Lecture on John Locke

Today we have another podcast rather than course, which is good because it’s a lecture you do not have to pay for.  However this podcast lecture can be a little tough to digest, because it’s aimed at university level students, but do not let this put you off.  You can always replay the lecture again in case things to not seem too clear.

The podcast I have chosen to summarize on is called "The history of political philosophy from Plato to Rothbard" taught by David Gordon.  The lecture I am interested in today is on a major political and philosophical thinker John Locke.  John Locke was an English philosopher who published several Treatise concerning governance, epistemology (study of knowledge) and religious toleration.  His most famous writings are "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" and "Two Treatises of Government". 

John Locke

John Locke is also known for his famous theory of the tabula rasa. This theory states that we are born with a clear blank state of mind and that we have limited or no understanding of the world, until society and developing mental capacity shapes our world.

Other theories John Locke is famous for are his political theories concerning governance.  He was controversial in his day, where we had the rule of Absolutism, which is divine ultimate rule from monarchy.  This was around the period of the English Civil War, where the king Charles the 1st wanted to raise taxes for expensive wars and if parliament questioned why he needed more money, the king would just keep dissolving parliament.  Well John Locke had much to say about this and was in some disagreement with another political philosopher Thomas Hobbes. 

John Locke felt that submitting to a divine contract to the king was giving the king far too much power.  We need to question the idea of human rights and property.  Why should the government or monarch have absolute rights to what is naturally on the earth, especially if people have worked for it? 

The lecture, which is number 5 out of 10, starts off about Thomas Hobbes idea of giving some of our rights away, but if you wish you can go onto lecture number 6 to get an in-depth understanding of Thomas Hobbes theories.  The lecture sounds a bit quiet, so you might have to turn the sound up.  David also writes stuff on the board and tends to drink some water to clear his throat, but he does lecture for a good hour and a half.  Apart from that this lecture discusses why poor Locke had to go into exile, not once but twice, because some of his Treatises were so controversial that they had upset the major rulers of the day, one being the royalists and the others belonging to the church.

The lecture then looks into the nature of substances and John Locke's theory of how our rationality is set by the mind of god.  Most of the lecture of course will look at the political theories of Locke. Especially how the law of nature can help people live together. 

We get to look at the definition of how Locke says people can claim property by mixing our labour with it, but there are criticisms from other major political philosophers, one being from Robert Nozick, who is actually covered in the first lecture.

Robert Nozick

The lecture then moves on to the problem of giving up our rights and what belongs to us.  John Locke is incredibly influential not only to the US constitution, but to other nations struggling to get out colonisation, notably those under British rule after the Second World War.

Try out this lecture one day if you’re up for political philosophy.