The works of John Locke Relating to Human Rights - Essay Example

He is considered one of the very first English empiricists. His role in the development of the social contract theory still stands out as one of his best contributions. It is noted that his works heavily affected epistemological and political philosophy development. It is also claimed that his works heavily impacted the development of Rousseau and Voltaire (Rousseau, S, Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

The theory of mind by john Locke is often cited as the genesis of modern conceptions of identity and the self. It is Locke who was the first person to define the self in regards to continuity of consciousness. Based on this assertion, John Locke was focusing his attention on the need to observe individual worthiness as opposed to group importance. As it will emerge later in this paper, the major basis of the human rights standing is regarding the lingual valuation(Asharvin R,  Revolutionary Politics & Locke's Two Treatises of Government, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).

The works of John Locke have pointed out important aspects of religion. In his letters relating to tolerance following the European religious wars, John Locke came up with classic reasoning. He fronted three arguments that sought to redress the situation. He posed that earthly judges, the state, and human beings cannot fully evaluate truth claims of religious standpoints that we compete followed this by saying that even if they could be in a position to do so; the enforcement of a single religion could equally fail to achieve the desired goals on the belief that violence is never an option in enforcing of rules. He then revealed that coercion to achieve uniformity would lead to further social disorder hence the need to settle for diversity (Ayers, R., Locke, Epistemology & Ontology, Routledge, 1991).

As the above case points, the ideas of John Locke reflect a human rights perspective. Mr. Locke seems to have had a clever idea on the need for diversity as opposed to uniformity. According to John Locke, individuals are born different and as a result, they should be allowed to follow their egos to satisfy themselves. However, while seeking to accomplish individual pursuits, the rest of the populace needs also to be considered in the sense that they should not be interfered with. This position is also reflected in the human rights stance that appreciates the diversity of the human race. In the same respect, the call for restraint when it comes to the enforcement of rules also points to the aspect of human rights consideration. To exact compliance, the human rights perspective does not encourage the use of force, an aspect that was earlier envisaged by Locke (Zuckert, M, Launching LiberOnism: on Lockean Political Philosophy, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005).