Asher Period 2 Team 4 Enlightenment Synthesis

The founder of Enlightenment movement in philosophy, John Locke had views on people and government based on democracy. He expressed social criticisms through writings. In his "Two Treaties of Government," Locke stated that all men are equal, independent, given natural freedom, and are entitled to life, liberty, and property which are the God-given rights. Social contract arguments maintain, based on a heuristic examination of the human condition termed the “state of nature,” that individuals form political societies through mutual consent, agreeing to follow common rules and bear duties to bring organization in the environment in which they live from violence. This raises a question of why an individual would give up his natural freedom to secure political order. According to Locke, by The Law of Nature, people would be bound not to harm others in their lives or possession. But, government can exercise its power to defend them against immoral people, providing security in the rights of the citizens. He argued for near-absolute authority and inviolate freedom. In comparison, Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, described the lives of individuals as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short," stating that self-interest and the absence of rights and contracts prevented the society. Life was without the concept of sovereignty. Hobbes argued that in the state of nature, individuals are apolitical and asocial. In general, the central point of social contract of the political order and social contract humans create are the means toward the benefit of the involved individuals. Therefore, failings in political structures can be managed by citizens through election or other necessary means.