In the other hand Locke said that the purpose of a government should be to secure natural rights, namely man property and liberty. He favored a representative government such as the English Parliament, but he wanted that the representatives be only men of property and business. Both believed in a type of social contract between the government and the ones governed. Locke's social contract was government by the consent of those being governed, which is why he was the prime philosopher that Thomas Jefferson looked to when drafting the Declaration of
Locke's most important and influential political writings are contained in his Two Treatises on Government. The first treatise is concerned almost exclusively with refuting the argument that political authority was derived from religious authority. The second treatise contains Locke’s own constructive view of the aims and justification for civil government. According to Locke, the State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one's life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others. This does not mean, however, that it is a state of license: one is not free to do anything at all one pleases, or even anything that one judges to be in one’s interest.
For the progressives, the reason why they might get involved in society is to create or enforce social and economic equality and to push for social modernity. For progressives, they view in part the human nature of Locke, Rousseau and Marx. Marx is mentioned, since progressives want a bigger government to enforce social and economic equality for all. For Locke and Rousseau they both have an optimistic view of human nature, Rousseau believes humans can have unlimited improvement and for Locke government can help humans by enforcing laws to protect them and their property. Progressives believe like Locke that the sole purpose of government is to protect the rights of its citizens.
“There may be laws made and rules set as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of society… for it can never be… the society that the legislative should have a power to destroy that which everyone designs to secure by entering into society, and for which the people submitted themselves to legislators of their own making,” meaning if a legislator claims to destroy property of the people or resort them to slavery, God hath provided for all men against force and violence (Doc 1). As clearly stated in The Declaration of Independence, whenever any form of government becomes destructive or corrupt, people have the right to abolish it and institute a new government (Doc 2). Not only can similarities be shown through the right to change the government, but it can also be seen through human’s
John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people.
In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke argues that citizens have the right of revolution when the government acts against their interests. To Locke, revolution was an obligation, however, many other philosophers do not view it that way. Edmund Burke, for example, believed that gradual change was better than all out revolution. Other philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes believed that the people need to obey their government due to a ‘social contract’ between them and the state. This essay will argue that a right to revolution needs to be granted to citizens in the case of a tyrannical government because it is the government’s duty to serve its citizens, and if it fails to do so, the people need to replace it with an alternate form of
The leader’s responsibility to the people further indicates Locke’s belief that government should exist to serve the people and to minimize negative human actions. The conflict between the Fascist regime in Fatherland and Locke’s political theory is the involvement government should have with its
However, it is precisely the idea of workmanship and therefore human’s impersonal lives, as well as consent of the governed which spurs discussion and tension. In the First Treatise of Government, Locke set out to dethrone Robert Filmer’s ideology of inherited authority while invoking the Bible for authoritative evidence. Ultimately, Locke argues that because Adam’s lineage cannot be traced, no one human has authority over another CITE. Furthermore, the only entity to have control over humans is God because God created humans, so God can do what he likes with his creations. Humans cannot as they “live together by no other rules but that of beasts” (Second Treatise 2).
Fight over the Redwoods John Locke’s reading establishes the dependency of the human life to the environment. Locke through his environmental theories establishes that humans should utilize environmental resources because God intended them to be used. In the fight over the Redwoods, arguments are raised on the importance of the environment and the utility of resources. The exploitation and excessive usage of resources has attracted numerous debates from all over the world. Some arguments posit that the environment is self-sustainable and the resources should be utilized for development purposes.
He also believed that the government should help to preserve this right. Locke thought that a government that was created by free people would have the best chance at keeping a free society. Through this, both the individual and the society would prosper. Another philosopher named Adam Smith, thought of ways to improve the economy. He believed that the government should not control what people produced or how much they sold their product for.