John Locke: A British Philosopher

John Locke was a British Philosopher born in 1632. His death was in 1704. He was a very important political figure. Modern government can be credited to his philosophy. Locke believes that religion is s key part in explaining man’s nature and driving force in life. Locke believes that we are all born a ‘blank slate’ or tabula rasa. That everyone is born equal no matter what class or religion. He thought that everyone is born pure, and without knowledge or pre-disposition to life. Locke theorized that everyone learns from their life’s experience. That it is circumstance that creates who an individual is.
According to Locke’s Christian theology, we are all God’s creation. We all have duties to God that include the duty to preserve ourselves and to act with reason. Because we are ultimately God’s property we have limits placed on our bodies. It is not within our power to enslave others or ourselves. We also do not have the right to destroy God’s property by killing others or ourselves. We possess a moralized freedom to follow our rational will. Due to the fact that we all have these limitations, duties and freedoms we are all fundamentally equal. This is the State of Nature.

Locke envisions the establishment of civil society as a product of progress from the State of nature. For Locke, the State of nature is not a state of war. According to Locke, war is force without right. We can live without a state and not be at war; and within a state and be at war. Instead, the State of nature is a moral community based on equality, constituted by natural law. Locke saw the State of Nature as a place where people’s rights were not always protected especially in the case of property. Property leads to increased conflicts over ownership. Locke did not agree with the process of inheritance. He believed that everyone had the right to own their own land. Remember in this time inheritance was passed on to the eldest male, all other children would receive nothing. Locke