The Role of Naturalism and Rationalism in American and British Gun Poli

Although they may not be aware of it, complex philosophic principles influence the simple actions of the mass’s everyday lives. In fact, long lasting and well defined contentions of basic philosophy concerning the actions of human beings has not only affected individuals, but also entire countries. Some of the greatest nations on Earth have been formed around key thoughts and opinions of several great philosophers. Primarily amongst these, however, or John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, both of whom wrote on â€Å"The State of Nature†, or the state of absolute freedom. While Locke and Hobbes had vastly different opinions on the natural state of a human being, no matter who you are your life is somehow affected by their philosophic writings. As previously stated, nations often base themselves and thusly their common laws off the chosen philosophy of the country. For instance, in the United States of America, police officers carry guns. In Great Britain, however, officers are banned from carrying extremely harmful weapons such as firearms and instead carry the classic truncheon. To the average citizen of each of these countries, the policy that their law enforcement adheres to makes perfect and logical sense, while the opposite country’s policy seems to be either dangerous and overly violent or as overly merciful. However, the reason as to why these two sibling nations differ so greatly comes down to one simple thing: the gun policy imposed on American officers are different from those used in Britain because of conflicting common philosophic beliefs found in both of the countries, where America takes on a naturalistic, believing that humans are inherently evil, viewpoint and Britain sports a rather rationali stic, where in which hum... ...ere is no need to use such extreme non-reversible and almost brutal violence on individuals which they believe can return to society. These two differing philosophic principles are the primary reason as to why the two countries differ. Whether the creators of these two countries intended for the principles of the 15th century philosophers to shape their respective nations or not, it is an undeniable fact that they obviously did and that Locke and Hobbes became two of the most influential philosophers in this way. Despite the contrasting opinions, however, it is clear to see that the philosophies on the State of Nature play an important role in forming the opinions of a country’s citizens by directly affecting their law. Be it gun laws or general culture and way of life, the theories of Naturalism and Rationalism are undeniably the basis of any nation.