Similarities Between Plato And John Locke

The Common Sense pamphlet was written by Thomas Paine he was an editor for the Pennsylvanian magazine. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson. These two authors, Paine and Jefferson got their ideas from the Enlightenment philosophers Voltaire, Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu.

Jefferson had many ideas that seemed to be influenced by predecessors such as John Locke. However, there are also some similarities found in other such philosophies of politics. This could include some ideas that don’t even have an idea to project a democracy, but rather an absolute monarch, as proposed by Hobbes. The concepts that were placed within the theory of revolution have made themselves evident to be followed by other such ideals. How like-minded were these concepts though and just what did they have that was shared by others?

John Locke views civil society—a group that is under the authority of an exclusive leader who is in charge of protecting their welfare through legislation—as a crucial repellant to absolute monarchy as well as vital to protecting an individual’s property, because its origin which is the paternal model where an individual gives up certain rights in return for protection from an executive. In his Second Treatise on Government, Locke pushes the idea that God did not intend for a man to be alone, but to have the option of joining a society amongst other men. Continuing with this notion, he explains the origins of the civil society through the paternal model which he considers as the beginning of society of people coming together under one man.

independent”. According to the state of nature, no man should endanger another man’s life, well-being, freedom, or possessions. Everyone is “obligated by the laws of nature to respect the rights of every man”, according to Locke.

John Locke believed that laws should change for the better. He wants people to be treated equally and everyone should be free to do as they please. “There [is] nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank… should also be equal one amongst one another. But the state of mankind is not so miserable that they are not capable of using this remedy… they have not only a right to get out of [a failed government], but to prevent it.” Locke states that it is unfair that all people of the same species are treated differently. He also believes that its not the politicians job to make decisions for themselves and if the government fell, he believes the people could easily get right back up.

Philosophical ideas impacted human history, particularly in government. Niccolo Machiavelli and John Locke ideation molded human history on how power should be divided equally amongst the people and the ruler. Their theories began the steps to construction of the U.S government. Machiavelli ideas migrated the power in monarchies away form the power of the church to the King/Queen. Particularly starting in Florence during the renaissance and political enlightenment. Locke ideas came before the American Revolution and were the foundation for the U.S Constitution and partly reasons for the revolution. Though these men were not able to live through or the start of their notions, the people took a hold of them impacting government systems.

During the Revolutionary era, the birth of the U.S. Constitution gave way to the political divide between the two polarizing philosophies of Federalists and Anti-Federalists. After the economic pitfalls and decentralization the Articles of Confederation had left behind, action was taken to ameliorate its failures. With the creation of the Federalist party in by founder Alexander Hamilton, its members advocated for a stronger national government and defended the validity of the Constitution’s ratification. Contrarily, the Constitution was met with skepticism on behalf of the Anti-Federalists, who believed it would undermine state sovereignty and infringe upon their human rights. The two parties hailed from different socioeconomic backgrounds,

Albeit Aristotle and Locke lived 2,000 years apart, their periods in history were similar. Both eras were marked by wars, tyrannical figures, and political and social instability in ancient Greece and medieval England. However, there was one major difference in their epochs, religion. The Greeks practice polytheism, while Christianity was practiced in Europe during Locke’s time. The social and political environment influenced their opinions about ethics and morality. The goal of this essay is to identify the similarities and differences between their views on government and politics.

John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu were political philosophers that debated the question of who was best fit to control the government. Locke and Montesquieu shared similar political beliefs such as natural rights and the separation of government powers. However, both philosophers did, in fact, have their personal views that helped them accomplish important achievements. John Locke published “Two Treatises of Government” and “ An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” which present a detail philosophy of the mind and thought. Locke’s “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” lays out his philosophical project. Locke’s philosophical project consisted of discovering where our ideas come from, what an idea is, and to examine issues of faith

Bishop Bossuet believed that the Prince of the nation was held accountable to no man, stating that no man has power near equal to his. This means he was judge, jury, and executioner for the people. There was no fair trial; it was simply, whether or not the king found you innocent. Then there is Locke’s viewpoint; Locke viewed everyman born equally, with the same rights and privileges as any man beside him. This is to say that Locke believed it was wrong for a nation to be ruled by one man based on his bloodline or privilege of class. Both of these arguments are basically over the idea of being born into privilege or into service. While one puts heavy emphasis on one man being inherently “good”, the other emphasizes our ability to have free will.

Thomas Paine essentially wrote Common Sense for the common man. Being a pamphlet, its structure and simplicity made reading easy for those who were literate. Its minimalism enabled citizens in the colonies to unite under one common cause — independence against Britain. He was inspired by both John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government as well as Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s On the Social Contract. Each of the philosophies discussed the purpose of government as well as which government was the most ideal. For Paine, government, is “a punisher,” in which society is ruled by in order to protect the properties of one’s natural rights (Paine 3). However, he defends a representative democracy as being the ideal. Likewise, John Locke also argues that governments protect the rights of man. Similarly, to

While freedom as a concept feels fairly intuitive, nuances in interpretation can change the basis of an argument. John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America do not define liberty in precisely the same way, which in turn guides two different visions in how a government should function.

Justice is one of the most important moral and political concepts. The word comes from the Latin word jus, meaning right or law. According to Kelsen (2000), Justice is primarily a possible, but not a necessary, quality of a social order regulating the mutual relations of men

In Plato’s book Republic, he outlines the ideal just society. Through his written dialogue, Plato describes the ideal city. He calls this city Kallipolis and that is where I am from. Kallipolis means beautiful city. The city was outlined to be a healthy city where justice prevails. In the healthy city, the basic needs of the people are met in the most efficient way. Everyone works together to support each other in every aspect of their lives. The society values wisdom, courage, loyalty, and selflessness. The concepts behind Kallipolis are philosophical approaches to how a community can flourish with justice and happiness. However, the ideal city can be difficult to translate to real life.

Jean-Jacque Rousseau - Comparisons with the above two philosophers and opinions on the State and Law.