A Study Of Locke's Political Philosophy Of Liberalism And Its Influence

The word"liberalism"was derived from Spanish. It was first used to represent the Liberal Party of Spain in the early 19th century, connoting that the party is neither radical nor conservative on politics. Then it became popular in Europe and North America, and increasingly formed a different school of bourgeois political thoughts and intellectual tradition both in theory and practice, which exerted a profound and lasting influence upon western political philosophy.John Locke is an out-standing representative of British Enlightenment in the 17th century. He is also universally acknowledged as the founder of modern liberalism in the West. He absorbs nutrition from the tradition of western liberalism, and improves his thoughts with the times, which lays a solid foundation for the development of later liberalism.Locke's thoughts have great impact on western society. Many important philosophers and thinkers have done him special studies. In china, there are also many scholars studying on Locke. The following are some of the representative results: the first category is study some part of Locker's philosophy; the second category is introduce Locke's political philosophy on the background of the history of liberalism as well as his significances; the third category is a comparative study of Locke with other philosophers, philosophers like Hobbes, Rousseau, Rawls etc. On the basis of previous studies, this paper aims to make a systematical research on Locke's literalism with an all-side grasp of its internal relations and logical development of laws, probing into the true meaning of political philosophy of liberalism and its enormous impact on the tradition of western political philosophy as well as a review and prospect of its influence on modern and contemporary China.Empiricism epistemology is the foundation of Locke's philosophy. Locke developed Bacon and Hobbes'materialistic empiricism, and criticized Descartes'"theory of innate ideas". He claimed that all of our concepts are from experience; that is, people get them from their own feeling and reflecting on the past. Although human being possesses the ability to develop simple concepts into different kinds of complicate concepts, the sources of these complex concepts are formed on the condition of simple concepts. This is also the basic idea of Locke's empiricism epistemology.Then, from the starting point of empiricism epistemology, Locke systematically discusses the main contents of his liberalism political philosophy in the perspective of natural rights theory, the social contract theory and the theory of the separation of powers of checks and balances. Locke's liberalism political philosophy reflects the recognition of individual value and dignity, and the protection of individual rights and interests. He greatly cherishes the right to freedom, and demonstrates a series of political systems and theoretical principles to defend freedom. Finally, as a logical extension, Locke also discusses his educational and religious tolerance thinking.Locke's political philosophy of liberalism has a far-reaching impact on the history of human thought and the history of political practice. He makes the conception of freedom deep-rooted in the heart of people. What's more, those concepts which are closely related to it become the core idea of modern political civilization. For the first time, Locke puts personal freedom above social and public institutions, thereby opening the door to political liberalism. Since the modern times, liberalism has been the mainstream of western politics and the main content of western culture. It has played an important role in the field of western ideology and social life for 300 years. It becomes the theoretical basis for many western countries in national policies and ruling strategies making.Since Locke's political philosophy of liberalism exerts such a profound impact on the system and the human spirit, his theory is also a great reference to the modernization of China's democracy and legal system. In the view of historical perspective, China is lack of broad and solid foundation and tradition of democratic legal system because China has been under the rule of feudalism for a long term. After the Opium War, people began to see the world outside. Their understanding of the West has also undergone a process from artifacts to system, then to thoughts, though this process experienced twists and turns. To a certain extent, China's reform and opening up process is a process of re-recognizing and re-evaluating the modern system and practice of the West. The process will inevitably involve a more deep understanding and evaluation of the theory of liberalism and experiences. Therefore, Locke's maintenances and perseverance on human rights, such as personal liberty, dignity, personality etc. and his emphasis on the restrictions of the power of government, the rule of law, the constitutional concept of the sovereignty of people as well as religious tolerance and education are China's valuable resources for building a modern legal system and defending human rights. They are also valuable experience for China to conduct a comprehensive modernization.