John Locke
Similarities in View
Thomas Hobbes
Rationality enables humans to perceive the necessity of forming a social contract
Social Contract (n): an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection.
The power that the state exerts is justified because it is a power that we have consented to accept
True and Original
Justification of the State's
Authority
Extent and End of Civil Government
Humans are selfish
- We establish governments because three things are missing in the state of nature.
- We allow the State to have authority over us to allow order in our lives.
Freedom
a firm, clearly understood interpretation of natural law.
- Individuals are unsocial mortals that are obsessed with personal gain and survival.
- We have the right to resist and to challenge authority
- People are no longer a mean without an authority.
unbiased judges to resolve disputes
The War of All against All
- We sacrifice certain rights to the state to guarantee rights as life, and happiness.
personal recourse in the face of injustices
Natural Moral Laws
- Government should leave people free to live and pursue whatever form of life they choose
Income Tax
- People may struggle with survival and personal gain if authority does not exist
Influences on the World
- This relates to his most common writing Leviathan.
- Humans have a continuous struggle fighting for personal gain
- Individuals create a political entity capable of preserving inherent rights of "life, liberty, and estate"
- Humans are essentially moral beings who ought to obey natural moral rules.
- It is the duty and purpose of government to protect the individual's freedom to pursue happiness as each sees fit
- Locke's views had tremendous influence on political events
- People pay taxes to the government in return for their priorities being met
- Adopted by several nations during the "century of revolutions"
- Our natural state is at least partly regulated by natural moral laws.
- Tax payers money may go towards abortion clinics, though tax payers may not support it.
- Self preservation is the reason behind human being behavior providing them with the ability to reason
- In 1776, the american colonies 'sounded a Lockean chord' in certain lines from the declaration of independence.
- Humans are by nature free, rational, and social creatures; regardless of the existence of any government
DISCUSSION
Social Philosophy: a look on
Freedom, Laws, and the State
Social Philosophy
- Social philosophy is defined as the application of moral principles to the problems of freedom, justice, equality and the state.
- For example people tend to disagree with the government having to help people who are unable to help themselves, therefore disagreeing with conservative views.
- With the power the state has it is justified through the appeal to the divine authority, public interest, and an agreement of the governed to be ruled by the state.
By Daniel Hopper and Kirsten DeSouza