John Locke's Views On Absolute Monarchy

John Locke (1632-1704) was known as a significant philosopher that had the opinion that all humans were born with natural rights and that they could not be restricted from any government or individual things that were known to be as; life, property and liberty.

For example, John Locke often debated about the fact that liberty was the right way for justice to be achieved and also believed that the government and the law was created by a man’s natural liberty. He fought that the citizens should be able to pick the types of laws and government that they were going to be ruled by As an addition, he also believed that if only one person ruled the kingdom/empire, the laws would be in his favor instead of it being to protect people’s rights and freedom. He also said that if the law did not exist, then genuine liberty would not exist.

Locke described classical liberalism as a struggle with the habit of monarchy, because in a monarchy the preference of a leader was prearranged and not established on the people’s will, but instead the leader’s family. Authority was a heritage within the monarch’s family and their title placed them untouchable by the law. This implied that even though the people were completely accountable to the law, the rules were deemed ambiguous since they did not apply to the authority and could be alternated to enhance the wishes of the aristocracy.

Locke recommended a profound interpretation of political truth deducted from the idea of self ownership and the analogy right to own equity, which in turn is established on his well known allegation that a person acquires control over an asset when he combines his hard work with it. He argues that it is arbitrary that leadership can only be passed down by generations instead of hard work and labor.

Lastly; to conclude my point, John Locke opposed absolute monarchy because of his disbelieves that a ruler with immeasurable capability and authority over the entire community would devote his power to secure the people’s natural rights and natural laws. Instead, they would dedicate it to their own needs and desires, such as their family and wealth. Since the leadership is passed down generations, by blood line, it would be absolutely forlorn for the other people to have an opportunity to become the monarch, even if they were much more skilled and hard working.