JOHN

LOCKE
The
Father
Of
Liberalism
ACCORDING TO “Every man has a property
JOHN LOCKE... in his own person. This
Locke believed that nobody has the right to,
people had natural but himself.”
rights to
“Life, Liberty, and
- John Locke
Property.” , and that
the role of government
was to preserve these
rights. If a government
does not protect these
rights, then people
have the right to
change their
government.
 CLASSIC LIBERALS
(Libertarians)

• Regard the state as the primary threat to individual

freedom and advocate limiting its power to those
necessary to protect basic rights against interference
by others.
• Modern liberals have held that freedom can also be
threatened by private economic actors, such as
business, that exploits workers or dominate
governments.
 LIBERALISM, political doctrine that takes
protecting and enhancing the freedom of the
individual to be the central problem of politics
• Since the late 19th century,
however, most liberals have
• Liberals typically believe
insisted that the powers of
that the government is
government can promote as
necessary to protect
well as protect the freedom
individuals from being
of the individual.
harmed by others, but they
can also recognize that
government itself can pose
a threat to liberty.
• According to modern
liberalism, the chief task of
government is to remove
articles that prevent
individuals from living
freely or from fully realizing
potential.
• Such obstacles include
poverty, disease,
discrimination, and
ignorance.
• Liberalism is the
culmination of
developments in Western
society that produced a
sense of the importance of
human individuality.