Who is John Locke?

John Locke believed that all people were equal and independent, and that no one had the right to harm another's “life, health, liberty, or possessions.” Locke was not only a renowned philosopher in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, but he was an Oxford scholar, medical researcher and physician, political operative, economist and spokesman for a revolutionary movement.

Locke believed that in order to understand the nature of power we must examine the origins of it. He felt that “Nature is a state of perfect equality amongst all men. In this state, no one man has more power or jurisdiction than any other man." His stipulation for this equality, however, was that a person who was out to harm himself or others should not be given equal rights under the law.

According to Locke, “If one is to act in such a way that appears contrary to the natural laws, it is the right and responsibility of all men affected by these actions to judge and punish the offender. In this sense, each man will be the judge of whether his 'rights', as described by nature, have been violated. The right of each man to interpret and enforce the laws of nature as they see fit, may be a source of much chaos. So, in order to regulate the implementation of these laws, man agrees to a social contract, under which all men are governed by one common ruler”

Though on the surface, this statement may sound like an advertisement for a monarchal society, it was in reality merely a resignation to the fact that man is simply incapable of governing himself, though Locke saw that as the ideal. He vociferously spoke out against the divine right of kings and argued that governments should rely upon the consent of the people. Locke was convinced that human beings were born with “blank” minds and that only through experience could a person begin to form ideas.