Question

Enlightenment thinker John Locke believed in certain principles called “laws of nature” or “natural laws” that governed the moral world as they do the physical world (i.e. gravity). Which of the following would John Locke define as a natural law?
A. Rights of life, liberty and property
B. Right to trial by jury
C. Right to bear arms
D. To party (must be willing to fight for this right)

Answer 1

Answer:

A. Rights of life, liberty and property

Explanation:

The Scientific Revolution had shown that there are natural laws in place in the physical world and in the universe at large.  John Locke and other enlightment thinkers believed that there were natural laws that applied to society and government also.  This included a conviction that all human beings have certain natural rights which are to be protected and preserved.    Locke's ideal was one that promoted individual freedom and equal rights and opportunity for all.  Each individual's well-being (life, health, liberty, possessions) should be served by the way government and society are arranged.

In his Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690), Locke expressed his views about natural laws / natural rights in this way:

• The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.

Answer 2

Answer:

A. Rights of life, liberty, and property

Explanation:

The scientific revolution showed that there were natural laws that were put in place across the universe. Therefore, it was the responsibility of John Locke to enlighten thinkers to believe that the laws were natural. Moreover, they applied to the society they governed.

However, the new philosophical thinking resulted in increasing of new ideas. The new laws, therefore, focused on absolutist. The models of scientific reasoning created essential influence in thinking about the state power as well as the state.