Question

1. Explain John Locke’s theory of government, focusing in particular on his conception of a state of nature and the outcomes presumed to be normal to that state. Explain the two political traditions that have emerged from this theory with regard to the role of government in relation to the private sector (in particular with regard to the reasonable accumulation of property). Explain these two traditions and how they relate to Locke’s theory of government. Elaborate.

Answer 1

John Locke was a 17th century British philospher who contributed to both to the modern political discourage and the foundation of empricism.He influenced George Berkley and David Hume and a modification of social contract theory that would lay thefoundation of the ideas of liberal democracy and cassical republicanism. Locke objected strongly claims made by ReneDescrates that there are a prior principles fromwhich knowledge can be derived.Locke insted that human beings are born as blank slates and he denied that there was an essential human nature and claimed that everything that a human being comes from the senses. In the two Treatises of government, he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against claims that god had made all people naturally subject to monarch.He argued that people have rights such as the rights to life, liberty and property, that have foundation independent of the law of any particular society.

Locke based the foundation of his political theory on the idea of inalienable rights. Locke said that these right came from god as the creator f human beings. Human beings are the property of god and locke claimed that the denial of the rights of human beings that god had given them was anaffront to god. In this way Locke has established negative rights for all human beings. humans had the inalieable right of life, liberty, property and the pursuit of their own goals. This is in the contrast to positive rights such as the right to equality, health care or a living wage that have been claimed as rights by political philospher.Locke adopted the idea of social contract theory to form the basis of what he consider to be legitimate government.