On Locke's Freedom Ideas

In order to explain the basic spirit of classical liberalism, thisarticle tries to make a case study. It takes the freedom idea of Lockeand the systems of realizing freedom as the objects of research.Moreover, it discusses the inherent relation between Locke andclassical liberalism. To do this is of great theoretical and practicalsignificance, it will help us understand the essence of liberal societyand find out a base point of criticizing on liberalism.In the first part, the discussion was concentrated on the dependenceof locke's liberty theory on his religion thought. The arguments are asfollows: 1.In the Two Treatises of Government, many viewpoints aresupported by Christian theology, such as the premise of equal betweenman and man, life comes from God and God endows human beings withgreatly abundant substance in the nature;2. In the Two Treatises ofGovernment and the letters concerning toleration, Christian theology isthe premise of locke's theory of human nature; 3. In the Essays on the Lawof Nature, Locke thought that not human but God's will is the ultimatebase of natural law. Therefore, Locke's political argumentation is not soentirely secular as people usually assume, because the shaping ofmodernity is a long process, Locke was just one of the ideologists of thiscourse. As many contemporaries, Locke also had a strong belief in God, itis the belief that instruct his writing. Only by this can Locke's thought beunderstood, digested and absorbed by those devout contemporaries.In the second part, according to the interpretative frames provided byConstant and Berlin, the article mainly discusses on the intrinsic meaningof Locke's freedom idea. Firstly, the liberty that Locke elucidated wasenjoyed only by individuals. The individualistic comprehension offreedom is the core of liberalism; secondly, Locke considered thatfreedom means a series of rights, he was the advocate of "the liberty-righttheory". Locke took it for granted that the rights of life and liberty andproperty were endowed and could not be disfranchised; thirdly, thefreedom in Locke's opinion rooted in the model of modern commercesociety or the so-called "possessive market society"of ProfessorMacpherson. So, Macpherson thought Locke was one of the founders ofbourgeoisie ideology; Lastly, the freedom idea of Locke is the "negativefreedom"what Berlin called. This idea emphasized that every individualsmust have an autonomous and holy space, which any one or politicalauthority mustn't enter into unless individuals agree to do so. Inconclusion, the freedom idea of Locke stressed the individual enjoymentand the relationship between liberty and right. It rooted in moderncommerce society, and exhibited the main characters of "freedom of themodern"what Constant understood. At the same time, it also emphasizedthe limits of public and private fields, and the inviolability of individualautonomous space,which makes the freedom idea of Locke with"negative"color stressed by Berlin. All above comprehensions had a deepimpact on those disciples of Lockism.In the third part, the article illuminated Locke's theoretical efforts toprotect freedom from the construction of political systems. In Locke'spolitical philosophy, the great good people seek for is not political orderbut liberty. To protect freedom, firstly, law is absolutely necessary. Wherethere is not the law, there is not freedom; secondly, it needs limitedgovernment as well as check and balance; Similarly, the divinity andinviolability of individual rights are also indispensable for protectingfreedom, and personal rights must be the barrier to resisting public power;Certainly, in modern society, we still requires to question further about thelegitimacy of political authority in order to protect freedom, moreover,politics must be separate from religion. In a word, Locke highly prized thevalue of freedom, he had presented a classical dissertation about a seriesof political systems and principles maintaining free. To maintain thevalue of liberty, the most important is warning against"Leviathan"——the state. That the state and political power were in therein and control just embodied the art of human free life. Locke realizedthe importance of the law in maintaining freedom, so he advocated Ruleof law; Locke claimed check and balance, and demonstrated thesignificance of keeping the independence between state and society, publicfield and private field to the protection of freedom; Still, Locke agreedwith the religious toleration and the principle of politics-religionseparation. All these made Locke become the soul of classical liberalism.Summarily speaking, Locke was a real liberalist, which embodied inthe following political opinions: he deemed that man is born to be free andequal. This principle not only run through all his works, but alsopenetrated through his whole political activities. Like many other classicalliberalists, Lock agreed that liberty is not equal to unruliness, it was...