Lecture about John Locke and Issac Newton



The lecture on the 12th October was based around the theories of John Locke and Issac Newton who can be seen as key figures in the development of Journalism. These theories were written around the time of the English Civil War when the country was in turmoil and chaos from corrupt and unlawful Kings. Locke argued that if we think back to a period in history where there was no government and no rulers then it mirrored the state of England during the Civil War. His theory named 'First Treatise' written in 1689 and published in the book 'Two Treatises of Government' stated that a King must be appointed to rule a country but not by divine right by God. Instead the power to appoint a leader was given to the people and this ruler ruled on behalf of the people but he had absolute power.



The book 'Two Treatises of
Government' published in
1689



Locke's second theory named 'Second Treatise' was based around a idea of a State of Nature where everyone has freedom and equality but they live by natural laws. Locke believed that every human being was born like a blank canvas whereby we have no knowledge and then as we progress through our lives our sense process what we see and believe into knowledge and eventually we learn 'moral laws'. 'Moral Laws' were described by Locke as knowledge of right and wrong which we learn by nature and everything a human being learns comes from experience and everyone has a right to 'life, liberty and property'. This treatise really fascinated me as I think it is still relevant today in the British government where a leader is elected by the people and that leader rules on behalf of the people. My favourite leader has to be David Cameron as he represents my home constituancy of Witney in Oxfordshire.

The idea of a right to 'life, land and property' is linked to Locke's concept of revolution commonly known as 'Manual for a Revolution' whereby people were extremely influencial in deciding who ruled their country and they had a right to rebel against their government if they were believed to be disobeying the law. Locke theorised that the government itself was limited by laws and one of the main purposes of a government was to protect people's property from theft or takeover. This was a new and groundbreaking theory as before the 17th century governments were seen as having absolute power and laws were passed without even telling the people about them.

Another groundbreaking event of the 17th century was Issac Newton's book 'Principia' published in 1687. It was a mathematical interpretation of how the universe worked first inspired by Copernicus and Kepler who believed that the Earth orbited around the Sun. This was seen as the beginning of 'Enlightened Science' whereby theories that had once been viewed as flawed could now be proven correct by science. With his mathematical proof , Newton convinced people that the world was in everyone's reach and we can all understand how the universe worked. He never used God to explain his theories he just simply observed and recorded data and he never questioned why things were like they are.

That is a summary of the lecture on 12th October and I hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Locke and Newton were extremely influential as they presented new ideas that did not rely on God but opened up a new wave of knowledge that everyone could access. I have really enjoyed studying these figures and in the future I hope to carry out even more research on their theories and study them in depth.