#### Locke's Treatise: Key Concepts and Axioms - **Natural Rights**: Locke believes in inherent human rights, particularly life, liberty, and property. - **State of Nature**: The state of nature is a state of freedom and equality, not necessarily brutishness. - **Tabula Rasa**: Humans are born as blank slates, and experience shapes their development. Society and governance should be structured to promote positive experiences and education. - **Social Contract**: People enter into a social contract, exchanging some freedoms for civil laws and governance. - **Limited Government**: Locke emphasizes that governance should be limited, and tyranny is a violation of natural rights. Institutions like separation of powers are crucial. - **Property Rights**: Locke sees property as an extension of one’s own labor and thus a natural right. Economic freedom and protections are crucial in Locke's ideal government. - **Revolution**: If a government violates its end of the social contract, the people have the right to rebel. - **Consent of the Governed**: Governmental power is legitimate only if it comes from the consent of the individuals it governs. #### Locke's time - Bubonic plague - Locke invested in slave trade & American colonies - Time of political turmoil, monarchical rule