LOCKE'S ACCOUNT

Locke's Account

Abstract

In this research we try to discover the insight of “John Locke Personal Identity theory” in a holistic perspective. The key heart of the study is on “John Locke” and its relation with “Personal Identity Theory”. The research also examines various characteristics of “John Locke Personal Identity theory” and tries to measure its effect. Lastly the research illustrates a variety of factors which are responsible for “John Locke Personal Identity theory” and tries to describe the overall effect of it.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion and Analysis1

The State of Nature2

The Social Contract2

Conclusion4

Locke's Account

Introduction

John Locke's theory of personal identity and the connection to metaphysics and psychology offers a foundational philosophical perspective of personal identity. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding from 1694 ties personal identity to continuity of consciousness. Locke does not agree that personal identity resides with the soul; rather, he moves to consciousness. Consciousness is what allows the identity of a person to persist over time. Locke also defines personal identity in terms of memory. For example, Locke's view of personal identity is tied to the individual's ability to recall experiences from memory. His memory theory of personal identity defines identity in terms of linked memories. Personal identity relies on one's ability to recall past experiences.

Discussion and Analysis

Locke, it is now generally agreed, wrote the Two Treatises a decade or so before he published it in 1690. Like most of Locke's philosophic writings, it was both a work of political philosophy in conversation with the tradition and a text directed toward the political situation of Locke's day. He most definitely did not live the life of an ivory tower intellectual. From 1666 on, when he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, later (1672) the first Earl of Shaftesbury, Locke's life veered between the quiet of the philosopher's study and the rough and tumble of a very rough politics. Locke became part of Shaftesbury's household, a trusted adviser, aide, tutor to Shaftesbury's grandson, and—because Shaftesbury was a leading figure in English politics of the day—Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1660s and from 1672 to 1673 Lord Chancellor; he was much caught up himself in politics. Associating with Shaftesbury introduced Locke to politics at the highest level, so that he never wrote of politics as a mere theorist or armchair thinker (Layder, 2004).

The State of Nature

No part of the Second Treatise is better known or more commented on than the first section on “the original” of civil government, for here Locke adumbrates his doctrine of the state of nature (Chapter 2): The true original of government cannot be understood unless we understand the “true original” altogether as a state of nature, that is, a state without legitimate political authority of any sort. The “state all Men are naturally in … is a state of Perfect Freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their Possessions, and Persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the Law of Nature, without asking leave or depending on the will of any other ...