Locke’s doctrine?

Locke had a great influence on philosophy and political philosophy, especially the development of liberalism. Modern libertarians also regard Locke as one of the founders of their theory. Locke had a great influence on Voltaire, and his theories on liberty and the social contract also influenced later Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and many other American Founding Fathers. Locke's theories inspired the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Locke also made great contributions to the theory of knowledge. He proposed the definition of "subjectivity" - or "self". Historians such as Charles Taylor believe that Locke's "A Theory of Human Understanding" is the most important work on the self in modern philosophy. The founder of the concept. Property Theory In "Treatise of Government", Locke argued that civil society was created to protect property rights. Locke's so-called property is based on the Latin word proprius, which represents what a person owns-including owning himself. Therefore, what Locke calls "property" includes the right to own "life, liberty, and property." The purpose of political society is to provide better protection of property rights, because property can represent the private (non-political) interests of its members, but it cannot represent something that can only be realized in conjunction with others in the community. Benefit. Extending from this theory, everyone must own some property outside society (such as in the state of nature), so the government is not the only source of property rights, nor can it appropriate an individual's property at will. If the purpose of government is to protect property rights, property must preexist and be completely independent of government. Locke's rival Sir Robert Filmer argued that if the state of nature existed (which he denied), then everything must be owned by the public and private property could not exist. Thomas Hobbes had a similar view. Locke therefore proposed a set of explanations for how property could exist in the absence of government: First, Locke argued that every individual "owns" himself, so that everyone is equally free and equal in the state of nature. Therefore, every man must also own the product of his labor, and to deny this would be to regard him as a slave. Therefore everyone has the right to mix his own labor with the resources provided by nature: an apple growing on a tree is of no use to anyone, it can only be eaten if someone harvests it, And the apples become the property of the person who harvested them. Locke also advanced an alternative argument, arguing that we must allow apples to be harvested as private property, otherwise all humans would starve to death, no matter how abundant the world's resources were. A man must also be allowed to eat, and therefore he has the right to eat the fruit of his labor (and he also has the right to deny others the right to eat his fruit). When an apple is eaten by him, he must also be the owner of the apple, whether when he chews it, when he bites it, when he brings the apple to his mouth, as long as he mixes it with the apple of his labor (through the act of harvesting it). But this does not explain why an individual should be allowed to mix labor on the resources nature has given him. Harvesting apples is necessary because people have to eat, but this is not enough to explain why people must respect other people's property. Therefore, Locke assumes that resources are quite abundant in the state of nature: as long as others have the opportunity to obtain "as much" and "equally good" resources, one person has the right to take away part of the natural resources, and since natural resources are quite abundant Rich, a person can take away all the resources he will use without infringing on other people's resources. In addition, a person cannot take more than he can use, lest the resource be wasted. Locke also proposed two provisos for acquiring property: the condition of "as much and as good" and the condition of avoiding "waste and waste". Through this series of theories, Locke argued that a complete economic system could indeed exist in the state of nature without government. Private property therefore existed before government, and society was formed to protect private property. Limits to Accumulation Labor creates property, but the accumulation of property also has its limits. According to Locke, unused property is a waste and a violation of nature. However, with the introduction of "permanent products," people could sell their excess perishable products in exchange for permanent products without violating natural law. Since gold, silver bullion, and various other precious metals and gemstones do not decay, they are of no use to human survival except for their aesthetic value. Therefore one can freely accumulate them, or trade them for food. Through voluntary agreement between people, they become money (one person can exchange gold for apples, and another person can exchange gold for wheat). By buying and selling money, one can avoid wasting resources, such as selling fruits before they rot so that others can eat them. But the use of currency mechanisms also enables excessive possession of items. Locke ultimately adopts an attitude toward the adoption of a monetary mechanism that appears, at least on the surface, to be incoherent. Political Theory Unlike Thomas Hobbes, Locke believed that human beings are inherently rational and tolerant. But like Hobbes, Locke believed that selfishness was the essence of human nature, which was also the basis of his monetary theory.

Locke believed that in the state of nature all people are equal and independent, and no one has the right to infringe on the "life, liberty, or property" of others. Locke also advocated supervision and checks and balances on government power, and believed that when the government betrays the people, revolution is not only a right but also an obligation. These theories had a huge influence on the U.S. Constitution and its Declaration of Independence. Carolina Constitution Locke is often regarded as a representative figure of liberalism and a pioneer of the American Revolution. However, detractors criticized Locke for having invested in the slave trade in the New World through a British company and for participating in the drafting of the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina while serving as secretary to the Earl of Shaftesbury. The Constitution established a feudal aristocracy in the Carolinas of the New World and gave slave owners absolute control over their slaves. Some believe that Locke's theory of enclosure of property justified the appropriation of Native American land. Detractors cited Locke's anti-aristocratic and anti-slavery theories in his works and questioned the inconsistency between his words and deeds. However, most American scholars reject these detractors' criticisms, pointing out that Locke had no actual involvement in the drafting of the Carolina Constitution, and denying their interpretations of Locke's work. Self Theory Locke was the founder of British empiricism, although he himself did not fully implement this philosophical thought. Locke believed that all human thoughts and concepts come from or reflect human sensory experience. Locke defined "self" as "that which thinks with consciousness (regardless of its being, whatever spirit or substance it is composed of alone or mixed), which is capable of feeling, It will feel pleasure or pain, happiness or misfortune, and the extent of its consciousness is the extent of its self-concern." But Locke did not ignore the importance of "noumenon". He wrote: "The body is what constitutes the human body. Part of it." Therefore, Locke believed that "self" is a kind of self-awareness and reflection of self-awareness in the body. In "A Theory of Human Understanding", Locke explained the development process of this conscious soul. He criticized the theory proposed by the St. Augustinians that all people are born with original sin, and also criticized the theory proposed by Descartes that all people are born with basic logic. theory of knowledge. Locke believed that the human mind began as a "blank slate" and that it was experience (what he called ideas) that provided it with spiritual content. There are two kinds of ideas: the ideas of sensation and the ideas of reflection. Feeling comes from sensing the external world through the senses, while reflection comes from mind observation itself. Unlike the rationalists, Locke emphasized these two ideas as the only sources of knowledge. Locke also divided ideas into simple ideas and complex ideas, but did not provide a suitable criterion for distinction. The only things we can perceive are simple ideas, and we ourselves can form a complex idea out of many simple ideas. Locke's book "Educational Essays" is his outline of how to educate such a blank mind; he believed that education is the most important part of a human being, or more fundamentally, the mind is just an "empty cupboard" at the beginning. He also said: "I think I would say that ninety-one percent of the people we meet are only as good or bad as their abilities, depending on the education they have received." Locke also advocated that "in our Any trivial impression received in infancy will have a considerable and lasting impact on us later." He argued that associations (combinations of ideas) formed when a person is young are more important than those formed later because they are. They are the roots of the self—they are the first impressions left on the “blank slate.” In "A Theory of Human Understanding", Locke introduced these concepts and gave an example: for example, we should not let a "foolish maid" tell a child that there are "goblins and ghosts" at night, otherwise "the night will be ruined". "Locke's association theory greatly influenced later association psychology and had a great impact on the thinking of the 18th century." Especially for educational theory. Almost all educators warn parents against allowing children to develop negative associations. This also led to David Hartley's attempt to discover the biological mechanism of association theory in his book Observations on Man (1749), which led to the development of psychology and other new disciplines.