On Locke’s View Of Freedom From The Perspective Of Moral Philosophy

John Locke is a famous English philosopher in the 17th century.He is a representative of empiricism and classical liberalism.Locke developed his own moral philosophy in his An essay concerning human understanding,and put forward a view of individual freedom based on rationality and morality,which advocates people to realize individual freedom in the pursuit of real happiness.His view of freedom has strong ethics.In the Two Treatises of Government,Locke starts from the natural state of morality and natural law,and extends two freedom concepts of natural freedom and civil freedom from the perspective of individual freedom.Locke deduces individual’s natural rights and moral obligations from the framework of natural law,and combines freedom with natural law closely.His purpose is to protect human’s natural freedom,and to realize civil freedom and natural rights in political society.His freedom view also has a clear purpose.Locke’s views on individual freedom,natural freedom and civil freedom come down in one continuous line.The concept of freedom is a main line running through Locke’s moral philosophy,political philosophy,property right theory and religious tolerance ideology.This article mainly combs Locke’s view of freedom from the perspective of moral philosophy.The course of British bourgeois revolution made Locke deeply realize the importance of political freedom,and the fashion of advocating rationality and freedom inspired Locke’s research on real freedom.In his An essay concerning human understanding,Locke regards freedom as a kind of ability of independent choice and free action,and encourages people to put freedom into the practical action of pursuing happiness.In order to avoid the misuse of freedom caused by the human nature of seeking pleasure and avoiding suffering,and guide people to pursue the public interests and long-term happiness reasonably,Locke emphasizes that individual freedom must obey the laws of rationality and morality.In the Two Treatises of Government,Locke regards human life,freedom and property as natural rights endowed by natural law.In order to protect their natural rights,people enter the political society from the natural state by making contracts,and natural freedom is transformed into civil freedom.In order to realize the natural rights of citizens in the political society,Locke derived the rights and obligations of individuals from the framework of natural law,and advocated the regulation of human freedom by natural law and civil law.Finally,through the analysis of the progress and limitations of Locke’s freedom thought,this paper evaluates its influence on later generations and Its Enlightenment to the contemporary.