Locke x27 s philosophies and books are allapplicable to our society today and some of our country x27 s political foundations are basedon his notable philosophies.i agree with his reasoning on why an absolute monarchy is no form of a civilgovernment. I believe that the people who make the decisions for their country are theircountry and that x27 the people x27 should have equal power and all be on the same levelsocially and politically. John lockejohn locke x27 s contributions in philosophy and politics set a standard for government and the people to follow. Locke x27 s political doctrines were later incorporated into the american constitution and into the constitution established in france in 1871.his theory on knowledge, set out in his essay concerning the human understanding, 1690, is of major importance in the empirical philosophy that succeeded the continental rationalism founded by descartes. Locke taught and lectured in subjects such as greek, rhetoric, and moral philosophy. They were not only fighting for their political freedom, but also their religious freedom. Locke x27 s influence in modern philosophy has been profound and, with his application of experimental analysis to ethics, politics, and religion, he remains one of the most important and controversial philosophers of all time.

Birth Order And Personality Essay

Locke x27 s earlycontact with experimental science helped form his attitudestoward his questions of philosophy, politics, medicine,education, and religion. The second treaty takes locke x27 s ownpositive contribution to political philosophy. John locke is very much known as a political philosopher in today x27 s modern society. Because much of locke x27 s philosophy centered on subjects such as natural rights and knowledge, he has in turn shaped american politics in such a way that it has never been the same. John locke rsquo s essay presents a detailed, systematic philosophy of mind and thought.

The essay wrestles with fundamental questions about how we think and perceive, and it even touches on how we express ourselves through language, logic, and religious practices. In the introduction, entitled the epistle to the reader, locke describes how he became involved in his current mode of philosophical thinking. He relates an anecdote about a conversation with friends that made him realize that men often suffer in their pursuit of knowledge because they fail to determine the limits of their understanding.

summary: book i

in book i, locke lays out the three goals of his philosophical project: to discover where our ideas come from, to ascertain what it means to have these ideas and what an idea essentially is, and to examine issues of faith and opinion to determine how we should proceed logically when our knowledge is limited.

Locke attacks previous schools of philosophy, such as those of plato and descartes, that maintain a belief in a priori, or innate, knowledge. He begins by opposing the idea that we are all born knowing certain fundamental principles, such as ldquo whatever is, is. Rdquo the usual justification for this belief in innate principles is that certain principles exist to which all human beings universally assent. Locke contends that, on the contrary, no principle is actually accepted by every human being.

Furthermore, if universal agreement did exist about something, this agreement might have come about in a way other than through innate knowledge. Locke offers another argument against innate knowledge, asserting that human beings cannot have ideas in their minds of which they are not aware, so that people cannot be said to possess even the most basic principles until they are taught them or think them through for themselves. Still another argument is that because human beings differ greatly in their moral ideas, moral knowledge must not be innate. Finally, locke confronts the theory of innate ideas along the lines of the platonic theory of forms and argues that ideas often cited as innate are so complex and confusing that much schooling and thought are required to grasp their meaning.

Against the claim that god is an innate idea, locke counters that god is not a universally accepted idea and that his existence cannot therefore be innate human knowledge.

summary: book ii

having eliminated the possibility of innate knowledge, locke in book ii seeks to demonstrate where knowledge comes from. Therefore, the most basic units of knowledge are simple ideas, which come exclusively through experience.

There are two types of experience that allow a simple idea to form in the human mind: sensation, or when the mind experiences the world outside the body through the five senses, and reflection, or when the mind turns inward, recognizing ideas about its own functions, such as thinking, willing, believing, and doubting. Locke divides simple ideas into four categories: 1 ideas we get from a single sense, such as sight or taste 2 ideas created from more than one sense, such as shape and size 3 ideas emerging from reflection and 4 ideas arising from a combination of sensation and reflection, such as unity, existence, pleasure, pain, and substance. Ideas of primary qualities mdash such as texture, number, size, shape, and motion mdash resemble their causes. Ideas of secondary qualities do not resemble their causes, as is the case with color, sound, taste, and odor. In other words, primary qualities cannot be separated from the matter, whereas secondary qualities are only the power of an object to produce the idea of that quality in our minds.

Locke devotes much of book ii to exploring various things that our minds are capable of, including making judgments about our own perceptions to refine our ideas, remembering ideas, discerning between ideas, comparing ideas to one another, composing a complex idea from two or more simple ideas, enlarging a simple idea into a complex idea by repetition, and abstracting certain simple ideas from an already complex ideas. Locke also discusses complex ideas, breaking them down into four basic types: 1 modes, which are ideas that do not exist in and of themselves, such as qualities, numbers, and other abstract concepts 2 substances, either self subsisting things such as a particular man or a sheep or collections of such things an army of men or a flock of sheep 3 relations, such as father. And morally good and 4 abstract generals, such as ldquo man rdquo or ldquo sheep rdquo in general. Complex ideas are created through three methods: combination, comparison, and abstraction.

Rdquo general ideas occur when we group similar particular ideas and take away, or abstract, the differences until we are left only with the similarities. We then use these similarities to create a general term, such as ldquo tree, rdquo which is also a general idea. We form abstract general ideas for three reasons: it would be too hard to remember a different word for every particular thing that exists, having a different word for everything that exists would obstruct communication, and the goal of science is to generalize and categorize everything. Private properties john locke's theory in relation to property can be outlined into divinely ordained nature of property and the labourer self ownership emanating from such rights to property by application of labour limits on the property and related statues need to protect property and the ultimate necessity of governance. The above theory is based on his major political essay, the second treatise of government.

This essay will endeavor to critically examine the practicality of his views and whether the theory ultimately delivers any clear message to the development of the property rights. This critical analysis will reflect on the theorists and scholars who wish to remain supportive of locke's views and also to set a contrast by discussing the views of those scholars who oppose him. Chapter v of his treatise would be receiving especial attention in this essay as that is where locke discussed individual's rights 1 to property. Section 25, 26, 27, 28 and 31 2 will be the pivotal discussions to reflect on the central views of his theory. The essay has based on the criticisms of all theories from the points of modern day scholars, lawyers and judicial decisions by the courts in england and wales primarily.

An endeavor will be made at the end to circumnavigate the relevance of his theory in modern times. Robert filmer was a defender of the divine right of kings and he also said it was wrong to kill yourself because the king owned your life. John locke did not give any emphasis on the natural value of the property rather emphasized on the labour of people to add value to the property.

He wrote in his second treatise on the issue of property and the value of labour with a economical and philosophical acumen. In the broad sense in includes rights and interests to the property whereas the narrow sense includes the material goods only property and rights thereof are natural by application of labour as with labour goods and benefits thereof are created gving entitlement to the producer 3 human beings have to take from nature to eat and drink and to produce to live as a natural right to preserve themselves and with this they have an obligation to god. Man should be taking only what he can use or utilise before it spoils as discussed in section 31 creating a limitation to the property rights locke says, as much as any one can make use of to any advantage of life before it spoils. 4 the right to a property is only clear and exclusive as long as it doesn't jeopardize anyone else's ability to create equivalent types of property for himself and the purpose and justification for this limit is that nothing was made by god for man to spoil or destroy. 8 therefore, ownership of private properties is one of the main reasons for the existence of a state.