John Locke: An Icon of Tolerance in Education and Governance - Essay Sample

Introduction

In our world today, there are notable individuals who have made remarkable contributions to the various field, and in my view, John lock the English philosopher is one such individual. In the modern-day, John Locke's work has been very instrumental, especially on education and governance.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Letter of Toleration (1689)

I am a firm believer of listening to people's views and accepting everyone regardless of beliefs or shortcomings. The issue toleration, as addressed in his letter, was mainly a result of an inadequate understanding between religion and government that was always in conflict. According to Locke, toleration can only be achieved if people can only work toward having a new agreement between the government and the church. I believe Locke was in support of various religions, and not only Christianity should be tolerated by the English people. In his letter, he pushed for identification of the different faiths by clearly stating the role of government and why it should not interfere with religion. Locke believed that the civil government serves external interest such as general life welfare while the religion focuses on a person's salvation, which is a personal interest. Significant stakeholders in this argument were the government and religion where Locke fronted the idea that being separate institution, they must serve their functions without interfering on the other ("A Letter Concerning Toleration | work by Locke", 2019).

Two Treaties of Government (1689)

I personally find the two treaties which John Locke focuses on firstly refuting Roberts filers defenses of the king's divine rights while in his second treaty he refutes the absolutist government theory as one of his best works as a philosopher. In his argument, Locke believes that a leader should focus on ensuring the policies created focuses on the public good (Locke, 2013).

According to his refutation of divine rights for the kings, Locke defines political power as the right to make laws such as death penalties while taking into consideration the role of the society in implementing such laws. In his proposals, Locke stated that a king should lose his right to judge and punish his citizens because it goes against the roles of a leader. To achieve these, he focused on proposing a constitution that separates the legislative from the executive in what is today known as separation of powers (Locke). Major stakeholders in this treatise the citizens and the government as well as how various idea can be executed. What Locke wanted is to tell people is power lies in their hands of the masses.

Labor Theory (1689)

In talking about the second treaty, John Locke also touched on about where he states that because people own themselves, they also own their labor. To him, any person who toils for some has aright to own the property they have worked for. To own property through labor john Locke, however, set two conditions that must be fulfilled by the people. One of them is waste proviso, which states that a person must not possess a lot of property to the extent that some of it goes to waste. The second is enough as good proviso states that one may only appropriate property if there is enough to be left for others (Vaughn, 1978).

Theory of Natural Rights (1689)

I also found out that John Locke believed that the essential thing is the preservation of mankind. In his time what he did was inform others that each individual has a duty to protect and preserve their lives. As a person who loved life, he also proposed that each individual should be allowed to live their lives as long they do not interfere with the wellbeing of others. Further, just like we all do today is to ensure the government serves its purpose to protecting the lives of its citizens ("John Locke - Econlib," 2019). Through his theory, he forged forward the idea that the government should be responsible to the people welfare and not persecute them as they pursue their own happiness in this world (Locke, 2013).

Personal Identity (1689)

On the issue of identity, John Locke stated that an individual's identity consists of a continuity of consciousness. A person remains the same if the memories they had in the past days remains the same. In his view, a person identity changes based on the way life continues that results in having more experiences. Many people, however, have come out to dispute these suggestions about personal identity. In describing the personal identity, John Locke was cautious to separate sameness of the body and the person.

Human Understanding (1690)

Locke explains that human knowledge is what makes them superior to other animals. In his argument, he states that human understanding enables to view different things but not itself. What Locke, in his essay, tries to explain is how different ideas within our minds are formed and how w, as human beings can establish the limits of our knowledge? In his firsts essay, Locke refutes the idea of innate ideas which state that man is born with ideas already formed in his brain. According to Locke, man acquires ideas through the discovery of new views and interactions with the immediate environment(Locke, 2010). In my opinion, also Locke also believed that the world should not be governed by our intense but how we understand the world. What Locke only agrees with is the fact that our understanding is innate and thus discovering the world needs ideas to be formed in our minds. Locke defines ideas as perceptions within our brain when we think. On the other, he terms the quality of the object as the power that produces a specific idea in mind. To distinguish between idea and quality, Locke proposes two qualities that are primary and secondary. Primary qualities are inseparable from the body while the secondary attributes are the things that have the power to induce various reaction through using the primary qualities(Locke, 2010).

Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money (1691)

According to Locke, interests should not be lowered because to a minimum because he stated that all prices are determined by the market's nature. Locke suggested that many people would evade interest rate on price, and as a result, the interest rates would become higher. Thus, interests' rates should not be legislated but instead left to the market forces to make a determination. What the state is that interest rates should not subject to any control an observation that is still relevant in the modern world. In discussing the value of money, he stated that the value of money is directly related to the amount of money in circulation (Locke, 1993).

Thoughts on Education (1693)

Locke significant contribution has been mainly on politics; however, his sentiments on education have been very much influential to this field. Despite being focused mostly on governance, he also had some critical points concerning schooling, where he emphasized mostly on the practicality and morality on instruction (Gibbon, 2015). Something he emphasized a lot in the teaching of children, especially on young children, is the importance of play. Because their minds often wander, children must be continuously allowed to play because it makes them busy and regularly satisfies their curiosity. Children thus must be taught by qualified teachers who are able to motivate learners by simplifying lessons and answers all the question that the children ask.in his throughs on education Locke advice that we cherish curiosity , spare the rod, provide play opportunities, treat children as rational and continuously explain why you are teaching them(Gibbon, 2015).

The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)

According to Locke, the many Christian beliefs that were forced on Christians were unnecessary because they just hard to conform to. According to him, it was the duty of each individual to respect the wishes of the supreme being through taking into considerations what the scripture says. In explaining why the belief should not be mandatory, Locke argues that he wanted to maintain the consciousness of individuals while also emphasizing the importance of Christianity. What Locke meant something which I believe every believer should abide by is tolerating our differences when it comes to conducting as Christians (Anirudh, 2018).

Liberalism (1689)

John Locke is a philosopher that liberalism is mostly associated with, and you cannot discuss this topic without mentioning his famous works. Through his efforts on governance and politics, he introduced ideas that went against the political norms and other traditions that gave privilege mostly to those in power (Anirudh, 2018). In his discussions on governance, Locke focused on the election of leaders that focus on the public good and the society should also always be considered when making important decisions. Locke also informed the citizens that it is their duty to withdraw leaders or monarchs who are incompetent and cannot lead their nation. His arguments on the rights of the king focused more on separation and denied leaders the chance to punish men and take away their lives. His proposal of separation of powers and continually involving the society on various issues are still relevant even in the modern world. Today, as we have seen the separation of powers, is a common form of governance which makes him considered a great philosopher. His views on governance, for example, influenced the American declaration of independence.

References

A Letter Concerning Toleration | work by Locke. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Letter-Concerning-Toleration

Anirudh. (2018). JOHN LOCKE'S 10 MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Retrieved from https://learnodo-newtonic.com/john-locke-contributions

Gibbon, P. (2015). John Locke: An Education Progressive Ahead of His Time? Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/08/05/john-locke-an-education-progressive-ahead-of.html

John Locke - Econlib. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Locke.html

Locke, J. (1993). Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money: In a Letter to a Member of Parliament. Awnsham and John Churchill.

Locke, J. (2013). Two Treatises of Government. 1689. The anthropology of citizenship: A reader, 43-46.

Vaughn, K. I. (1978). John Locke and the labor theory of value. Journal of Libertarian Studies, 2(4), 311-326.