John Locke's Theories

John Locke not only set up the Bill of Rights and the Constition, but he shaped the making of America. Of course, he didn’t “make” America with his own hands, and he didn’t discover it, but he did lay down the foundation for us to build on. If John Locke’s theory about knowledge and government was never put to use, America would never be what it is today.

John Locke’s theory was that people was born as a “blank slate.” People are born without knowing anything, and they learn as they grow. Locke believed that there was no human nature, and that everybody chose what they learned, and what they didn’t learn, by experiencing different things. Locke believed that people divided knowledge into two groups: simple, and complex. Simple knowledge is what we learn directly from the world, and cannot be made simpler (ex. The fruit is called “apple.”). Complex knowledge is a compound of simple knowledge. We take the facts, and turn them into an opinion, or idea (ex. We bite into an apple. The apple has a brown spot. It tastes kind of funny. You see a worm.)

Unlike Thomas Hobbes, he thought that people should be reasonable, people are born with rights that other people cannot take away from them, and that people should be able to choose their government. He also thought that people should be able to rebel against the government. Hobbes thought that people should be selfish, be self-interest, and have one person with all power. He thought that the person in charge has rights, and he can tell people what to do, and people must do it. Also, Hobbes thought that if the governor wanted someone dead for no reason, the governor gets his wish granted.

Our Founding Fathers well liked Locke’s theory.Thomas Jefferson read John Locke, agreed with many of his ideas, and felt so strongly that he included them in the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson stated that the government only has power if the people give it to them. If the government takes away a person’s natural rights (life, liberty, the right to own land), the person has the power to change the government.

Not only was John Locke a philosopher, but he also invented what is now called America. If it weren’t for him, we would not have what is today known as the Bill of Rights. We would not have freedom or rights to select our government. Neither would we have the rights to life, liberty, and to own land.

Here's a video explaining this in detail

Photos courtesy of:

http://krushworth.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/locke-essay.jpg
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep-wp/wp-content/media/locke.jpg




Video courtesy of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFqbwIzyvRM