Locke and Hobbes were two very important philosophers. They were both empiricists. An empiricist is a person who studies how we know "things." The reason why everything is here. Locke had some ideas that differred from Hobbes and he had some that were similiar. Locke believed that human nature, which are things all normal human beings have in common, are influenced by reason and tolerance. I believe that this is somewhat true. We do things for a reason, but then again we sometimes do bad or good things if we dont have a reason at all. They both agreed on that men and woman are selfish due to human nature. It gave them the freedom to be unequal and rise to a higher social status.
Hobbes was different, but then had some of the same ideas as Locke. A main thing that was similiar to the two, was that they were both political philosophers and they were empiricists. Unlike Locke, Hobbes was one of the main philosophers who "discovered" materialism. Being materialistic means that you are obsessed with having all the new accessories that you can hold and touch. All in all, Hobbes and Locke had many different views, but they had the same profession as a philosopher.
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ReplyDeleteSorry, the last post I put up contained some factual errors, so I'm re-posting this comment:
ReplyDeleteElle,
As far as I know, empiricists aren't interested in why everything is here or what their purpose, or meaning is. Rather, they are trying to distinguish what actually is true and real, from falsities and misconceptions.
On a different note, materialism is not something you can discover. It is rather a label used to describe a belief system/philosophy. In that sense I think a more appropriate word to use would be that Hobbes 'invented' materialism. However, the kind of materialism that Hobbes discussed was not the obsession with material items. He actually wasn't even the first person to come up with (or 'discover') either idea.
The materialism that Hobbes discussed was a philosophy which claims that the only thing that exists is matter. Locke didn't invent (or discover) this philosophy, it already had been proposed by numerous philosophers and great thinkers throughout history (including, but not limited to: Zun Xi of 300 BC China, Jayaraashi Bhatta of 6th century CE India, the early 12th century Arabian philosopher Ibn Tufail, etc.)