John Locke on Liberty and Equality Video
John Locke's argument, from 1689, for Divine Morality -- it's strengths and weaknesses John Locke on Liberty and Equality.John Locke on Liberty and Equality - attentively
But little is ever said on August 29th about another birthday—that of John Locke, in , without whom the Declaration of Independence as we know it would not exist. The Declaration of Independence is based on the concepts of natural law; equal, inalienable rights; strictly limited government; the consent of the governed; and the right to reject a government which has exceeded its just powers. These all connect back to Locke. But though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of license: though man in that state have an uncontrollable liberty to dispose of his person or possessions. No body has an absolute arbitrary power … to take away the life or property of another … having in the state of nature no arbitrary power over the life, liberty, or possession of another. All men by nature are equal … that equal right, that every man hath, to his natural freedom, without being subjected to the will or authority of any other man. The legislative acts against the trust reposed in them, when they endeavor to invade the property of the subject, and to make themselves, or any part of the community, masters, or arbitrary disposers of the lives, liberties, or fortunes of the people. Nobody can desire to have me in his absolute power, unless it be to compel me by force to that which is against the right of my freedom. The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom … for liberty is, to be free from restraint and violence from others … a liberty to dispose, and order as he wish, his person, actions, possessions, and his whole property.Magazines by Reason.com
He is author of God, Locke, and Liberty Lexington. Last month, Dr. Loconte lectured on this topic at the Philadelphia Union League in a partnered event with the Discovery Center.
We interviewed Dr. Loconte on the relevance of John Locke to faith and liberty in the American experience.
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Who was John Locke and why is he important to the American founding and Americans today? John Locke is really important to understanding the emergence of liberal democracy, natural rights, equality, and freedom in the West. The founders looked to Locke for the right to rebel against political tyranny. Locke lays out a natural law foundation, a moral-political rationale for when a people have the right under heaven to rebel against tyrannical government. If a more info tramples over your natural rights — the right to life, liberty, and property — a Jlhn have a natural right, even an obligation, to cast off those oppressors.
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Secondly, in Locke the founders saw the idea of religious freedom, the idea of the rights of conscience, and ultimately the institutional separation between church and state — very Lockean concepts. And it is really important to make clear that the way the founders understood Locke in these matters was not to marginalize the influence of the Bible or Christianity from public life at all. Let truth find its way in the marketplace of ideas is a very Lockean idea, and one that was embraced by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Was John Locke a Bible reader?
Not only was he a Bible reader, I think Locke knew and studied the Bible probably more than most of the men and women who graduate from seminaries today. Locke actually produced A Common-place-book to the Holy Bible. Does he see faith and liberty as allies or opponents?
Or as something else?]
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