Up@dawn 2.0

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Concerning John Locke

          (H1)In my opinion, a community of virtuous anarchists sounds more like a utopia than anything Plato put forward. Living in a state of nature, a functional society without any formal laws or obligations to a civil government is what should be considered the end game of philosophy and ethics. A perfect world is a world where every man is truly free to do whatever they please, yet they always choose to do the moral thing. Of course, the natural next question would be, what is true morality? Locke says that laws can be derived from nature, and were originally set forth by God. While I don’t entirely agree with this, I believe that Locke’s beliefs are founded more in logic and empiricism than in religion and theology. This, in my opinion, gives Locke a much greater credit than those who base their ethics solely on their religion.

                In a way, I see Locke as one of the most important philosophers of the last two millennia. Locke’s most influential writing, the Two Treatises of Government, formed the foundation of what would come to be the most powerful country on the planet. Locke’s well founded logic and his appeal to the freedom of man are now seen as common sense, but like Goldstein, the cutting edge philosophies of the past, eventually become the eyeglasses in which the people of the future see with. I believe this could not be more accurate with Locke. He is truly a giant of philosophy. 

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:59 AM CDT

    Considering the nature of humanity (and I'll admit I probably have a bit of a grimmer view of it) can society really live and function harmoniously without someone in charge? While I agree we should reach a point where everyone can be accountable for themselves by their own morals, in order for a feasible society to exist wouldn't someone need to organize everyone? Or perhaps a council or some such in charge of different aspects of the society?

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  2. H01 I agree that Locke's logicality puts him a step abobe the rest of these major philosophers. All the Christianity viewpoints of God being the one and mighty and all is him, they all seem so redundant to me. We need a logical and realistic viewpoint for the world, for those out of reach with religion or those who choose to live without it.

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