A Discussion on the Political Context of Locke's Critique of Innate Ideas

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the epistemological basis of elementary concepts such as natural law, state of nature, contract and property used in the construction of public realm and private spheres in John Locke's political theory. Unlike other contractual theorists, John Locke grounds the key arguments of his political theory by testing it with his own epistemology, which he developed against the elementary principles of Cartesian philosophy. According to Locke, the Cartesian thesis that there are some innate ideas sealed or innately given to the human mind will enable the legislators or controllers in a political society to legitimize their power in line with their own political interests. According to Locke, the main reason for this is that the idea of innate ideas appears as a belief, and it becomes easier to rule people or communities who believe in it and to exert power on them. The aim of John Locke is to eliminate the confusion mentioned above by grounding a whole political theory, starting from his own epistemology, from the law of nature to the social contract, from the political society to the concept of property. In this context, in the first part of the study, the epistemological foundations of the concept of natural law will be discussed, and in the second part, the problems in the execution of the natural law will be shown. In the third and last part, concepts such as contract, political society and property will be examined by bringing them side by side with Locke's epistemological analysis. From this point of view, the relationship between the basic concepts of Locke's political philosophy, the state of nature, natural law, contract and property, and his original epistemology, which he developed through his critique of innate ideas, will be investigated.