The Social Contract Theory of John Locke Essay Example for Free

The Social Contract Theory of John Locke EssayJohn Locke was born in Wrington , Somerset , England on lofty 29 1704 to John Locke and Agnes Keene , who were both Puritans (Uzgalis 2001 , Wikipedia 2006 , Microsoft Encarta 2006 . His father , after whom he was named , served as captain of cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces in the early part of the English Civil war . His family after moved to Pensford and Locke grew up in a rural Tudor house in Belluton . He attended the Westminster School in London in 1647 under Alexander Popham , a member of Parliament and his father s former commander. Then he was admitted at the Christ Church College at Oxford University , where he developed greater interest in modern doctrine , such as Rene Descartes , than the school s classical material . He earned a bachelor s degree in 1656 , a master s degree in 1658 and a bachelor of medicine degree in 1674 . He worked with renowned scientists and thinkers , like Robert Boyle , Thomas Willis , Rob ert Hooke and Richard Lower .In 1666 , he met Anthony Ashley make , the first Earl of Shaftesbury , who was then seeking treatment for a liver infection . Cooper got impressed with Locke and convinced him to move into ennoble Ashley s home in 1667 as his personal physician . Locke then resumed his medical studies under Thomas Sydenham who would later influence Locke s thinking . Meantime , Locke coordinated with several other physicians on the life-threatening condition of Shaftesbury s liver condition and persuaded the latter to pick out to surgery to remove the cyst .The surgery was successful and Shaftesbury credited Locke with saving his life . In that period , Locke served as Secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and as Secretary to the Lords and Proprietors of the Carolinas (Microsoft Encarta , Wikipedia , Uzgalis Shaftesbury was a founder of the Whig Movement and thus had great influence on Locke s political thinking (Wikipedia 2006 , Microsoft Encarta 2006 , Uzg alis 2001 . Locke got involved in politics when Shaftesbury became Lord Chancellor in 1672 .Around 1679 , Locke wrote his two treatises of government in defense of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and to oppose the philosophy of Sir Robert Filmer and Thomas Hobbes . While in the Netherlands in 1683 , he had the chance to rework his Essay and to compose his Letter on Toleration . After the Glorious Revolution , he accompanied the wife of William of chromatic back to England in 1688 . He spent time at the country house of his friend , Lady Masham where he met and discussed matters with prominent thinkers like John Dryden and Isaac northward .He had bouts of asthma and his health continued to decline until he died in 1704 . Locke never married or have any children . Main events , which occurred in his spirit , were the English Restoration , the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London . He was unable to witness the Act of Union of 1707 although the same crowned head ruled b oth England and Scotland in his lifetime . Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy were new during that period .Locke s influence was most marked on philosophy and politics , particularly liberalism , and specifically on Voltaire . His arguments on liberty and social contract had impact on the written works of Thomas Jefferson James capital of Wisconsin and other founding fathers of the United States . His critics say that Locke was a major investor in the English slave-trade through the Royal Africa Company and that he participated in the drafting of the unplumbed Constitution of the Carolinas while serving as Shaftesbury s secretary .This Constitution , Locke s critics say established a feudal aristocracy and absolute proponent over slaves . They believe that Locke s statements on un-enclosed property as justifying the displacement of Native Americans . His opposition to aristocracy and slavery , expressed through his writings , is viewed as proof of his hypocrisy an d his partiality for liberty only of English capitalists (Wikipedia , Microsoft Encarta , Uzgalis.