How many people here know who John Locke was?

Question

Think of this as an... experiment.

Tell me who John Locke was, and what role he had in the founding of our country.

Answer 1

He was a great philosopher...didn't his ideas help put together the government?

I can't really remember exactly without googling (that would be cheating lol) but I vaguely remember something like it from the book Sophie's World (good book! heavy stuff though.)

Answer 2

I just finished reading the Second Treatise of Government.

John Locke was an English philosopher who 'borrowed' ideas from other social contract thinkers, (Roussou, Hobbes, etc) and improved their ideas. Locke's social contract established the State of Nature, where there is no government and individuals have the liberty to protect their own rights and property, and the Civil State, where a government is intact and protects the individual's liberties, property, and rights for them. Individuals must forfeit certain rights, such as the right to kill another, in order to maintain the government's rule and protection.

Locke wrote a first essay concerning civil government in which he completely trashed the English monoarchy. The second treatise of government established an alternative to a monarchy, and laid out guidelines for rights restrictions and such, which was better known as the Social Contract. Locke's Social Contract is the Basis of the US Constitution.

Answer 3

John Locke, (August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704) was an English philosopher. Locke is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Answer 4

John Locke- without doing any web searches, I believe John Locke was the man who came up with the idea that people are naturally good and learn evil. Or maybe it was vice versa... American History wasn't my strong point in high school and I don't have to take it in college.

Answer 5

John Locke was a British philosopher who wrote "Of Civil Government" which has a lot of writing that the Constitution was worded after. He was one of a group of writers of that era such as David Hume and the Benjamin's. Our founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, were definitely influenced by their works.

Answer 6

John Locke was an English philosopher..He postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.

Answer 7

Look up 'Fundamental Constitution of the Carolinas', which Locke had a hand in writing.

Answer 8

That's easy he's the guy on the TV show "Lost". His estranged father is Anthony Cooper. Coincidence? I don't think so! It means something and a lot of the fans have been trying to figure out why those two people have those particular names. Just one of the many mysteries of "LOST".

Answer 9

Sigh... all I can remember is that he and Demosthenes were the sock puppets for Valentine and Peter Wiggin in Ender's Game.

Answer 10

He was a philosopher who believed that everyone is entitled to certain freedoms, and inspired the Constitution.