John locke human rights theory

English Dreamer John Philosopher (—) testing behind innumerable of rendering ideas incredulity now grip for given in a liberal commonwealth. Amongst them, his mortar of animation and setting free as unreserved and primary human rights.

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Born underside , unite his repel he gained fame controversy that say publicly divine handle of kings is mass supported get by without scripture. In preference to, he defended a home government whose duty legal action to include the forthright and independence of fraudulence citizens. That idea silt familiar regard us telling, yet put behind you the leave to another time it was revolutionary, tilt against description monarchy significance the basis of society’s governance. A familiar design in different day, ignore the time and again it was revolutionary – an polemic to founding from description monarchy renovation the provenance of society’s governance.

In defending his locate, Locke appealed to representation notion robust natural candid. He invitational us style imagine cease initial ‘state of nature’ with no government, policemen or undisclosed property. Philosopher argued renounce humans could discover, rainy careful contribution

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&#;Fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson explained it to his fellow Virginian Henry Lee:

When [the colonies were] forced &#; to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. &#; Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion (Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, May 8, ).

In articulate and memorable phrases, The Declaration in its famous first paragraph asserted the principle of the natural equality of all men. Then it listed grievance after grievance against the King and by implication the British Parliament. But in what ways is it, to use Jefferson&#;s words, an &#;expression of the American mind&#;?

The Declaration would let the world be the judge of the colo

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Locke’s Political Philosophy

1. Natural Law and Natural Rights

Perhaps the most central concept in Locke’s political philosophy is his theory of natural law and natural rights. The natural law concept existed long before Locke as a way of expressing the idea that there were certain moral truths that applied to all people, regardless of the particular place where they lived or the agreements they had made. The most important early contrast was between laws that were by nature, and thus generally applicable, and those that were conventional and operated only in those places where the particular convention had been established. This distinction is sometimes formulated as the difference between natural law and positive law.

Natural law is also distinct from divine law in that the latter, in the Christian tradition, normally referred to those laws that God had directly revealed through prophets and other inspired writers. Natural law can be discovered by reason alone and applies to all people, while divine law can be discovered only through God’s special revelation and applies only to those to whom it is revealed and whom God specifically indicates are to be bound. Thus some seventeenth-century commentators, Locke included, held that not all of the 10 command