JOHN LOCKE 1634-1704
John Locke was born in Wrington, Somerset, on Aug. 29, 1632.
The father, also named John Locke, was a devout, even-tempered man.
Locke was educated at Westminster School and Oxford.
John Locke's Early Life and Education
He was interested in meteorology and the experimental sciences, especially chemistry.
He turned to medicine and became known as one of the most skilled practitioners of his day.
He graduated with a bachelor’s of medicine in 1674.
He was an associate of Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle and other leading Oxford scientists.
John Locke and the Earl of Shaftesbury
In 1667 Locke became confidential secretary and personal physician to Anthony Ashley Cooper, later lord chancellor and the first earl of Shaftesbury.
He supervised a dangerous liver operation on Shaftesbury that likely saved his patron’s life.
Shaftesbury was indicted for high treason. He was acquitted, but Locke was suspected of disloyalty.
In 1683, he left England for Holland and returned only after the revolution of 1688.
Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1689) outlined a theory of human knowledge, identity and selfhood.
John Locke's Publications and Final Years
For Locke, all knowledge comes exclusively through experience.
He argues that at birth the mind is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, that humans fill with ideas as they experience the world through the five senses.
Locke defines knowledge as the connection and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy, of the ideas humans form.
An Empirical Theory of Knowledge
The "Two Treatises of Government" (1690) offered political theories developed and refined by Locke during his years at Shaftesbury's side.
In his "Thoughts Concerning Education" (1693), Locke argued for a broadened syllabus and better treatment of students—ideas that were an enormous influence on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's novel "Emile" (1762).
In three "Letters Concerning Toleration" (1689-92), Locke suggested that governments should respect freedom of religion except when the dissenting belief was a threat to public order.
Locke spent his final 14 years in Essex at the home of Sir Francis Masham and his wife, the philosopher Lady Damaris Cudworth Masham. He died there on October 24, 1704, as Lady Damaris read to him from the Psalms.
Locke never married nor had a children.
Locke’s other themes,
arguments and ideas
The moral role of government
Locke was very critical of the British Monarchy
Locke believed that Government was needed to protect everyone's natural rights.
The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.
Locke uses a state of nature to explain what life would be like without a Government
“ALL MEN ARE LIABLE TO ERROR; AND MOST MEN ARE, IN MANY POINTS, BY PASSION OR INTEREST, UNDER
TEMPTATION TO IT.” What will happenwithout a government?
LOOTING
A Natural Foundation of Reason
Locke argues that God gave us our capacity for reason to aid us in the search for truth.
God created in us a natural aversion to misery and a desire for happiness.
Locke’s belief in separation of church and state.
Political leaders do not have the right to impose beliefs on people.
Locke insists that if men were to follow the government blindly, they would be surrendering their own reason and thus violating God’s law, or natural law.
The Right to Private Property
The right to private property is the cornerstone of Locke’s political theory, encapsulating how each man relates to God and to other men.
Locke explains that man originally exists in a state of nature in which he need answer only to the laws of nature.
The beginnings of a modern outlook
Locke has been described as having the first modern mind.
Locke believed that languages should be learned not via grammar but through practice and example.
