John Locke Essay Essay

Our orb has been the home to a multitude of great thinkers. These thinkers were scattered throughout the generations from the Romans entirely the way to the 20th century however, the time period with the most philosophers was the foresight Age. During this time there were m any(prenominal) thinkers such as Voltaire and Thomas Hobbes. iodine thinker in particular who contri scarcelyed a great deal to narrative was potty Locke. His counterfeit is still influencing the lives of slew across the world three hundred years later.He rethought the incorrupt role of governing, created a new surmisal of acquaintance, introduced the use of reason, and re encephaloned community of their natural rights. The combination of these four things made him the unmarried most influential philosopher during the Enlightenwork forcet Age, and even in history. During the 1600s-1700s, John Locke lived on this earth, observing how society functi cardinald. He saw thinks very differently than the modal(a) person. Unlike many some separates, he used logic and reason in order to see the flaws of government. The government at the time was incredibly get down and unfair to the stack.Taxes made the lives of 98% of the population miserable and insufferable. Locke could even be considered a humanist for his actions. He felt the people deserved a fair government that served them as appose to the people serving the government. equalize to Locke, political power is the natural power of each man conjointly given up into the hands of a designated body1. In a much frequent sense, he created the mixer contract. Most people bonk this theory as the social contract because it is an agreement between government and its people. All people atomic number 18 born with their natural rights.The idea of the social contract is a community surrenders some degree of its natural rights in favor of government, which is better able to protect those rights than any man could alone. protective c overing is one of the greatest services any government arse provide. race will enjoy living under a certain principle if he or she can keep them safe. The quality of life is in the main much higher when there is no constant fear of beset from a neighbor. The idea of the government providing protection had been around before, but Locke include the idea that government exists solely for the well being of the community.He in a bad way(p) to the people that any government that breaks the contract can and should be replaced. Gradu totallyy, people began to process this idea and realized that Locke was right. They were the ones that should have the power, not the government. The people were stressed with the way they were being treated, but they did not know what to do close it so they continued suffering. Locke gave them an instruction manual by saying, the community has a moral obligation to revolt against or otherwise replace any government that forgets that it exists exclusiv ely for the peoples benefit2.This struck straightforward to many people because they were unhappy. It to a fault gave reason for the government to be sightly and not do anything outrageous. More power was given to the people and the years of absolute rule would no longer exist. One of Lockes other contributions that was considered revolutionary was creating a new way theory of intimacy. Locke believed that knowledge was only gained through worldliness. He told people that experiences caused them to learn. One famous this he argued is that, at birth the mind is a tabula rasa3.Tabula rasa translates to clean slate. Essentially, everyone is born without knowledge and over time they become wiser and smarter. This was revolutionary because previously no one had every stopped to think about how knowledge was gained other than schooling. Locke was the first of all to think that people were born without any knowledge. He emphasized the five dollar bill senses as well. Humans fill thei r clean slate with ideas and experience in the world through their five senses. There are many vary definitions of knowledge, but John Locke is the most accurate.Locke defines knowledge as the connection and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy, of the ideas humans form4. Since our knowledge is derived from our experiences, it way of life our knowledge is limited. non everyone can know everything since not one single person can experience everything this earth has to offer in one lifetime. This also means that everyones knowledge varies and no two people have the equal exact knowledge since everyones experiences are different. Locke also notes that there is a great deal of unknow on this world and there eternally will be.This observation still is true today because there is a great deal of changeablety in todays society. He is also still influential because he taught us to question those uncertain areas. As a continuation, he agrees that there are certain things that we ar e certain of. One example that Locke uses is the certainty of our own initiation and the existence of God even tough we may not fully handle who or what he was5. Another very complex theory that he had relating to the idea of knowledge was our ideas are related to macrocosm.He said that, our ideas correspond to external realities because the mind cannot invent such things without experience6. The idea of knowledge was vague but Locke defined it in a very minute and simple way for the average person to comprehend. This idea that our ideas are relates to reality because our mind cannot invent things without experience caused people a greater mind of how their mind worked and encouraged them to experience more in their lives. John Locke is known for many contributions to society but one of his most influential was his start of reason.He thought that every person had a purpose in life and that was to find truth. In believing this he encouraged people that God gave us our capacity for reason to aid us in the search for truth. Since Lock believed in a clean mind at birth, he also believed that people were born innocent. Innocence in his mind is eventually inevitably lost trough experience. That innocence disappears and creates knowledge. Locke wanted people to understand and think for themselves rather than follow their leaders blindly.He also considered truthful that, each person has a duty to preserve other people as well as himself recognizing the responsibility to preserve the rights of all humankind naturally leads to tolerance7. This idea directly leads to his idea of time interval of church and verbalize. To him, government had absolutely no right to impose itself people. The event of the matter was that the government and state were one body. This gave them significant power to do anything they pleased. Locke was one of the very first to question governments over oppression.All men control their bodies and their minds so no other individual should try and control it. Also how men naturally exist in a state of genius and so he needs to answer only to the laws of nature8. The majority of leaders at the time were extremely unhappy with how Locke was influencing the general public. Ironically, now many leaders such as the president of the unify States follow many of his beliefs. Locke also influenced the American Constitution when his ideas reached over seas. beforehand(predicate) Americans saw the power of his theories such as the social contract and more importantly using reason.People wanted to be granted the alike friends and eventually received them. Henry Ford once said, thinking is the hardest work there is and that is why so few engage in it. This quote is why John Locke is the greatest thinker and philosopher of all time. He disposed his life to changing not only the way people thought, but how they viewed life forever. No man has had a greater impact that him. Locke rethought the moral role of government, created a new way theory of knowledge, introduced the use of reason, and reminded people of their natural rights.The combination of these four things is simply what made him such an indelible man. Sources 1. Uzgalis, William, Uzgalis,. John Locke. Stanford University. Stanford University, 02 Sept. 2001. Web. 08 Jan. 2014. 2. Locke, John. The Second Treatise on Civil Government. Amherst, NY Prometheus, 1986. Print. 3. Aaron, Richard I. John Locke. Oxford Clarendon, 1971. Print. 4. Berlin, Isaiah. The Age of Enlightenment. Oxford Oxford UP, 1979. Print. 5. Locke, John, and John Locke. The Second Treatise of Government And, A Letter concerning Toleration. Mineola, NY Dover Publications, 2002. Print.