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John Locke's Politics

Locke had some good ideas about political philosophy:

  • People have natural rights to life, liberty and property.
  • Natural rights make sense according to reason and are also God's will.
  • Individual rights limit what other citizens and the government can do to individuals.
  • The government and law should treat everyone equally. Everyone is politically equal.
  • The government has limited power, not arbitrary or unlimited power.
  • The government's legitimacy comes from the consent of the citizens who prefer the government over the state of nature (anarchy).
  • The reason people form a government is to help resolve conflicts and protect rights.
  • The people in the government should work to benefit society, not for personal gain.
  • If a government is bad enough, the people have a right to rebel against it.

But Locke had some very bad ideas about education.

This info is from my newsletter. Read the whole thing to find out about Locke's nasty education views, the Barbary pirates, and some political links.

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Elliot Temple on May 30, 2017

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