...Comparing Thomas Hobbes and John Locke’s views concerning what life is like in a state of nature, we can see that the two-theorist’s share opposite views in making an assumption of what the state of nature is like. Thomas Hobbes’ views include pessimistic views of nature and how its effects can influence man to selfishly consider what he would need to do to secure his safety while John Locke presents a natural concept that assumes there is a universal thought of good that man is aware of. Attempting to justify the role of government or justice by understanding the state of nature can be somewhat accurate and can be considered for such purposes, but may fail to answer some aspects of society overall and leave other things unanswered. In regards...
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...John Locke's contributions in Philosophy and political views are followed and practiced even to this day. Locke’s ideas influenced religion, economics, political change, theories of knowledge and the human understanding that led to governmental and social improvements. John Locke believed in political reform. John Locke is one of the most influential authors and political philosophers in history. His ideas and views have influenced such momentous commodity such as the American constitution. Many of Locke’s ideas were used in the creation of the United States Constitution. John Locke was a British philosopher and medical researcher. Locke was born to Agnes Keene and John Locke on August 29, 1632, in Somerset, England. His father was a Puritan lawyer, who served as a Captain during the English civil war. Locke’s schooling began at Westminster School in 1647. He earned the title of King’s Scholar, which prepared him for the next phase of his education at the Christ Church in Oxford in 1652. He studied literature, physical science, medicine, politics, and natural philosophy. In 1656 he continued for his Master of Arts degree. In 1665 at Oxford, Locke encountered Lord Ashley, a notable statesman looking for medical treatment. After a friendship formed, Ashley invited Locke to join him in London as his personal physician. Locke agreed and left for London in 1667, where he lived for the next eight years. This was the beginning of Locke’s deep political interests, which was...
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...Chapter 1 questions 1 Both Locke and Hobbes believe that people need a system of government to live properly and to have a working society. However, Hobbes believes that without a form of government, specifically a monarchy, humans would act like animals in a "state of nature", while Locke believes that humanity is born "equal and with natural rights" and are governed only because of their contract of consent and have the power to change the government if it breaks the people's contract. Locke's theory had a more direct impact on the American system of government as one can see his work and ideas in not only the Declaration of Independence, "life, liberty, and property", but also in how the American government works as a whole. Although Hobbes' Leviathan does not play a key role in our government in the sense of an "all-powerful" government, his idea that people need a single ruler to govern to "guarantee the rights of the weak against the strong" was implemented in the creation of the executive branch of the American government system. 2 Locke's ideas and theory shows up all throughout the Declaration of Independence. Three examples of this are: "all men are created equal", "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", and "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed". These three quotes are directly related to the theory and...
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...one. However, it can be expanded up exponentially. The idea of government is to guard the liberties of its respective population. Liberties are constantly being bombarded by organizations that would seek their individual destruction. Ergo, a government must contain a way to guard its liberties. (The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription pg. 1-2) To elaborate further, a necessity of government is a military presence for protection against threats. While the country requires defense from those forces who’d wish destruction upon liberty and freedom, it also has an equal need for a type of police system to protect each inhabitant of the country...
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...believed that the rapacious nature of man was for everyone to be at war with everyone. By competing in each person’s own self interest, which led to life being poor, solitary, and brutish until the formation of government. In the state of nature, this enables others to be able to come and take that away from you. This is the intersection where Thomas Hobbes and another great philosopher, John Locke, agree. They both believe that a source of social contract is necessary in order to get along in the state of nature. Although Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both developed the social contract theory, a closer examination of each fundamental philosophy reveals a greater contrast in theory than most fail to realize such as the contrast in origins of government, limitations of government, dwellings of sovereignty, and the rights of revolution. The social contract theory was developed by multiple influential thinkers of political philosophy. One of those men was Thomas Hobbes, who lived during the English Civil War. During this war, he witnessed the collapse of absolute government and therefore influenced his theory that having absolute government is the only way. Even though most readers of his works recognize the significance of the law of nature, only a small number of these readers comprehend the purpose the law of nature plays in his political theory (Zagorin). At the core, Hobbes was an 2 advocate of the form of absolutism referred to as political...
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...THE TWO TREATISES OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT The introduction of the work was written latter and until this century gave people the impression that the book was written in 1688 to justify the Glorious Revolution. We now know that the Two Treatises of Civil Government were written during the Exclusion crisis and were probably intended to justify the general armed rising which the Country Party leaders were planning. It was a truly revolutionary work. Supposing that the Two Treatises may have been intended to explain and defend the revolutionary plot against Charles II and his brother, how does it do this? What do reflections on the state of nature and the state of war have to do with distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate civil government? The First Treatise of Civil Government is a polemical work aimed at refuting the patriarchal version of the Divine Right of Kings doctrine put forth by Sir Robert Filmer. :Locke singles out Filmer's contention that men are not "naturally fre e" as the key issue, for that is the "ground" or premise on which Filmer erects his argument for the claim that all "legitimate" government is "absolute monarchy." -- kings being descended from the first man Adam. Early in the First Treatise Lo cke denies that either scripture or reason supports Filmer's premise or arguments. In what follows, Locke minutely examines key Biblical passages - so Locke's emphasis in the First Treatise is on refuting Filmer's scriptural claims for the divin e right...
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...Review “Second Treatise of Government” in Chapter 6. Please respond to the following: John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government were written to defend armed resistance to the English king by English subjects in the years preceding the Whig revolution, the Glorious Revolution of 1689 (as it’s called). Involved in plots, Locke fled from England to Holland in 1683 and stayed there until 1689. The First Treatise is an attack on the theory of absolute monarchy defended by Sir Robert Filmer. The Filmer theory traces the rights of the monarch to the establishment of monarchical power in Adam (the first man of the Bible) by God. This absolute authority to rule then gets passed along down to the present king of England. So the king is answerable only to God and the subjects are obligated to obey the king’s commands come what may, says Filmer. * Explain what, according to Locke, gives a person their right to property. As stated in the textbook, " everyman has a property in his own Person. This nobody has any right to but himself. The labor of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labor with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature placed it in, it hath by this labor something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men" (p.209, Halbert...
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...In John Locke's A Letter Concerning Toleration, he contends that government has no authority over people who neglect their souls, health, and estate (406). From Locke's perspective, government's only aim is to protect one's property. By making laws that protect the property of the people from the harm of others, a government makes its citizens more autonomous. However, government's authority to establish laws comes from the consent of people who forfeit some of their natural rights (Locke, 304). In a sense, people have to give up some of their right in order to achieve greater autonomous. Because Locke believes that each person is his or her best judge of what he or she wants, as long as a person does not damage other's body or property, government should not interfere with his or her life. With regard to the relationship between government and religion, Locke states that "the care of souls does not belong to the magistrate" (Locke, 405). Put simply, government should not coerce anyone into a certain religion or belief because the purpose of government is to protect people's property. Even though the only authority that religious groups have is to care for one's soul, religious groups should not force other people to believe in their doctrines because each individual has the freedom to choose his belief. Although Locke admits that there is only "one true way to eternal happiness," he believes that no man knows which path is right(Locke, 407). As the result, no one, not even...
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...The United States government gives liberties to all citizens, such as freedom of speech and religion, compared to different constitutional states. But are those liberties substantial to what we need? Understanding one’s freedoms and equalities may come easy to many, but understanding what they deeply mean may cause misinterpretations in today’s world. The essential basis of “any happy and prosperous society” depends on how the people work towards those goals of being happy and prosperous, whether they accept the role their government plays or how the system works in their everyday lives. As for John Locke’s opinion, freedom and equality can only come from a society that conveys their happiness with their government in their treatment. He advocated...
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...against government usurpation and abolition would be an act of exercising freedom and liberty, as well. Locke challenges the government and economy because of its continual greed for power. For this purpose, he reminds us why society has a greater power and should stand up against the government for the sake of their liberty and right; this would be Locke’s view on nature of society. He associates human freedom to the nature of society because of the potential of societies to overthrow economic systems. The case of human freedom also suggests that the government is dependent on individuals and for their own safeguard and benefit, they must allow demanded rights and freedoms. These concepts would fall under the category of ‘law’ and therefore, issues of: property, human freedom and nature of society, are all matters of legal jurisdictions and economic...
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...Locke’s concept of the State of Nature was less miserable compared to Hobbes. It was reasonably good and enjoyable, but property was not guaranteed. He considered the State of Nature as the “Golden Age”. In that State of Nature, man had all of the rights which nature could give him. Locke justifies this by saying that in the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind was a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one’s life as he sees fit. Locke also brings up the topic of property, this plays a major Locke’s argument for civil government. According to Locke, there is a certain limit to how much property one can own. One shouldn’t take more land than he could possibly use, so as not to leave others with nothing. Land is a gift from nature and should be shared equally with all of mankind. Locke considered property to be unsafe because of three conditions; lack of established law, lack of impartial judge, and lack of natural powers to execute natural laws. This meant that men in the State of Nature felt the need to protect their property for the sake of protection, men entered into the Social Contract. Under the Contract man did not surrender all their rights to one single individual, but they surrendered only the right to preserve / maintain order and enforce the law of nature. According to Locke, the purpose of the government is to uphold and protect the natural rights given to man. As...
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...Man constantly seeks to explain the nature of his species in order to create a foundation on which a secure government that meets the welfare of the people can thrive. However, theories that attempt to establish this desired government may clash as one individual’s perspective may differ from his fellow community members. These differences in thought lead to the establishment of various forms of government that each stress a particular ideology. Niccolo Machiavelli, John Locke, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬in their works entitled The Prince, The Second Treatise of Government, and the Communist Manifesto each interpret the nature of mankind as either untrustworthy, loyal, or innately ruthless, leading to the desire of different...
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...“John Locke vs. Thomas Jefferson” John Locke's Second Treatise of Government and Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence are two of the most significant texts of all time. Many countries around the world have used these texts as the foundation for their declaration of independence. These authors laid the base for the knowledge of the State of Natural Rights of human being which is the establishing bases of our government. We can understand that The Second Treatise of Government and the Declaration of Independence are very identical in their message, which clearly substantiate Locke's work influenced Jefferson. Unpredictably as it is, Jefferson has been suspect over the times for plagiarizing John Locke. The most significant similarity between both writings is that they are strongly focused on the belief that all men are created equal and have the right to be happy in their life. Locke enlightens us that humans have natural rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of property. Jefferson restates this claim as absolute rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Simply both documents mention that no person is above or superior to another person and that everyone is equal. The natural law of man is not under the authority of man, but ruled by the Natural Laws. Also they state that those natural rights...
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...the licence to take what is needed for survival, removing the need for general consent and protection of one’s goods. For Locke each individual is perfectly equal with one another, and as long as greed does not come into play society holds no need government for governmental control. “The same law of nature, that does by this means give us property, does also bound that property.... As much as anyone can make use of to any advantage of life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a property in: whatever is beyond this is more than his share, and belongs to others. Nothing was made by God for man to spoil or destroy” (31 stog). For Karl...
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...Page 1 of 7 What is Social Contract Theory? The concept of social contract theory is that in the beginning man lived in the state of nature. They had no government and there was no law to regulate them. There were hardships and oppression on the sections of the society. To overcome from these hardships they entered into two agreements which are:1. “Pactum Unionis”; and 2. “Pactum Subjectionis”. By the first pact of unionis, people sought protection of their lives and property. As, a result of it a society was formed where people undertook to respect each other and live in peace and harmony. By the second pact of subjectionis, people united together and pledged to obey an authority and surrendered the whole or part of their freedom and rights to an authority. The authority guaranteed everyone protection of life, property and to a certain extent liberty. Thus, they must agree to establish society by collectively and reciprocally renouncing the rights they had against one another in the State of Nature and they must imbue some one person or assembly of persons with the authority and power to enforce the initial contract. In other words, to ensure their escape from the State of Nature, they must both agree to live together under common laws, and create an enforcement mechanism for the social contract and the laws that constitute it. Thus, the authority or the government or the sovereign or the state came into being because of the two agreements. Analysis...
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