Morality In John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Every day we as citizens of this country make decisions either consciously or unconsciously on how we go about our daily lives. We make all of our decisions based on our own personal moral behavior and what we believe in. Moral rules are defined in the book as things along the lines of people should not drink in excess or children should come before self (pg. 26). One’s moral behavior is primarily based on how they were brought up and what they were raised to believe. To test ones moral behavior ask yourself whether you perceive stealing, whether it be a candy bar from a gas station or stealing someone’s purse as wrong or right. Whatever the answer you just picked, you picked it because of your very own personal moral behavior.

John's main sphere of influence was Europe, specifically England. He was very influential at the time for England. Maybe even one of the most influential people in the world at the time. He also influenced the American, French and Haitian revolutions. John was a Philosopher. John Locke has influenced many other leaders too such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

“What does it feel like to be moral?” Kant and the Subjective Vitality of the Moral Law

In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, Locke focuses on the definition and function of property in chapter four. Locke wants to argue that man can attain private property in several ways (Socrates 6 sect. 25). Locke believed that there are two arguments for the acquisition of private property in a state of nature. First the labor-mixing argument and the value-adding argument (Locke 7 sect. 27). His argument states that if one mixes one’s labor with unknown land or resources, one then owns the unowned land or resources (Locke 7 sect. 27). However, this statement is not entirely true, if one mixes what one owns with what one does not own, it does not create self-ownership. Locke’s state of nature is then tainted and no longer includes equality and commonality among mankind.

He suggested that man was “born without innate ideas”, and that he began as a tabula rasa, which is a translation for an erased tablet (John Locke: The Mind as a “Tabula Rasa”). This concept of a tabula rasa stated that “people gradually acquired knowledge” from experience. He believed that man could distinguish from good and bad, and that he was also capable of and free to “order his actions and dispose of his possessions” without having to rely on others (Seminar #3: Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, p. 5). Everyone was equal to each other in terms of “power and jurisdiction being reciprocal”, and “no one having more than another” (p.

John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) is a English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism”. Locke got a scholarship to Oxford University where he spent 30 years at Oxford, studying, tutoring, and writing. He wrote influential political science and philosophy. Locke 's famous theory had to do with the Social Contract theory. The Social Contract covers the origin of government and how much authority a state should have over an individual. In the Two Treatises of Government (1689), he defended the claim that men are naturally free and equal against claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch. With both biblical and philosophical justifications, Locke argued in defense of constitutionalism. He believed God gave Adam natural rights like; life, liberty, and property in the book of Genesis and Adam passed it on to the rest of

These ideas were expressed in his “Tabula Rasa Theory of Human Behavior”. In his writing, Locke says,”Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas—How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.” According to this quote, Locke explains that people are born with empty minds, but individual learning and experiences will help to shape life. Experience comes from two different sources: outer experience and inner experience. Outer experience comes from the senses and provide sensory details like color, shapes, heat, and sweetness. Since these qualities exist in material objects, every human perception is the same and produce the same impact in each human. Inner experience comes through self reflexion and provides ideas such as beliefs, ideas, and thoughts. Unlike outer experiences, inner experiences can differ from person to person. Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues used the “Tabula Rasa Theory of Human Behavior” as reference when writing the Declaration of Independence because Locke believed every person deserves a shot at happiness since birth. In the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers write that the “pursuit of

In John Locke’s, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke develops an argument for the existence of God. In the the following paper, I shall first reconstruct Lockes’ argument for his claim of God’s existence. I shall then identify what I take to be the weakest premise of the argument and explain why I find it in need of justification.

Chapter 12 addressed non-consequentialism as opposed to consequentialism. The Natural Law Theory was expanded on, as were the human, eternal, and divine law theories. Basic human goods were also discussed; it was determined that life, friendship, family, religion, knowledge, and the experience of beauty are all basic human goods. Acting out of good will was said to be necessary for moral actions. Furthermore, the Fundamental Law of Morality was introduced, as were categorical imperatives. The Veil of Ignorance was also discussed; a concept which means that the people under the Veil do not know their place in society, societal status, and many other particular facts. Also addressed in this chapter were prima facie duties, ideal and act utilitarianism,

Brogan’s work John Locke and Utilitarianism, Brogan interprets Locke’s Essay with the endeavor of elucidating on Locke’s liberal ideals on what should be considered the standard of morality. “The standard or criterion of morality (or “virtue”) is the good (interpreted as the happiness) of all” (Brogan, pg. 80). Locke has an egoistic notion of morality, in which the self-interest of others is what constitutes morality for him--and ultimately the greatest good, which extends to public happiness. “Locke is an empiricist in holding that the materials of knowing and choosing come from external senses or from the internal perceptions of the operations of the mind (within which are included pleasure and pain)” (Brogan, pg. 93). The will, for Locke, is merely an indicator of one’s ability to make a decision. The decision comes from the existence of the possibility to act or not act, in a situation that has a causal effect of good or

The notion of human rights, natural rights, and moral rights all emphasize universal law, laws not invented by any government. Natural law and natural rights deals with rights made by government, or given by God.

1. Morality is the essence of rational thinking that allows us to determine right from wrong

Natural law theory states that there are laws that are immanent in nature and the man made laws should correspond as closely as possible. Man can’t produce natural laws but he can find and discover through his reasoning. If a law is contrary to a natural law then it is not a law. Laws should be related to morality. It is a concept of a body of moral principal that is same for all the man and it can only be find through human reasoning alone. There are many philosophers who followed this theory like Plato, Aristotle and john Locke.

Feminism foresees a genderless area where women should be perceived as equal to males. Femininity has been socially crafted due to the idea that men are perceived superior above women. Open-minded feminism quarrels that gender contrasts are not established in biology hence on the society’s comprehension of gender. Women and men are not disparate as they are both able to envision therefore no variation of gender ought to be imposed. If women and men are not disparate, next they ought to not be indulged contrarily below the societal area laws. Liberals provide that all people are alike irrespective of the sexes though due to the established habits females are frequently side-lined in raising their matters. Because of male-controlled

In this essay, I will attempt to extract lessons about freedom from Hegel’s treatment of morality in the Philosophy of Right. Before examining Hegel’s critique of conscience, I will briefly outline the transition from abstract right to elucidate the importance of morality for Hegel’s system. I will conclude by remarking about the characteristics of freedom as put forward by Hegel.