John Locke

Life and ideas

John Locke was an English physician and philosopher whose Two Treatises of Government, published anonymously in 1689, defended the Glorious Revolution. He starts from a state of nature governed by a law of nature, which teaches that nobody should harm another in life, health, liberty or possessions. People form governments by consent to protect these rights better, and the government's power is held in trust: if it breaks the trust by acting against the people's rights, the people may remove it. He also argued that property begins when a person mixes their labour with what nature has provided, and he supported religious toleration. His ideas, in particular rights belonging to every person and government by consent, shaped the American Declaration of Independence and later liberal constitutions.