John Locke Essay Essay

Our Earth has been the home to a multitude of great thinkers. These thinkers were scattered throughout the generations from the Ro creations all the way to the 20th century however, the time period with the nigh philosophers was the Enlightenment period. During this time at that place were soldieryy thinkers much(prenominal) as Voltaire and doubting Thomas Hobbes. One thinker in particular who contri scarceed a great regale to history was conjuration Locke. His work is still influencing the lives of stack across the military man 300 years later.He rethought the moral role of g all overnment, created a virgin theory of acquaintance, introduced the role of condition, and re judgemented flock of their congenital rights. The combination of these four things do him the single most potent philosopher during the Enlightenment Age, and as yet in history. During the 1600s-1700s, jakes Locke lived on this earth, ob armed service how society functioned. He saw thinks truly separatewise than the average psyche. Unlike numerous others, he used logic and reason in order to see the flaws of government. The government at the time was improbably corrupt and unfair to the tidy sum.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 merited a fair government that served them as appose to the people serving the government. According to Locke, political place is the natural power of each man collectively given up into the hands of a designated body1. In a more general sense, he created the social covenant. Most people recognize this theory as the social contract because it is an agreement amidst government and its people. further people argon born(p) with their natural rights.The caprice of the social contract is a residential district surrenders some degree of its natural rights in favor of government, which is better able to protect those rights than any man could alone. Protection is one of the greatest services any government send packing provide. People will enjoy living under a real ruler if he or she can keep them safe. The quality of flavor is generally much higher when on that point is no constant vexation of attack from a neighbor. The musical theme of the government providing protection had been around before, but Locke included the thinker that government exists solely for the well being of the community.He stressed to the people that any government that breaks the contract can and should be flip-flopd. Gradually, people began to process this idea and realized that Locke was right. They were the ones that should behave the power, not the government. The people were joyless with the way they were being treated, but they did not know what to do about 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 only for the peoples benefit2.This in love true to many people because they were unhappy. It likewise gave reason for the government to be reasonable and not do anything outrageous. More power was given to the people and the days of absolute rule would no longer exist. One of Lockes other contributions that was considered revolutionary was creating a new way theory of noesis. Locke believed that knowledge was only gained through worldliness. He told people that live ons 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 to think that people were born without any knowledge. He accent the five senses as well. Humans fill their clean slate with ideas and experience in the world through their five senses. There are many varying definitions of knowledge, but John Locke is the most accurate.Locke defines knowledge as the data link and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy, of the ideas humans form4. Since our knowledge is derived from our experiences, it means our knowledge is limited. Not 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 same exact knowledge since everyones experiences are different. Locke also notes that there is a great deal of unknown on this world and there always will be.This observation still is true today because there is a great deal of un trustedty in todays society. He is also still influential because he taught us to oral sex those uncertain areas. As a continuation, he agrees that there are certain things that we are ce rtain of. One example that Locke uses is the certainty of our own humankind and the existence of God even tough we may not to the full comprehend who or what he was5. Another very complex theory that he had relating to the idea of knowledge was our ideas are related to reality.He give tongue to 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 detailed 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 great understanding of how their mind worked and support them to experience more in their lives. John Locke is known for many contributions to society but one of his most influential was his inception of reason.He thought that every person had a heading in life and that was to find truth. In believing this he encouraged people that Go d 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 hold open other people as well as himself recognizing the responsibility to husband the rights of all humankind naturally leads to tolerance7. This idea directly leads to his idea of separation of church and state. To him, government had absolutely no right to trim itself people. The fact 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 indi vidual should reach and control it. Also how men naturally exist in a state of nature 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 chair of the United States follow many of his beliefs. Locke also influenced the American Constitution when his ideas reached over seas. Early Americans saw the power of his theories such as the social contract and more importantly using reason.People wanted to be grant the same friends and eventually received them. Henry Ford once said, idea 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 devoted his life to changing not only the way people thought, but how they viewed life forever. No man has had a greater impaction 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.