John Locke

Locke's influence in modern philosophy has been profound and, with his application of empirical analysis to ethics, politics, and religion, he remains one of the most important and controversial philosophers of all time. Among his other works are Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) and The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695). Every person in the world has each its own understanding of the world around them and the government that will be administrated over them. After the English Civil War, the events that resulted led not only to changes in government but also to new ideas about the government as well.

The insurgent activities of ethical practices that had occurred during the 1600's challenged many philosophers to think about whether English people had the right to rebel against Charles I in 1642 and James II in 1688. The uncertainty hanging in the air was could a ruler lawfully be overthrown by his subjects? This was the case that caused many philosophers to debate over.

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who had lived during the civil right and was greatly perturbed by the disarray that had ensued. The repulsion of civil war convinced him that all humans were naturally impious and should be ethical. People would give free reign to their ethical ways if they were left to themselves. He believed governments were created to protect people from their own ethics. The best government was one that had the awesome power of a sea monster, the leviathan. Since the chief purpose of a government was to stop society from falling in to disorder, an absolute monarchy, having complete power, was best.

Hobbes wrote his most famous work, Leviathan in 1651, two years after Charles I was beheaded. Living through the civil war had caused him to be disturbed by the chaos it created. He set forth his philosophy in his book. He explained that groups of people first lived in anarchy, what he called a "state of nature". Life was violent and dangerous under these circumstances, so people chose a leader to rule them.

It was Locke that brought the colonies to realize that they were being ruled unfair. It was Locke's Two Treatises of Government that strongly influenced Thomas Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence and the Colonies fighting for their freedom. They were not only fighting for their political freedom, but also their religious freedom. Locke, in the Two Treatises of Government stated that a people as a whole should have the freedom to choose their religion. He also believed that there should be no connection between the state and the church, and neither could make laws concerning the other.

Locke's influence in modern philosophy has been profound and, with his application of experimental analysis to ethics, politics, and religion, he remains one of the most important and controversial philosophers of all time. His ideas and writings lived way beyond his time, and have proven to be the reason the colonies broke away from their mother country and learned to expect ...