Key Thinkers - John Locke

Question 1

Who are the key thinkers for classical liberalism

Answer 1

-Locke
-Wollstonecraft
-John Stuart mill - bridge between classical + modern

Question 2

Why are the modern liberalist thinkers

Answer 2

-Thomas hill green
-johns Rawls
-Betty Friedan

Question 3

Who was John Locke

Answer 3

-born 1632 died 1704
-seen as the ‘father of liberalism’ with his book ‘two treatises of government ‘ 1690
-central figure in original version of liberalism - classical liberalism
-disputed the divine right to rule

Question 4

What did Locke argue was the state of nature

Answer 4

-humanity is rational, cooperative + underpinned by ‘natural laws’, ‘natural liberties’ + ‘natural rights’
-this state of nature was owed to locked upbeat view of human nature being guided by rationalism

Question 5

What was Locke’s state of law

Answer 5

-states structures embody the natural rights + liberties that proceeded it + must be voluntarily consented to by the people
-designed to improve upon an essentially tolerable situation by resolving disputes more efficiently than under state of nature being guided

Question 6

What was the principle of social contract theory

Answer 6

-government exists by the consent of the people

Question 7

How did locke want the government to be

Answer 7

-a limited gov
-devolved separate powers + law makers separate from law enforcers
-a written constitution + bill of rights
-always representing the interests of the governed c always requiring the ongoing consent of

Question 8

-what would this limited power be confirmed by

Answer 8

-by the dispersal of powers
-executive + legislative branches be separate while its lawmakers separated from law enforcers