The Social Contract Theory of John Locke



The Social Contract Theory of John Locke

Introduction

Among the various analyzes on the natural state of man, has called attention to the social contract in Locke. This author has put the reality of the natural state of man as the focal point for the organization and formation of a politicized society. It allowed the development of rule sets that leads us to see the social relations in the social world. John Locke was born in 1632 in Warrington (in southwestern England) and died in 1704, was a contemporary of the English civil wars, monarchy, Restoration and epochal political events. He had academic concerns, he taught at Christ Church College in Oxford. She had a rough life in politically, because his convictions had to endure exile in the Netherlands, during the reign of James II.

Liberalism in its political variant was born from religious wars in XVII XVI, as an attempt to resolve the theological-political problem. Also, his letters on tolerance, it is recommended that the first large European Enlightenment theorist of religious tolerance, founder of principles which will focus on modern tolerance in the moral, intellectual and political. As a promoter of political tolerance laws he considered that mission is to ensure the purity of doctrine or veracity not personal opinions, but the community as well as safety and security of goods and personal integrity of each cetatean.

Discussion

Political philosophy of John Locke in his years of creative maturity was based on the idea of ??natural law theory; man has certain natural rights that are not given by any king or ruler. Between natural rights, ownership is essential. People associate in a community organized through a social contract between each member to get the benefits that they cannot have, individually, in the state of nature. The social contract is the foundation of government contract in which political power is an association for human wellbeing; they themselves are the creators and beneficiaries of this business. State is based on a contract between the leading and subject that give power so that the welfare of the latter to grow, and their properties are protected in a way that, in the state of nature is not possible (Hobbes, 2008).

It is interesting to note how these ideas have found their way into American political thought and the role of the principles envisaged by Locke in writing the Declaration of Independence itself in 1776. Thomas Jefferson based his political ideals government with the idea that power should have the basic "inalienable rights". Much of the Declaration of Independence is a kind of indictment of King George III century that failed to meet contract with his American subjects. King breached the contract, so his authority should be removed (Rousseau, 1997).

The unanimous opinion of those who reviewed the work of Locke is the significance of the work of John Locke capital is linked to the ideal of eliminating arbitrariness and establishing rule-based civilization. In his view, the arbitrary, omnipotent, is ...