The Moral and Political Philosophy of John Locke

A Course with Professor Thomas Patrick Burke January 16 to March 5, 2008 Listen to the audio recordings of the course.            It is a distinctive feature of America as a nation that it was founded on a philosophy. The Declaration of Independence not only declared America 's independence, but gave a philosophical explanation for it, a set of reasons that the Founding Fathers believed demonstrated its moral and political justification.  They went on to embody that philosophy in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  But they were not the creators of that philosophy.  It had already been created by an Englishman who lived a century before them, during the "Glorious Revolution" that brought parliamentary government to England in 1688.  Thomas Jefferson remarked that the political philosophy of the American people was best reflected in the writings of John Locke.           Locke's main writing for our purposes is the second of his Two Treatises of Government, from which Jefferson used passages verbatim in writing his Declaration.   Locke argues that everyone has a fundamental right not to be harmed, and that representative government is necessary to protect that right, not only against other individuals but also against the power of government itself.  The book is especially renowned for his defense of private property. We will read and discuss this work over a period of eight weeks. Familiarity with Locke's ideas will give you unique insight into the nature and the ideals of the American Revolution and the Constitution, ideals that are not merely of the past, but that continue to offer hope to Americans and to many others around the world.