Why did John Locke believe that people could be trusted to goven?

Question

John Locke (August 29, 1632-October 28, 1704) was an English philosopher. In epistemology, Locke has often been classified as a British Empiricist, along with David Hume and George Berkeley. He is equally important as a social contract theorist, as he developed an alternative to the Hobbesian state of nature and argued a government could only be legitimate if it received the consent of the governed through a social contract and protected the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. If such consent was not given, argued Locke, citizens had a right of rebellion.

Locke's ideas had an enormous influence on the development of political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced both Voltaire and, along with those of many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, the American revolutionaries as reflected in the American Declaration of Independence

Answer 1

Your question, then your follow up description make all this very confusing. Why did he think that we should govern ourselves? The individual is the ultimate authority. Those who consent to be governed do so only with the understanding that if things ever change to the point that the consenting no longer approve, government should be abolished and a new one established. I think he believed this because who among us can claim that we have a right to put ourselves at the head of a government that controls the actions of others? Whos to say that those who are governed are not more capable than those who govern? Why is it your right to tell me what to do and vice versa. Man only agrees to government as long as its in his interest. If not, its his right and duty to throw off the oppressive rule. Abstract answer for sure, but its a deeply philosophical subject.

Answer 2

i'd say no, yet in his day and time if he did not fake to trust then his existence expectancy would were a lot shorter. easily the television educate does supply a clue: Locke grow to be the mystic at the same time as Christian grow to be the rationalist.