writers, including Robert Filmer. Filmer wrote the // Patriarcha, // which supported the Divine Right of Kings. The // Patriarcha // argued that kings are direct descendants of Adam and are appointed by God to rule. They are not affected by laws and practices set by the church or government because they have a divine status. Locke disagreed with everything Filmer wrote, and published The First Treatise of Government as a direct response. He argues that there is no Biblical origin for kings, because all men are descended from Adam. In addition, no king before the then current king of England had claimed to be a special descendant of Adam, so it is impossible to trace their heritage. Men are free people from their birth. Power is not passed down by man only because both men and women are needed to create a child, and the Bible confirms that both together are responsible for their children. Locke concludes that the Bible does not support Divine right. John Locke presents his own ideas in The Second Treatise. He first states government should be ruled by the common people, but not all common people should be involved, because then the government would be very disorganized. Locke believes in freedom of religion and free thought. The government should be elected through majority consent. The government only works if it has the people’s consent and it should only interfere to protect the people’s rights and property. Locke defines the ownership of property as belonging to the one who works to obtain it. Taxes can only be enforced when the majority agree, otherwise taxes take away a man’s property. Locke then defines the people as having rights when they willingly choose to conform to the government’s laws. People can leave the arrangement anytime they want, but they also leave the government’s protection when they leave.

Locke is very specific when he discusses war. Offensive wars are always wrong because they infringe upon the rights of the defenders. However, Locke does support retaliation against aggressors. He argues that the aggressors have given up their rights by attacking. In a case where a defender wins a war, he encourages discrimination between military and innocents because they are not responsible for the war. The defender has rights to the military lives, but not to the innocents’ lives.

Among the ideas presented in //The Second Treatise// were natural rights. Specifically, life, liberty, and possessions. Locks also thought a system of checks and balances was crucial in a government. Sound familiar? Thomas Jefferson most likely had // The Second Treatise // in front of him or at least in his mind. Many of Locke’s ideas made it into the Declaration of Independence, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Aside from his political writings inspired by his time as an adviser, Locke also wrote about his areas of expertise, philosophy and science. Written in 1690, // Essay Concerning Human Understanding // is a pair of books detailing Locke’s thoughts. He starts with his ideas about learning.

No learning is innate - everything is learned through experience. Locke supported the Nurture side of the Nurture vs. Nature dispute today. We learn through experience, not because information was passed down to us. Knowledge gained can be separated into two groups: reason and faith. The reason side of knowledge is learned by taking what we know and applying it to learn more, faith is the knowledge God gave Adam and Eve. Also, words mean different things for each listener. They do not represent the thing itself, but rather an idea as the listener hears then. Think of Locke’s idea as “Are we both seeing the same color red?”

Regarding science and matter, Locke thought matter was made of atoms. Since // Essay Concerning Human Understanding // was written in 1690, that means he supported the idea almost 200 years before Dalton did! However, Democritus still proposed the atom first. Locke separates characteristics into three different categories. Primary characteristics are equally true for all observers. Secondary characteristics are dependent on the observer, and Tertiary characteristics are the effects of other objects on the object.

Locke was a very influential thinker that still effects us through the Declaration of Independence. He has shaped the world we live in now, and spoke out for what he believed in. Locke certainly deserves to be studied and praised as one of the greatest philosophers. Thank you for listening.

= = Research =John Locke=

Life

 * Born August 29, 1632 in Wrington, England
 * Lived in England
 * Locke never married or had children.
 * Educated at Oxford
 * Became an adviser and physician to Lord Ashley in 1667
 * Moved in 1683 to Holland under suspicion of treason.
 * He died on the 28th of October 1704 in Oates, England

=Two Treatises of Government=
 * Written 1689
 * Filmer: //Patriarcha:// Divine right of kings
 * Kings are direct representatives of God and are appointed by God to rule.
 * They are not affected by laws and practices set by the church or government because of their divine status.
 * They should be obeyed because of their divine origin. Men are born to serve the king.

**Locke wrote The First Treatise in direct response to Filmer.**


 * Argues that there is no Biblical origin for kings.
 * Men are free from birth.
 * The bible does not support Divine right.
 * Both kings and the common people descended from Adam. In other words, kings have no unique holy ancestor.
 * Government should be ruled by the common people, but not all common people should be involved.

Locke presents his own ideas in the Second Treatise

 * Argues for natural rights - life, liberty, and possessions. (Later changed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence. )
 * Many ideas from the Declaration of Independence were created by Locke.
 * Believes in right to own property, and property becomes owned when it is produced through labor.
 * Believes in freedom of religion and free thought (except when the ideas interfere with government) and separation of church and state.
 * Believes in government to create a loose structure to protect the life and property of people, but not interfere with the lives of the people. Lack of government would lead to a state of aggression between neighbors.
 * Government can only tax with consent of ruled, otherwise taxes take away a man's property.
 * Believes in consensual government by majority consent.
 * Believes in checks and balances
 * Believes thieves and murderers deserve death.Believes in self defense.Against Slavery
 * Believes in wife's ability to leave husband
 * Believes in ability to leave a community and its rule
 * Discourages offensive wars, but allows retaliation.
 * Encourages discrimination between military and innocents after successful counter attack.
 * Defending winner has rights to military lives, but not property because the property is used to support non-combatants.
 * Does not condemn rebellion if government does not act out of the best interest of the people.
 * Government is "tool that continuously depends on the consent of the people and must not violate the maximum conditions of securing peace and property – to do so is to violate the trust that is afforded the institution. It possesses no mystical nature of either a divine or a supernatural order."

Essay Concerning Human Understanding

 * Written 1690
 * Series of books
 * No human learning is innate - everything is learned through experience
 * Nurture over nature
 * If certain things were innate, infants and children would understand things adults universally know.
 * Matter is made of atoms.
 * All objects have properties. Locke separates their properties into three groups, primary, secondary, and tertiary.
 * Primary characteristics are equally true for all observers. Occupying space, being in motion, and having solidity and texture are examples of primary characteristics.
 * Secondary Characteristics are dependent on the observer. Color, size, and smell are examples of secondary characteristics.
 * Tertiary characteristics are the effects the object on other objects. Fire melting wax candles is an example of a tertiary characteristic.
 * Words mean different things for each listener.
 * They do not represent the thing itself, but rather an idea as the listener hears then.God has given us some knowledge.
 * Knowledge can be separated into two groups: reason and faith.

Essay Concerning Toleration

 * Written in 1706, in a time where the English were afraid that the Catholics were taking over England.
 * Believes in toleration of religion EXCEPT
 * Atheists (Not afraid of eternal punishment)
 * Non-tolerant religions (Unable to live in harmony with other religions that will appear under a tolerant government)
 * Roman Catholics (Follow pope rather than ruler of country)
 * Actually encourages multiple religions in country.
 * Less likely to become intolerant or persecute a sect than a country dominated by on religion
 * Less likely for converts to join the main religion out of fear

http://www.iep.utm.edu/locke-po/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/#TwoTreGov http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4m.htm http://www.s9.com/Biography/Locke-John Thomas, Henry. (1965). John Locke. //Biographical encyclopedia of Philosophy//. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, inc..