How Did John Locke Contribute To The Enlightenment

John Locke

John Locke was a famous philosopher and political theorist of the 17th Century. He is often regarded as the founder of a school of thought, known as the British Empiricism. He made foundational contributions to modern theories of limited, liberal government. He also made contributions to theology.

John Locke (1632 - 1704) was an English philosopher of the Age of Reason and early Age of Enlightenment. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of Epistemology and Political Philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential early Enlightenment thinkers. He is usually considered the first of the British Empiricists. The movement which included George Berkeley and David Hume, and which provided the main

opposition to the 17th Century Continental Rationalists. He argued that all of our ideas are ultimately derived from experience, and the knowledge of which we are capable is therefore severely limited in its scope and certainty.

Hans Aarsleff remarked that Locke ‘is the most influential philosopher of modern times.’ He notes that besides initiating the vigorous tradition known as British empiricism, Locke's influence reached far beyond the limits of the traditional discipline of philosophy. ‘His influence in the history of thought, on the way we think about ourselves and our relation to the world we live in. To God, nature and society, has been immense’ (Aarsleff, 1994, 252). Locke may well have influenced such diverse eighteenth century figures as Swift, Johnson, Sterne, Voltaire, Priestly and Jefferson.

John Locke changed and influenced the world in many ways. His political ideas like those in the Two Treatises of Government, which included civil, natural, and property rights and the job of the government to protect these rights, were put into the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution. A man by the name Thomas Hobbs said that people are evil and make bad decisions, so they need a king to rule over them. John Locke basically challenged him and said no you're wrong. He said that people are born into the world with natural rights. These rights are Life, Liberty, and Property. He said we need a government to protect our basic natural rights. John Locke's ideas and teachings of rights greatly influenced the Enlightenment and Enlightenment thinkers.

As an English philosopher and political theorist, John Locke laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment. He is credited with making several contributions to the development of liberalism. He was trained in medicine and was a key advocate of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution. In his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” he advanced a theory of the self as a blank page, with knowledge and identity arising only from accumulated experience. His political theory of government by the consent of the governed as a means to protect “life, liberty and estate” deeply influenced the United States’ founding documents.

Sources
John Locke
History.com : http://www.history.com/topics/john-locke

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy : http://www.iep.utm.edu/locke/

Locke's Political Philosophy Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy : https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/influence.html

John Locke > By Individual Philosopher > Philosophy
John Locke > By Individual Philosopher Philosophy
http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_locke.html

How Did John Locke Change the World? - locke and hobbes
Google Sites : https://sites.google.com/site/lockevshobbeswhowillwin/home/who-was-john-locke/john-lockes-ideas