Locke the primary source of modern liberalism: John Locke Campfire
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line. John Locke & Locke the primary source of modern liberalism
Posted by flatlander100 on September 27, 192000 at 09:45:04:
Been rereading the 2nd treatise of late [preparing for a conference] and it struck me yet again how Locke may be seen not as the progenitor of what pes for modern conservatism in the parlous times, but rather as the ideological founder of what we might call Unreconstructed New Deal Liberalism in most of its major manifestations. Since, as Bill Carpenter pointed out nearly three quarters of a century ago now, "Locke conceives democracy rather as a spirit than as a form of government," a govt. may be said to fulfil Locke's requirments if it operates as the trustees of "the people" who in both the act of founding and by their present acquiesence consent to its exercising authority on their behalf. Why so many seem to think Locke's extraordinary reworking of the topic of governmental legitimacy necessarily leads to "conservative" conclusions regarding the role and functions of civil authority has always puzzled me. Flatlander