John Locke was born in 1632 and he passed away in 1704. He was renowned for his argument that the rights to royalty. He was also famous for his anti-authoritarian theory. He challenged every aspect that there is, with regards to authority. Locke states that the way that the government runs the show is not enough and that they take advantage of people as they are in society.
He had this theory that natural laws existed served to encourage people to be aware of their rights and not to let their rights be violated by any one in authority. John Locke, who was also widely regarded as the inventor of classical liberalism, was thought of as one of the most known intellectuals of enlightenment.
He was an Englishman who had studied medicine (Russell 669). He had several articles that he had written about his social theory. There are quite a number of scholars who were influenced by his writings. These included scholars from all over the world including America and Europe (Solomon 101).
There are a number of scholars who were greatly influenced by his writings including Rousseau as well as Voltaire. There are also many Scotsmen who were also taken by his teachings. The main group of individuals who really appreciated the work that was done by John Locke was mainly the academics.
The extent with which his writings influenced the world is reflected in various instances such as the United States Declaration of Independence. This is one of the most notable documents in the world. His theory of mind may be considered as the main source of contemporary notions of aspects that may include self as well as identity. These aspects played a major role in the work of theorists like Kant as well as Hume.
John Locke was the pioneer in the line of people who defined the self via a permanent state of awareness. He was also the person who first stated that the mind was a tabula rasa. He decoded some of the most basic facts that people overlook such as the fact that we are born without ideas that are inherited.
Most of his critics thought that he was out of his mind. His political allegations were considered to be based on his religion. Academic believed that he came up with his writings after thinking through them basing his ideas on the religious aspects of his life (Feinberg 504).
There are quite a lot of things that he derived from his knowledge such as the fact that he was able to decipher or conjure various aspects that no one was able to at the time when he was alive.
John Locke managed to put things into a different perspective that saw a change in the way that people viewed the world. This was especially beneficial to people who had other ideas that were still related to his in one way or another (Sober 488). It may appear as if he was rebellious, but this may be the point of view of people who really did not want to understand things as they were.
Most of these people were stuck in the lives that they lived in and were hardly ready to change their lifestyles. His line of thought was very useful and most people especially the scholars benefitted widely from using and following his teachings.
Works Cited
Feinberg, Joel. Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy, Rockville, Maryland: Arc Manor, 2008. Print.
Sober, Elliot. Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2005. Print.
Solomon, Robert. Existentialism, Broadway, New York: Modern Library, 1974. Print.