Unlocking John Locke

John Locke's philosophical ideas are extremely prominent in todays society. For starters, most of the American consitution and ideological of the founding fathers were based off of John Locke's ideas. Therefore, most of our government and the way the United States is governed is inspired by the ideas of John Locke, and his ideas of inalienable rights. For example, John Locke famously state that all men have the right to persue "Life, liberty, and the persuit of property." In the declaration of independence, that famous quote is adopted after being slightly altered by Thomas Jefferson to read "Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness." Therefore, many controversial problems in today's society might be further argued using the logic of John Locke. John Locke's tabula rasa, or "blank slate" idea states that every person is born a blank slate, and anything added is gained only through experience. This logic could be used to argue for the right of abortions. For example, one could argue that a fetus is simply a blank slate, something that has no experience and therefore is not a person. Therefore, abortion should be a right because the fetus lacks any experience, making it something sub-human. No morals would come into play, because this fetus is not alive in John Locke's terms.