Related Terms • knowledge • empiricism

Name:
John Locke

Dates:
Born: August 29, 1632 in Bristol, England
Died: October 28, 1704 in Essex, England

Biography:
John Locke was a British philosopher who is largely responsible for modern conceptions of empiricism. Locke argued in his book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) that all of our ideas are derived from sense experiences. Thus, whenever someone is born, they are born with their mind being a blank slate, a tabula rasa. All knowledge is then acquired a posteriori and none exists a priori. Thus, knowledge is necessarily limited and provisional in nature.

Locke's arguments were generally well received, but he made sure that nothing on his political views was published with his name on it. In his Two Treatises of Civil Government, published anonymously in 1690, he argued that all human rights are based upon one's interest in one's own property. A government is therefore justified insofar as it must exist regulate property relations among the citizens and can only exist so long as it has the consent of the governed. He thus provided an important argument justifying the principle of majority rule and his Second Treatise is the starting point for all modern defenses of democracy.

Quotes:

Lastly, those are not all to be tolerated who deny the being of God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all; besides also, those that by their atheism undermine and destroy all religion, can have no pretence of religion whereupon to challenge the privilege of toleration.
(John Locke, Treatise of Civil Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration)

Main Works:

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Two Treatises of Civil Government
A Letter Concerning Toleration
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures

Also Known As: none

Alternate Spellings: none

Common Misspellings: none

Related Resources:

Biographies of Philosophers
This index of biographical index of famous philosophers throughout history includes many others who have contributed to our understanding of human nature and life - including sociologists, psychologists, scientists, and more.

What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?