John Locke as the Father of Liberal Philosophy - Essay Example

The Father of liberal philosophy, John Locke, was born to the family of a country solicitor on August 9, 1632. Locke's initial years were spent in the village of Wrington in Somerset. Locke's father was a small landowner who fought in the English Civil War on the side of the Puritans. From his early childhood, Locke was inspired by the ideals of his Puritanical father. Locke was a keen observer and a fast learner and had a deep interest in exploring philosophical and Biblical questions. From 1646 to 1652, Locke studied at the Westminster School in London. After graduating from this school, in 1652, he started attending Oxford University. It was here that he got his formal knowledge of Latin, logic and metaphysics. Though he completed his BA from the Oxford University in 1656, he did not leave the school. He started teaching at the hallowed institution for a span of 3-4 years, first as a lecturer of Greek and from 1658, the year Oliver Cromwell died and the unrest began that was to lead to the Restoration of the King in 1660, onwards as a lecturer of rhetoric. In 1663, Locke decided to pursue medicine and gave up his profession as a teacher. What is interesting to note is the fact that although he completed a philosophical education at Oxford, Locke declined the offer of a permanent academic position in order to avoid committing himself to a religious order. It was during this time of Locke's life, when the ideas of Robert Boyle and Descartes started to have an impact on him and he began to apply their theories to his philosophical understandings and treatises. It was during the same time, that Locke met one of his most important friends, Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper (who would later adopt the title of Earl of Shaftsbury physician become one of the Lord Proprietors of the Carolina Colonies.). Lord Ashley employed Locke as his personal physician but very soon, Locke would go on to serve him as a secretary, political researcher, and political advisor. It was by his association with Lord Ashley that Locke was connected to Charles II, the King of England. When Charles II formed a colony in America, he gave Locke the duty of writing up a constitution. Later on, this constitution, more famously known as the Carolina Constitution and would be used by America's Founding Fathers as a model for their Constitution. In the year of 1674, Lord Ashley got involved in a conspiracy against Charles II's brother. Though Locke was in France then due to health reasons, even he was accused of being one of the co-conspirators. Even after Locke returned to England after five years, he was forced to flee to Holland in 1683, one year after the death of Lord Ashley. Though many term this to be a self-imposed exile, it cannot be refuted that Locke's life was seriously in danger. During his stay in Holland, Locke formed friendship with many other exiled English revolutionaries who were biding their time to topple the English government. Finally, in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the English revolutionaries led by the William of Orange toppled the government and Princess Mary donned the crown. Locke was made the Comissionary of Appeal in 1689 and published a "Letter Concerning Toleration". In 1690, he authored the controversial papers "Two Treatise of Government" and "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". He wrote large works about the economy and in 1692, he assisted in restoring the board of trade where he served as an influential member until 1700. His book "Some Thoughts Concerning Education" was published in 1693. In 1704, he passed away in his residence in Oates of Essey where he had lived since 1691. The fundamental ideas of Locke's philosophy are presented in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). According to Locke all our ideas be it simple or complex, are derived from experience. The consequence of this empiricist approach means that the scope of knowledge gets acutely limited in its dimension. However, Locke tried to overcome this lack by suggesting that a proper application of our cognitive capacities should be enough to guide our action in the practical conduct of life. Interestingly, Locke chose to publish his political writings anonymously in order to avoid controversy. The First Treatise of Civil Government (1690) has a detailed refutation of the monarchist theories of Robert Filmer; where as the Second Treatise of Government offers a systematic account of the foundations of political obligation. Following Locke's view, all rights originate from the individual property interest created by an investment of labour. The social structure or commonwealth, then, depends for its formation and maintenance on the express consent of those who are governed by its political powers. Political rule, thereby, is defined by the concept of majority and dissatisfied citizens enjoy the option of the right to revolution. It is interesting to note that the political philosophy of Locke derived from the concept of Natural Law, in which man had Natural Rights. Locke was of opinion that men had a Social Contract between them in which every member in the social order try to gain advantages within themselves; something they cannot enjoy individually. This Contract of Society gives way to the foundation of the Contract of Government, under which all political power is a trust for the benefit of the people, and the people themselves are at once the creators and beneficiaries of that trust. The State rests on a complementary contract between the ruler and the subjects. The subjects provide power to the state in order to increase their own social welfare. Briefly, the state bartered its power to the property protection of its subjects. Moreover, as long, the state is able to keep the contract; it would continue to enjoy the subject's loyalty. In The Second Treatise of Government, Locke wrote: "Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself. The labours of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. . "1. Locke maintained that whatever is removed out of the state is mixed with someone's labour, becomes that person's property. James Madison 2 later explained that "property" means" "that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual . . . it embraces everything to which a man may attach a value and have a right; and which leaves to every one else the like advantage." This is a view of property that is at once practical, expansive and libertarian. It is the essence of political freedom. No government could take the fruits of one's labour and intellect without a compelling public need and without compensation, and then only through due process of law. A person was free to contract away his property, or any of his several rights in it, for gain. The contract with government was only to protect private contracts, and the government was not entitled to any of the gains therefrom. The human right in property was meant by Locke and understood by the Framers of the Constitution to be the fundamental liberty. Obviously, it was not necessary to organise government to protect free speech from government or to protect freedom of assembly against government. It was only necessary to organise it to protect property and life (one's life was his property), and once organised other freedoms had to be protected against government's power. He wrote in the Second Treatise that men unite in a society for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties, and estates, which I call by the general name 'property'. He said that the supreme power (the legislative) could not take from any man any part of his property without his own consent, for the preservation of property being the end of government and that for which men enter into society. He noted that for the protection of government everyone should pay his share (a small, flat tax), but only with the consent of the majority. It was Thomas Jefferson's integral belief in these ideas that made him build the powers of the American government on the "unalienable rights" as propounded by Locke's theory. Therefore, we find that the effect of Locke's views on the American empire is paramount. Jefferson's famous Declaration of Independence is a discourse that protests against the utter failure of King George III to keep the contract with his American subjects. Locke was rather vague about the organisation of government. He said that the legislative and executive power "come often to be separated." While Locke thought that the legislature should be supreme among the branches, the establishment of legislative, executive and judicial powers and their separation in the American governmental tradition came from Montesquieu. Locke said that the legislative branch should provide for judges, but there was no mention of judicial review of laws. The power to make war and treaties he called "federative." He said that everyone must submit to the majority, or there would be no compact of government. In the California constitution, Locke included ideas from the Westminster Confession as well as principals such as the Creator-Redeemer distinction (the idea that the government can control men's outward behaviour but should let God rule their hearts) and Liberty of Conscience (the idea that it is wrong for the government to force citizens to act against their consciences). Apart from this, he also included religious freedom and granted protection of the law to people 18 or older who were members of a church or claimed to be a believer in a higher power. In the 1776 version, the General Assembly was allowed to choose the state executive and judicial officers. Later ones did not give the governor a veto over actions of the legislature, making the General Assembly supreme, as Locke believed it should be. In 1997, the voters granted him that power. The current State Constitution begins with a Lock-ean Bill of Rights. The second section states that all political power is vested in and derived from the People. The State Constitution goes on to provide for the separation of powers, the right of assembly, religious liberty, freedom of speech, for other rights and for the organisation of government. Works Cited 1. Harrison, Ross. Hobbes, Locke, and Confusion's Masterpiece: An Examination of Seventeenth Century Philosophy. Cambridge, 2002. 2. Locke, John (ed. Richard Cox). Second Treatise of Government (1690). Published by Harlan Davidson, 1982. 3. Madison, James. The Papers of James Madison. Edited by William T. Hutchinson et al. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, Volume 1, Chapter 16, Document 23. 4. Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974. 5. Robinson, Dave; and Judy Groves. Introducing Political Philosophy. London: Icon Books. 2003. 6. Rousseau, George S. Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. 7. Waldron, Jeremy. God, Locke and Equality: Christian Foundations of Locke's Political Thought. Cambridge, 2002 Read More