Locke and loade.
mattd
mattd at useoz.com
Thu Dec 20 18:38:03 PST 2001
John Locke's influence on the english and american revolutions:Arising out
of the enlightenment,
that period, roughly comparable to the present, with printing standing in
for the wwweb,Lockes
philosophies rippled out from the tumult of the english civil war that led
to the beheading
of the king,to the present.Some selections from
...http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/l/locke.htm
The constructive doctrines which are elaborated in the second treatise
became the basis of social and political philosophy for generations. Labor
is the origin and justification of property; contract or consent is the
ground of government and fixes its limits. Behind both doctrines lies the
idea of the independence of the individual person. The state of nature
knows no government; but in it, as in political society, men are subject to
the moral law, which is the law of God. Men are born free and equal in
rights. Whatever a man "mixes his labour with" is his to use. Or, at least,
this was so in the primitive condition of human life in which there was
enough for all and "the whole earth was America." Locke sees that, when men
have multiplied and land has become scarce, rules are needed beyond those
which the moral law or law of nature supplies. But the origin of government
is traced not to this economic necessity, but to another cause. The moral
law is always valid, but it is not always kept. In the state of nature all
men equally have the right to punish transgressors: civil society
originates when, for the better administration of the law, men agree to
delegate this function to certain officers. Thus government is instituted
by a "social contract"; its powers are limited, and they involve reciprocal
obligations; moreover, they can be modified or rescinded by the authority
which conferred them. Locke's theory is thus no more historical than
Hobbes's. It is a rendering of the facts of constitutional government in
terms of thought, and it served its purpose as a justification of the
Revolution settlement in accordance with the ideas of the time.
His reflections on the rate of interest show the growing disfavor with
which appeals for state interference were beginning to be met. He points
out the obstacles to trade that are caused when the rate of interest is
fixed by law, and he argues in favor of freedom for what he calls, in words
which suggest Adam Smith, "the natural interest of money." Money "turns the
wheels of trade"; therefore its course should not be stopped. At the same
time, he holds no general brief against the interference of the state in
matters of commerce; nor is the language of the mercantilist foreign to
him. Riches consist in plenty of gold and silver, for these command all the
conveniences of life. Now, "in a country not furnished with mines, there
are but two ways of growing rich, either conquest or commerce." For us
commerce is the only way; and Locke condemns "the amazing politics of some
late reigns" which had "let in other competitors with us for the sea."
. "The business of laws," he says,
is not to provide for the truth of opinions, but for the safety and
security of the commonwealth, and of every particular man's goods and
person. And so it ought to be. For truth certainly would do well enough, if
she were once left to shift for herself. She seldom has received, and I
fear never will receive, much assistance from the power of great men, to
whom she is but rarely known, and more rarely welcome. She is not taught by
laws, nor has she any need of force, to procure her entrance into the minds
of men. Errors, indeed, prevail by the assistance of foreign and borrowed
succors. But if truth makes not her way into the understanding by her own
light, she will be but the weaker for any borrowed force violence can add
to her.
A church, according to Locke, is "a free and voluntary society"; its
purpose is the public worship of God; the value of worship depends on the
faith that inspires it: "all the life and power of true religion consists
in the inward and full persuasion of the mind;" and these matters are
entirely outside the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate. Locke therefore
(to use later language) was a voluntary in religion, as he was an
individualist on questions of state interference. There is an exception,
however, to his doctrine of the freedom of the individual in religious
matters. The toleration extended to all others is denied to papists and to
atheists; and his inconsistency in this respect has been often and severely
criticized. But it is clear that Locke made the exception not for religious
reasons but on grounds of state policy. He looked upon the Roman Catholic
as dangerous to the public peace because he professed allegiance to a
foreign prince; and the atheist was excluded because, on Locke's view, the
existence of the state depends upon a contract, and the obligation of the
contract, as of all moral law, depends upon the divine will.
He held that "the minds of children [are] as easily turned, this way or
that, as water itself." He underrated innate differences: "we are born with
faculties and powers, capable almost of anything;" and, "as it is in the
body, so it is in the mind, practice makes it what it is." Along with this
view went a profound conviction of the importance of education, and of the
breadth of its aim. It has to fit men for life -- for the world, rather
than for the university. Instruction in knowledge does not exhaust it; it
is essentially a training of character.
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