JOHN LOCKE

MECHANICAL WORLD VIEW

• Francis Bacon
“Enlarge the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible”
• Rene Descartes
- “To speak freely, I am convinced that it [mathematics1 is a more powerful instrument of
knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency, as being the
source of all things!”
• Isaac Newton
-discovered mathematical method for describing mechanical motion
MECHANICAL WORLD VIEW

• There was an order to things

• But why do the normal activities of people in society often seemed

chaotic?
If society is misbehaving, it can be due to the fact that it was not adhering to the
natural laws that govern the universe
How do we apply our natural laws to human
beings and social institutions?
 JOHN LOCKE

(August 1632 - October 1704)

From Wrington, Somerset England

Brought the workings of government and society
in line with the world machine paradigm
WHY WERE THE AFFAIRS OF HUMAN BEINGS SO
CHAOTIC?
• Natural laws of society were violated due to the fact that social order was
built on customs and traditions from theocentrism.
• Society has one purpose- to protect and allow for the increase of the
property of its members
• Society thus becomes materialistic and individualistic because reason leads
one to conclude that this is the natural order of things
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE GOVERNMENT?

To allow people the freedom to use their new found power over nature to
produce wealth

To promote subjugation of nature so that people might acquire the material

prosperity for fulfillment
WON’T CONSTANT AND UNMODERATED SCRAMBLE
FOR PERSONAL WEALTH RESULT IN SAVAGE WARS
AGAINST EACH OTHER?

• Not at all, for man is internally good. It is only scarcity and lack of
property that makes them evil
• It is necessary to continue to increase the wealth of society to improve
social harmony
• Land left wholly to nature is a waste, nature is only valuable when mixed
with labor and made productive.