John Locke
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Born on 1632 at Wrington, England
He is one of the earliest thinkers and founders of our free society we enjoy today
Introduced Classical Liberalism that became prevalent in western countries
1649
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His father was a captain of the Parliamentary Army during the American Civil War when
he was 10 years old.
King Charles was executed beheaded publicly. The cheers and shouts of the people that
bombarded his school—few feet away from the event—was marked to him.
1667-1680
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He dreamt to become a doctor
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First Earl of Shaftesbury looked for the liver medicine Locke had and invited him
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to be on his side.
The First Earl of Shaftesbury was characterized as a highly ambitious and weak
politician.
Became a physician, an intellectual aid, and join the entourage of the First Earl of
Shaftesbury
He cured First Earl of Shaftesbury’s liver complaints.
This started his venture on scientific, educational, religious, and political debates.
1679-1680
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He wrote his first work entitled, “The Two Treatises of Government” that aimed
to advocate for radical limits of authorities of the state—limiting function of the
government to protect the rights of the people to life, liberty, and property.
 The first treaty opposes the idea of the Divine Right Theory that kings are created by
God
 And, the second treaty differs from the ideas of Thomas Hobbes that the people need
to surrender their rights and liberty to a ruler to be protected from the state of nature that
he associates with darkness and chaos.
 Also, Hobbes then amplified the idea that people must set low
expectations for what is a decent ruler meant to be.
 And that rulers have no responsibility to guarantee religious freedom or
human rights
 While he agrees with Hobbes that the state of nature may be fearful and
the people need a supreme protector, but he argues that there must no
fearful surrendering of and liberty, but a just protection of these concepts
under natural rights inherent to us at birth.
 He argued that to eliminate inconveniences in the state of nature, there
must be a neutral arbiter that would impose non-violent resolutions based
in laws. One that seeks to protect people’s rights.
 He also advocated that tyrannical leaders can be overthrown as it is the
rights of the people to protect their interest of good governance.
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On Natural Rights
 All people are born with the same moral status.
o No one is a born ruler nor a servant
o This is in contrast to the natural order where kings dictate
what rights could their servants or peasants in the kingdom
could have
o No one is born with natural claim to authority over others
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All people has property rights or rights to self ownership
 People could claim unclaimed properties or lands through labor.
1683
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Because of his alliance with the First Earl of Shaftesbury and being a vocal critic of
King Charles II, he flew to Holland.
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In the same decade, he wrote another book entitled A Letter Concerning Toleration. He
believed that we cannot and must not impose one true religion because it is impossible,
and differences must be tolerated to attain harmony.
 Religion is a personal choice and churches were voluntary organizations
which could set their own rules and be left to it.
 The government must aim to preserve the quite and comfortable living of
people without looking onto the men’s soul or locking someone for their
religious beliefs. (note the Soccoro Bayanihan Services Inc. or SBSI, and
Kingdom of Jesus Christ church of KOJC)
1688
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After the glorious revolution of 1688 that installed the more liberal regime of King
William and Queen Mary of England, Locke travelled back to his hometown.
1689
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He published his two books, BUT, because of his fear of persecution, he decided to
publish them anonymously. Still, the books were widely read.
His thoughts on the nature of just government and nature of freedom paved way for his
radically different political philosophy, that inspired various known political and
philosophical personalities including Voltaire, Rousseau, Scottish Enlightenment Thinkers, and
American Revolutionaries.
Throughout his life, he solidified his philosophy on three major issues that still affect us today:
education and good childhood, how should the government rule, and religious toleration.
On Education
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Locke hated what he called, “useless subjects” taught in the education curriculums. This
included Latin, Greek, Music, and Poetry. He believed that at early stages of learning, we
must be taught on things that we could use in the real world, such as science, ethics,
business, psychology—that helps us calm ourselves and understand others—this is
according to his book, “Some Thoughts Concerning Education”.
1684 – an aristocrat, Edward Clark asked Locke advice on how to raise his son and heir.
He wrote what he told him in a book entitled, “Essay Concerning Human
Understanding”, where he said there that children at birth has no ideas at all. Tabula
Rasa, as he described, meaning the human mind, especially at birth, viewed as having
no innate ideas.
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He believed that only through experiences could a child attain thoughts
and ideas, because our minds are not preoccupied by the ideas at birth.
Moreover, he said that education is absolutely crucial to how people turn
out.
He died on 1704 at 72