John Locke Second Treatise of Civil Government Essay

John Locke was born on August 29, 1632, into a middle class family during late Renaissance England. Locke started his studies at Christ Church in Oxford. He then went into medical studies and received a medical license, which he practiced under Anthony Cooper. They became friends, and when Cooper became Earl of Shaftesbury, Locke was able to hold minor government jobs and became involved in politics. Shaftesbury steered Locke towards the views of a government whose law was fair to all, and all were under the law. In 1679, Shaftesbury was tried for treason against James, Duke of York, who would later become King James II. Shaftesbury had tried to prevent Jamess right of succession, so he fled to Holland, and Locke followed. Locke†¦show more content†¦If a person commits a crime, the people have a right to punish him. If one man kills another mans sheep, then the people have the right to kill one of his sheep, without commiting a crime.Lockes theories of government greatly oppose those of Thomas Hobbes, a political philospher who believes in a government headed by an absolute monarch, who has complete control over the entire society. Hobbes says that man is evil, so it is better to give up power to one individual, so that the evil in the society is limited. Locke feels that this system of government is lacking in that the ruler has all control, and may not be stopped in abuses of power, which Locke fears. Humans beings decide to form a society out of the state of nature because there must be unity among men in order to protect one another, and so that they may punish offenders of the justice. Men do this under the rule of an indivdual who is selected by the people, and to whom the people give up some of their personal rights.Though humans give up certain rights to the chosen authoriy, they are entitled to certain rights reserved to them alone, which they hold within the society. All members of the society should be equal under the law of justice, and that no man is better than another, since all men are created equal, and all are equal before the laws of nature. The law of nature states that people attain property through the labour they do.The ruler or authority over a society should be an indivdualShow MoreRelatedJohn Locke s The Seco nd Treatise Of Civil Government977 Words   |  4 PagesMadeline Boche Dr. Thorn Philosophy 1301.040 24 March 2017 John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Civil Government In John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Civil Government, Locke discusses what the moral state of nature is and rejects the idea of a â€Å"divine right of kings.† John Locke was a product of the best schools in England and had a heavy impact on Western thought through his writings. 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