OT: Help decipher Sophomore English

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All: My oldest has to put the below John Locke quotes into his own words. He is unable to bring a book home over the weekend. So, can some of our more literary brainiacs on board help to decipher what they think Locke means? A couple seem simple enough, but a couple also make my brain hurt.

1. The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any Superior power on earth.

2. ... liberty of man should be established by consent... to the trust put in it.

3. Man's preservation should not enslave himself to any one under the absolute.

4. Absolute created nothing more than the state of War between lawful conqueror and a captive.

5. No man can pass over to another that which he hath not in himself, his own life.
 
Does he have to decipher each sentence or does he have to summarize them into a paragraph?
 
Basically, he needs to provide a modern language translation for each item. What did Locke mean in each quote?
 
Are you asking us to help your son cheat? ROFL
 
It's basically the Declaration of Independence. All men created equal; no living man has absolute power over another (God does). Laws by the people and not forced onto people by equal men. That's how I'd spin it. Get the teacher thinking.

You know, good decent stuff like that.:thumb:
 
I, Personally, am not aware of this Locke fellow, but my impression is, he appears to be a deep thinker.

I could offer my personal interpretations of these quotes, but not sure how accurate they'd be, since I'm not familiar with this fella.
 
CathyMac on 02-22-2008 at 08:20 PM said:
It's basically the Declaration of Independence. All men created equal; no living man has absolute power over another (God does). Laws by the people and not forced onto people by equal men. That's how I'd spin it. Get the teacher thinking.

You know, good decent stuff like that.:thumb:
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Locke's work was the refutation of the divine rule of kings, 80 years or so later the American's borrowed some thoughts and ideas.

The lines you have listed are generally from the passage regarding slavery. Not so much American slavery but rather people conquered by other powers.
 
Just remember he was English and died well before there was even the notion of free states. They borrowed some thoughts
 
Patriots4ever on 02-22-2008 at 05:52 PM said:
I think we should ask P4E.

:D
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...and after that we could ask chef to proof read it if we're gonna go all out bananas! :eek: :D
 
pookie on 02-22-2008 at 05:05 PM said:
All: My oldest has to put the below John Locke quotes into his own words. He is unable to bring a book home over the weekend. So, can some of our more literary brainiacs on board help to decipher what they think Locke means? A couple seem simple enough, but a couple also make my brain hurt.

1. The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any Superior power on earth.

2. ... liberty of man should be established by consent... to the trust put in it.

3. Man's preservation should not enslave himself to any one under the absolute.

4. Absolute created nothing more than the state of War between lawful conqueror and a captive.

5. No man can pass over to another that which he hath not in himself, his own life.
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1. Leave me the **** alone
2. No, seriously. You have my permission to leave me the **** alone
3. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Mr. Leader. Leave.Me.The.****.Alone
4. If you dont' leave me the **** alone, you're in a world of shit
5. And leave my ****ing stuff the **** alone, too. ****.
 
Re: Re: OT: Help decipher Sophomore English

Claremonster on 02-22-2008 at 05:57 PM said:
1. Leave me the **** alone
2. No, seriously. You have my permission to leave me the **** alone
3. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Mr. Leader. Leave.Me.The.****.Alone
4. If you dont' leave me the **** alone, you're in a world of shit
5. And leave my ****ing stuff the **** alone, too. ****.
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That is surely the modern translation for it!!!! ROFL :LOL: ROFL :LOL:
 
Thats actually pretty close. Cept 5, he isn't talking material possesions. He is saying slavery can never be just because it means a human power has domain over another, which can only be taken, never given by the slave. It cannot be given because it is not man's "that which he hath not in himself, his own life"
 
Tchok13 on 02-22-2008 at 06:04 PM said:
Thats actually pretty close. Cept 5, he isn't talking material possesions. He is saying slavery can never be just because it means a human power has domain over another, which can only be taken, never given by the slave. It cannot be given because it is not man's "that which he hath not in himself, his own life"
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Of course, it depends upon one's interpretation of my use of the word "stuff", ennit? :D
 
Having studied a little Locke, I'll take a shot at a serious answer:
Originally posted by pookie on 02-22-2008 at 08:05 PM 1. The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any Superior power on earth.
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If everyone on earth just met and had no conception of government, this would represent true freedom in that each would be free to pursue her own goals as best she could because no restrictions would be in place.
2. ... liberty of man should be established by consent... to the trust put in it.
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the only way Man can achieve any sort of real freedom is by everyone together declaring that freedom, so that each could know that the others would support them in protecting the freedom of others.
3. Man's preservation should not enslave himself to any one under the absolute.
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People band together for defensive purposes, but this shouldn't result in an undue burden on all the individual freedoms that they naturally enjoy, like a "supreme commander" of some kind.
4. Absolute created nothing more than the state of War between lawful conqueror and a captive.
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Any ruling power enjoying absolute power by its nature creates an aggressive tension between the ruled and the ruler, making it more of a prisoner model.
5. No man can pass over to another that which he hath not in himself, his own life. [/B]
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On it's own, it basically means: "You can't give anything that you don't have and you can't teach what you didn't learn." In Locke's context it is, as I recall, referring to freedoms and powers, more like: "The fact that men can agree to grant power to a government implies that they had those powers (at least collectively) to give, and the fact that they can agree to surrender certain freedoms implies that they naturally had those freedoms to offer up."

He'll probably have to put what I said in his own words now, but that should help a bit (I hope).
 
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