Thus, it is rational to bet on the Christian horse and live the life of virtue. At worst, we will sacrifice some pleasures in this life. But at best, we will win that everlasting prize at happiness which the Bible assures us.
Happiness, then, is not some vague chimera that we chasing after, nor can we really be deluded about whether we are happy or not. We know what it is to experience pleasure and pain, and thus we know what we will experience in the afterlife. Thus we have to give each person liberty: the freedom to live as he pleases, the freedom to experience his or her own kind of happiness so long as that freedom is compatible with the freedom of others to do likewise.
Thus we derive the basic right of liberty from the right to pursue happiness. First of all, it is impossible to compel virtue since it must be freely chosen by the individual.
Furthermore, history has shown that attempts to impose happiness upon the people invariably result in profound unhappiness. Skip to content John Locke was a major English philosopher, whose political writings in particular helped pave the way for the French and American revolutions.
Read full passage from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding A little Background John Locke was one of the great English philosophers, making important contributions in both epistemology and political philosophy. As he writes: If it be farther asked, what moves desire? Everlasting Happiness If Locke had stopped here, he would be unique among the philosophers in claiming that there is no prescription for achieving happiness, given the diversity of views about what causes happiness.
About Expand child menu Expand. What Happened to Happiness? Expand child menu Expand. History of Happiness Expand child menu Expand. Science of Happiness Expand child menu Expand. Acts of Kindness Expand child menu Expand. Spiritual Engagement and Meaning Expand child menu Expand. Mindfulness and Positive Thinking Expand child menu Expand.
Flow Expand child menu Expand. Then in a direct attack on King George, Jefferson listed 20 instances when the king violated the rights of the American colonists. Having thoroughly laid out his proof that the king was a "tyrant" who was "unfit to be the ruler of a people," Jefferson continued on to condemn the British people. Jefferson ended his draft by stating, "we do assert and declare these colonies to be free and independent states. When Jefferson submitted his draft to the Congress on June 28, the delegates spent little time on his opening paragraphs, which today are the most famous parts of the Declaration of Independence.
Instead, they concentrated on Jefferson's list of grievances against King George and the British people. The delegates made some small changes to improve the Declaration's clarity and accuracy.
But they also ripped apart the last sections of Jefferson's draft, deleting about 25 percent of it. They eliminated most of his harsh language directed against the British people and totally cut out Jefferson's passionate assault on slavery and the slave trade. The removal of the section on slavery, Jefferson's last grievance against the king, probably resulted from objections by Southern slave-holding delegates.
But Jefferson's argument was weakened when he blamed the king alone for continuing the slave trade and then condemned him for offering freedom to slaves who joined the British in fighting the American rebels. Jefferson grew depressed as more and more of his words were cut or changed. He later wrote that the Congress had "mangled" his draft. On July 2, , the Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the American colonies from English rule.
On the Fourth of July, they approved the final edited version of the Declaration of Independence. There would be no turning back now. The members of the Continental Congress made only two minor changes in the opening paragraphs of Jefferson's draft declaration. In these two paragraphs, Jefferson developed some key ideas: "all men are created equal," "inalienable rights," "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment. This was the period during the 17th and 18th centuries when thinkers turned to reason and science to explain both the physical universe and human behavior. Those like Jefferson thought that by discovering the "laws of nature" humanity could be improved. Jefferson did not invent the ideas that he used to justify the American Revolution.
He himself said that he had adopted the "harmonizing sentiments of the day. As a man of the Enlightenment, Jefferson was well acquainted with British history and political philosophy. He also had read the statements of independence drafted by Virginia and other colonies as well as the writings of fellow revolutionaries like Tom Paine and George Mason.
In composing the declaration, Jefferson followed the format of the English Declaration of Rights , written after the Glorious Revolution of Most scholars today believe that Jefferson derived the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence from the writings of English philosopher John Locke. Locke wrote that all individuals are equal in the sense that they are born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. That is, rights that are God-given and can never be taken or even given away.
Among these fundamental natural rights, Locke said, are "life, liberty, and property. Locke believed that the most basic human law of nature is the preservation of mankind. To serve that purpose, he reasoned, individuals have both a right and a duty to preserve their own lives. Murderers, however, forfeit their right to life since they act outside the law of reason. Locke also argued that individuals should be free to make choices about how to conduct their own lives as long as they do not interfere with the liberty of others.
Locke therefore believed liberty should be far-reaching. By "property," Locke meant more than land and goods that could be sold, given away, or even confiscated by the government under certain circumstances. Although a variety of editions of this classic work are available, the most highly recommended is the one edited by Peter Laslett, which provides useful notes and an introduction. This very readable and appealing book traces the ideas of natural law and of private property, with an especially interesting chapter on Locke.
The reasoning and writing are clear, even if it sometimes seems that Simmons takes special pains to distinguish Locke from the libertarian tradition of which he is so clearly a part.
West, ed. Back to Main Page Next Module.
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