92-403: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a work by John Locke concerning the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. It first appeared in 1689 (although dated 1690) with the printed title An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding . He describes the mind at birth as a blank slate ( tabula rasa , although he did not use those actual words) filled later through experience . The essay
184-494: A democratic constitution with unlimited religious freedom. His tract, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience (1644), which was widely read in the mother country, was a passionate plea for absolute religious freedom and the total separation of church and state . Freedom of conscience had had high priority on the theological, philosophical, and political agenda, as Martin Luther refused to recant his beliefs before
276-545: A liver infection. Ashley was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue. At Oxford, he was exposed to the writings of Islamic scholars, like Ibn Tufayl 's Hayy ibn Yaqdhan translated by Edward Pococke , who influenced his perspectives on philosophy and tabula rasa . Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667, moved into Ashley's home at Exeter House in London, to serve as his personal physician. In London, Locke resumed his medical studies under
368-408: A pledge to lay claim to goods . He believes that silver and gold, as opposed to paper money , are the appropriate currency for international transactions. Silver and gold, he says, are treated to have equal value by all of humanity and can thus be treated as a pledge by anyone, while the value of paper money is only valid under the government which issues it. Locke argues that a country should seek
460-584: A quasi-feudal aristocracy and gave Carolinian planters absolute power over their enslaved chattel property; the constitutions pledged that "every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves". Philosopher Martin Cohen notes that Locke, as secretary to the Council of Trade and Plantations and a member of the Board of Trade , was "one of just half a dozen men who created and supervised both
552-612: A Castle in the Air; and be ready to say to me, To what purpose all this stir? Knowledge, say you, is only the Perception of the Agreement or Disagreement of our own Ideas: but who knows what those Ideas may be?… But of what use is all this fine Knowledge of Men's own Imaginations, to a Man that enquires after the reality of things? It matters not what Men's Fancies are, 'tis the Knowledge of Things that
644-466: A civil way with help from government in a state of society. However, Locke never refers to Hobbes by name and may instead have been responding to other writers of the day. Locke also advocated governmental separation of powers and believed that revolution is not only a right but an obligation in some circumstances. These ideas would come to have profound influence on the Declaration of Independence and
736-416: A classic reasoning for religious tolerance , in which three arguments are central: With regard to his position on religious tolerance, Locke was influenced by Baptist theologians like John Smyth and Thomas Helwys , who had published tracts demanding freedom of conscience in the early 17th century. Baptist theologian Roger Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island in 1636, where he combined
828-481: A disease that is due to a root cause of illness Christian Science practitioner#Primary class instruction See also [ edit ] Binary (disambiguation) Primary group (disambiguation) Second (disambiguation) Unary (disambiguation) All pages with titles beginning with Primary All pages with titles containing Primary Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
920-416: A favourable balance of trade , lest it fall behind other countries and suffer a loss in its trade. Since the world money stock grows constantly, a country must constantly seek to enlarge its own stock. Locke develops his theory of foreign exchanges, by which in addition to commodity movements, there are also movements in country stock of money, and movements of capital determine exchange rates . He considers
1012-614: A few years. Brewer likewise argues that Locke actively worked to undermine slavery in Virginia while heading a Board of Trade created by William of Orange following the Glorious Revolution . He specifically attacked colonial policy granting land to slave owners and encouraged the baptism and Christian education of the children of enslaved Africans to undercut a major justification of slavery—that they were heathens who possessed no rights. In his Two Treatises of Government , Locke provided
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#17328456316081104-510: A grandly metaphysical work such as Spinoza's Ethics , in other ways he was deeply receptive to Spinoza's ideas, most particularly to the rationalist's well thought out argument for political and religious tolerance and the necessity of the separation of church and state." Among the friends he made in the Netherlands are Van Leeuwenhoek and Van Limborch, the leader of the Remonstrants . In
1196-519: A justification for slavery that could never be met, thus rendering invalid all forms of slavery that existed. Moreover, because slavery is invalid, there is a moral injunction to try to throw off and escape from it. Locke also supported child labour , which was an intrinsic part of all pre-industrial societies. In his "Essay on the Poor Law", he discusses the education of the poor; he laments that "the children of labouring people are an ordinary burden to
1288-675: A lengthy period of poor health, Locke died on 28 October 1704, and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints' Church in High Laver , near Harlow in Essex, where he had lived in the household of Sir Francis Masham since 1691. Locke never married nor had children. Events that happened during Locke's lifetime include the English Restoration , the Great Plague of London , the Great Fire of London ,
1380-603: A letter he wrote titled Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money . Moreover, Locke anchors property in labour but, in the end, upholds unlimited accumulation of wealth. Locke's general theory of value and price is a supply-and-demand theory, set out in a letter to a member of parliament in 1691, titled Some Considerations on
1472-495: A natural right to defend his "life, health, liberty, or possessions". Most scholars trace the phrase " Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness " in the American Declaration of Independence to Locke's theory of rights, although other origins have been suggested. Like Hobbes, Locke assumed that the sole right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people established a civil society to resolve conflicts in
1564-411: A number of propositions that rationalists offer as universally accepted truth, for instance the principle of identity , pointing out that at the very least children and idiots are often unaware of these propositions. In anticipating a counterargument , namely the use of reason to comprehend already existent innate ideas, Locke states that "by this means, there will be no difference between the maxims of
1656-492: A prime number Politics [ edit ] Primary elections or primaries, elections held to determine which candidates will run for an upcoming general election Primary vote, the total of first-preference votes in the Australian electoral system Science and mechanics [ edit ] Primary (astronomy) , the larger of two co-orbiting bodies Primary (chemistry) , term used in organic chemistry Primary,
1748-445: A profound influence on political philosophy , in particular on modern liberalism. Michael Zuckert has argued that Locke launched liberalism by tempering Hobbesian absolutism and clearly separating the realms of Church and State . He had a strong influence on Voltaire , who called him " le sage Locke". His arguments concerning liberty and the social contract later influenced the written works of Thomas Jefferson . One passage from
1840-552: A response to Locke's work in the form of a chapter-by-chapter rebuttal , titled the Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain ( New Essays on Human Understanding ). Leibniz was critical of a number of Locke's views in the Essay , including his rejection of innate ideas ; his skepticism about species classification; and the possibility that matter might think, among other things. Leibniz thought that Locke's commitment to ideas of reflection in
1932-449: A special case of this general theory. His idea is based on "money answers all things" ( Ecclesiastes ) or "rent of money is always sufficient, or more than enough" and "varies very little". Locke concludes that, as far as money is concerned, the demand for it is exclusively regulated by its quantity, regardless of whether the demand is unlimited or constant. He also investigates the determinants of demand and supply. For supply , he explains
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#17328456316082024-458: A transformer Primary feathers , flight feathers attached to the manus ("hand") in the wings of birds Primary color Other uses [ edit ] Primary (LDS Church) , a children's Sunday School organization Primary (musician) (born 1983), South Korean Primary data (or raw data), a term for data collected from a source Primary Flight Training , in the U.S. Navy Primary source , original materials Primary disease ,
2116-510: A tutor and medical attendant to Caleb Banks . He returned to England in 1679 when Shaftesbury's political fortunes took a brief positive turn. Around this time, most likely at Shaftesbury's prompting, Locke composed the bulk of the Two Treatises of Government . While it was once thought that Locke wrote the Treatises to defend the Glorious Revolution of 1688, recent scholarship has shown that
2208-608: A wide range of human interests and aspirations; more particularly, it refers to material goods . He argues that property is a natural right that is derived from labour . In Chapter V of his Second Treatise , Locke argues that the individual ownership of goods and property is justified by the labour exerted to produce such goods—"at least where there is enough [land], and as good, left in common for others" (para. 27)—or to use property to produce goods beneficial to human society. Locke states in his Second Treatise that nature on its own provides little of value to society, implying that
2300-512: Is concerned with language, and Book IV with knowledge, including intuition , mathematics, moral philosophy , natural philosophy ("science"), faith , and opinion . The main thesis is that there are "No Innate Principles." Locke wrote, "If we will attentively consider new-born children, we shall have little reason to think, that they bring many ideas into the world with them." Rather, "by degrees, afterwards, ideas come into their minds; and...they get no more, nor no other, than what experience, and
2392-508: Is often credited for describing private property as a natural right , arguing that when a person — metaphorically — mixes their labour with nature , resources can be removed from the common state of nature . Locke was born on 29 August 1632, in a small thatched cottage by the church in Wrington , Somerset, about 12 miles from Bristol . He was baptised the same day, as both of his parents were Puritans . Locke's father, also named John,
2484-474: Is only to be priz'd; 'tis this alone gives a Value to our Reasonings, and Preference to one Man's Knowledge over another's, that it is of Things as they really are, and not of Dreams and Fancies. In the last chapter of the book, Locke introduces the major classification of sciences into natural philosophy , semiotics , and ethics . Many of Locke's views were sharply criticized by rationalists and empiricists alike. In 1704, rationalist Gottfried Leibniz wrote
2576-409: Is very like it, and might properly enough be called 'internal sense.' Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education is an outline on how to educate this mind. Drawing on thoughts expressed in letters written to Mary Clarke and her husband about their son, he expresses the belief that education makes the man—or, more fundamentally, that the mind is an "empty cabinet": I think I may say that of all
2668-553: The Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration all appearing in quick succession. Locke's close friend Lady Masham invited him to join her at Otes, the Mashams' country house in Essex. Although his time there was marked by variable health from asthma attacks, he nevertheless became an intellectual hero of the Whigs. During this period, he discussed matters with such figures as John Dryden and Isaac Newton . After
2760-715: The Constitution of the United States . According to Locke, unused property is wasteful and an offence against nature, but, with the introduction of "durable" goods , men could exchange their excessive perishable goods for those which would last longer and thus not offend the natural law . In his view, the introduction of money marked the culmination of this process, making possible the unlimited accumulation of property without causing waste through spoilage. He also includes gold or silver as money because they may be "hoarded up without injury to anyone", as they do not spoil or decay in
2852-694: The Diet of the Holy Roman Empire at Worms in 1521, unless he would be proved false by the Bible. Locke's views on slavery were multifaceted. Although he wrote against slavery in general, Locke was an investor and beneficiary of the slave-trading Royal Africa Company . Also, while secretary to the Earl of Shaftesbury , Locke participated in drafting the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina , which established
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2944-599: The Essay ultimately made him incapable of escaping the nativist position or being consistent in his empiricist doctrines of the mind's passivity. Empiricist George Berkeley was equally critical of Locke's views in the Essay . Berkeley's most notable criticisms of Locke were first published in A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge , in which Berkeley holds that Locke's conception of abstract ideas are incoherent and lead to severe contradictions . He also argues that Locke's conception of material substance
3036-546: The Glorious Revolution and war against France including the Battle of Blenheim just before his death. He did not live long enough to see the Act of Union of 1707 , but the thrones of England and Scotland were held in personal union throughout his lifetime. Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy were in their infancy during Locke's time. Locke has an engraved floor memorial plaque at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford . In
3128-582: The Netherlands in 1683 in the company of Shaftesbury , under strong suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot , although there is little evidence to suggest that he was directly involved in the scheme. While in the Netherlands, he lived under the pen-name dr. Van Linden. The philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues that during his five years in Holland, Locke chose his friends "from among
3220-629: The Second Treatise is reproduced verbatim in the Declaration of Independence, the reference to a "long train of abuses". Concerning Locke, Thomas Jefferson wrote: Bacon , Locke and Newton … I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences. However, Locke's influence may have been even more profound in
3312-478: The United States Declaration of Independence . Internationally, Locke's political-legal principles continue to have a profound influence on the theory and practice of limited representative government and the protection of basic rights and freedoms under the rule of law. Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self , figuring prominently in
3404-633: The tabula rasa . In his Essay , in which both these concepts are introduced, Locke warns, for example, against letting "a foolish maid" convince a child that "goblins and sprites" are associated with the night, for "darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall be so joined, that he can no more bear the one than the other". This theory came to be called associationism , going on to strongly influence 18th-century thought, particularly educational theory , as nearly every educational writer warned parents not to allow their children to develop negative associations. It also led to
3496-567: The 50 years after Queen Anne's death in 1714, the Two Treatises were reprinted only once (except in the collected works of Locke). However, with the rise of American resistance to British taxation, the Second Treatise of Government gained a new readership; it was frequently cited in the debates in both America and Britain. The first American printing occurred in 1773 in Boston. Locke exercised
3588-399: The Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money . In it, he refers to supply as quantity and demand as rent : "The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyers and sellers" and "that which regulates the price…[of goods] is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their rent." The quantity theory of money forms
3680-532: The Constitution of Carolina has been exaggerated and that he was merely paid to revise and make copies of a document that had already been partially written before he became involved; she compares Locke's role to a lawyer writing a will. She states that Locke was paid in Royal African Company stock in lieu of money for his work as a secretary for a governmental sub-committee, and that he sold the stock after
3772-463: The Human Understanding , published in 1811. Some European philosophers saw the book's impact on psychology as comparable to Isaac Newton 's impact upon science. Voltaire wrote: Just as a skilled anatomist explains the workings of the human body, so does Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding give the natural history of consciousness.… So many philosophers having written the romance of
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3864-627: The Identity of that Person; it is the same self now it was then; and 'tis by the same self with this present one that now reflects on it, that that Action was done. Book III focuses on words . Locke connects words to the ideas they signify, claiming that man is unique in being able to frame sounds into distinct words and to signify ideas by those words, and then that these words are built into language. Chapter ten in this book focuses on "Abuse of Words." Here, Locke criticizes metaphysicians for making up new words that have no clear meaning. He also criticizes
3956-559: The Netherlands, Locke had time to return to his writing, spending a great deal of time working on the Essay Concerning Human Understanding and composing the Letter on Toleration. Locke did not return home until after the Glorious Revolution . Locke accompanied Mary II back to England in 1689. The bulk of Locke's publishing took place upon his return from exile—his aforementioned Essay Concerning Human Understanding ,
4048-423: The ability to support qualities. Substances are "nothing but the assumption of an unknown support for a group of qualities that produce simple ideas in us." Despite his explanation, the existence of substances is still questionable as they cannot necessarily be "perceived" by themselves and can only be sensed through the qualities. In terms of qualities , Locke divides such into primary and secondary , whereby
4140-482: The age of 20. The dean of the college at the time was John Owen , vice-chancellor of the university. Although a capable student, Locke was irritated by the undergraduate curriculum of the time. He found the works of modern philosophers, such as René Descartes , more interesting than the classical material taught at the university. Through his friend Richard Lower , whom he knew from the Westminster School, Locke
4232-418: The album Telephono Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media [ edit ] Primaries or primary beams, in E. E. Smith's science-fiction series Lensman Primary (film) , American political documentary (1960) Computing [ edit ] PRIMARY, an X Window selection Primary data storage , computer technology used to retain digital data Primary server , main server on
4324-424: The cash requirements are closely related to the length of the pay period. He argues the brokers—the middlemen —whose activities enlarge the monetary circuit and whose profits eat into the earnings of labourers and landholders, have a negative influence on both personal and the public economy to which they supposedly contribute. Locke uses the concept of property in both broad and narrow terms: broadly, it covers
4416-564: The colonies and their iniquitous systems of servitude". According to American historian James Farr, Locke never expressed any thoughts about his contradictory opinions of slavery, which Farr ascribes to his personal involvement in the slave trade. Locke's positions on slavery have been described as hypocritical, and laying the foundation for the Founding Fathers to hold similarly contradictory thoughts regarding freedom and slavery. But historian Holly Brewer has argued that Locke's role in
4508-420: The conflict between the unlimited accumulation of property and a more nearly equal distribution of wealth; he does not identify which principles that government should apply to solve this problem. However, not all elements of his thought form a consistent whole. For example, the labour theory of value in the Two Treatises of Government stands side by side with the demand-and-supply theory of value developed in
4600-732: The cyst. Ashley survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life. During this time, Locke served as Secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and Secretary to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina , which helped to shape his ideas on international trade and economics. Ashley, as a founder of the Whig movement, exerted great influence on Locke's political ideas. Locke became involved in politics when Ashley became Lord Chancellor in 1672 (Ashley being created 1st Earl of Shaftesbury in 1673). Following Shaftesbury's fall from favour in 1675, Locke spent some time travelling across France as
4692-593: The development of psychology and other new disciplines with David Hartley 's attempt to discover a biological mechanism for associationism in his Observations on Man (1749). Locke was critical of Descartes's version of the dream argument , with Locke making the counter-argument that people cannot have physical pain in dreams as they do in waking life. Some scholars have seen Locke's political convictions as being based from his religious beliefs. Locke's religious trajectory began in Calvinist trinitarianism , but by
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#17328456316084784-421: The early stages of the [Glorious] Revolution, up to 1692, and even less thereafter, unless it was to heap abuse on them" and that "no one, including most Whigs, [was] ready for the idea of a notional or abstract contract of the kind adumbrated by Locke". In contrast, Kenyon adds that Algernon Sidney 's Discourses Concerning Government were "certainly much more influential than Locke's Two Treatises. " In
4876-453: The former give our minds ideas based on sensation and actual experience. In contrast, secondary qualities allow our minds to understand something based on reflection, in which we associate what we perceive with other ideas of our own. Furthermore, Book II is also a systematic argument for the existence of an intelligent being: Thus, from the consideration of ourselves, and what we infallibly find in our own constitutions, our reason leads us to
4968-440: The hands of the possessor. In his view, the introduction of money eliminates limits to accumulation. Locke stresses that inequality has come about by tacit agreement on the use of money, not by the social contract establishing civil society or the law of land regulating property. Locke was aware of a problem posed by unlimited accumulation, but did not consider it his task. He just implies that government would function to moderate
5060-442: The knowledge of this certain and evident truth, that there is an eternal, most powerful, and most knowing being; which whether any one will please to call God, it matters not! Locke contends that consciousness is what distinguishes selves, and thus, …in this alone consists personal Identity, i.e. the sameness of rational Being: And as far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past Action or Thought, so far reaches
5152-487: The labour expended in the creation of goods gives them their value. From this premise, understood as a labour theory of value , Locke developed a labour theory of property , whereby ownership of property is created by the application of labour. In addition, he believed that property precedes government and government cannot "dispose of the estates of the subjects arbitrarily". Karl Marx later critiqued Locke's theory of property in his own social theory. Locke defines
5244-537: The late 17th and early 18th centuries, Locke's Two Treatises were rarely cited. Historian Julian Hoppit said of the book "except among some Whigs, even as a contribution to the intense debate of the 1690s it made little impression and was generally ignored until 1703 (though in Oxford in 1695 it was reported to have made 'a great noise')." John Kenyon , in his study of British political debate from 1689 to 1720, has remarked that Locke's theories were "mentioned so rarely in
5336-408: The latter less significant and less volatile than commodity movements. As for a country's money stock, if it is large relative to that of other countries, he says it will cause the country's exchange to rise above par, as an export balance would do. He also prepares estimates of the cash requirements for different economic groups ( landholders , labourers, and brokers). In each group he posits that
5428-799: The man". In his Essay , Locke explains the gradual unfolding of this conscious mind. Arguing against both the Augustinian view of man as originally sinful and the Cartesian position, which holds that man innately knows basic logical propositions, Locke posits an 'empty mind', a tabula rasa , which is shaped by experience; sensations and reflections being the two sources of all of our ideas . He states in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding : This source of ideas every man has wholly within himself; and though it be not sense, as having nothing to do with external objects, yet it
5520-420: The mathematicians, and theorems they deduce from them; all must be equally allowed innate; they being all discoveries made by the use of reason." Whereas Book I is intended to reject the doctrine of innate ideas proposed by Descartes and the rationalists , Book II explains that every idea is derived from experience either by sensation —i.e. direct sensory information—or reflection —i.e. "the perception of
5612-450: The men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education. Locke also wrote that "the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences". He argues that the " associations of ideas " that one makes when young are more important than those made later because they are the foundation of the self ; they are, put differently, what first mark
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#17328456316085704-422: The observation of things, that come in their way, furnish them with." Book I of the Essay is an attack on nativism or the doctrine of innate ideas ; Locke indeed sought to rebut a prevalent view of innate ideas that was, in his words, an "established opinion" firmly held by philosophers of his time. While he allowed that some ideas are in the mind from an early age, he argued that those ideas are furnished by
5796-487: The oldest period in the Geologic time scale (obsolete) Primary, a stage in a thermonuclear explosive Primary circuit , electrical circuit in a transformer that receives current, as opposed to secondary circuit Primary field , type of field in conformal field theory Primary mirror , principal light-gathering surface of a reflecting telescope Primary power line , electric power transmission line fed to or from
5888-491: The operations of our own mind within us, as it is employed about the ideas it has got." In Book II, Locke focuses on the ideas of substances and qualities , in which the former are "an unknown support of qualities" and latter have the "power to produce ideas in our mind." Substance is what holds qualities together, while qualities themselves allow us to perceive and identify objects. A substance consists of bare particulars and does not have properties in themselves except
5980-475: The parish, and are usually maintained in idleness, so that their labour also is generally lost to the public till they are 12 or 14 years old". Therefore, he suggests the setting up of "working schools" for poor children in each parish in England so that they will be "from infancy [three years old] inured to work". He goes on to outline the economics of these schools, arguing not only that they will be profitable for
6072-469: The parish, but also that they will instil a good work ethic in the children. Locke's political theory was founded upon that of social contract . Unlike Thomas Hobbes , Locke believed that human nature is characterised by reason and tolerance . Like Hobbes, however, Locke believed that human nature allows people to be selfish. This is apparent with the introduction of currency. In a natural state , all people were equal and independent, and everyone had
6164-461: The physical world. Locke thought the state's borders and the functioning and enforcement of the existence of the state and its constitution were metaphysically tied to "the natural rights of the individual", and this inspired future liberal politicians and philosophers . Writing his Letters Concerning Toleration (1689–1692) in the aftermath of the European wars of religion , Locke formulated
6256-549: The reality of evil. Man was capable of waging unjust wars and committing crimes. Criminals had to be punished, even with the death penalty. With regard to the Bible, Locke was very conservative. He retained the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. The miracles were proof of the divine nature of the biblical message. Locke was convinced that the entire content of the Bible was in agreement with human reason ( The Reasonableness of Christianity , 1695). Although Locke
6348-692: The realm of epistemology . Locke redefined subjectivity , or self , leading intellectual historians such as Charles Taylor and Jerrold Seigel to argue that Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689/90) marks the beginning of the modern Western conception of the self . Locke's theory of association heavily influenced the subject matter of modern psychology . At the time, Locke's recognition of two types of ideas, simple and complex —and, more importantly, their interaction through association—inspired other philosophers, such as David Hume and George Berkeley , to revise and expand this theory and apply it to explain how humans gain knowledge in
6440-431: The same as demand for goods or land: it depends on whether money is wanted as medium of exchange . As a medium of exchange, he states, "money is capable by exchange to procure us the necessaries or conveniences of life" and, for loanable funds , "it comes to be of the same nature with land by yielding a certain yearly income…or interest". Locke distinguishes two functions of money: as a counter to measure value , and as
6532-457: The same freethinking members of dissenting Protestant groups as Spinoza's small group of loyal confidants. [Baruch Spinoza had died in 1677.] Locke almost certainly met men in Amsterdam who spoke of the ideas of that renegade Jew who... insisted on identifying himself through his religion of reason alone." While she says that "Locke's strong empiricist tendencies" would have "disinclined him to read
6624-400: The self as "that conscious thinking thing, (whatever substance, made up of whether spiritual, or material, simple, or compounded, it matters not) which is sensible, or conscious of pleasure and pain, capable of happiness or misery, and so is concerned for itself, as far as that consciousness extends". He does not, however, wholly ignore "substance", writing that "the body too goes to the making
6716-420: The senses starting in the womb—for instance, differences between colours or tastes. If we have a universal understanding of a concept like sweetness , it is not because this is an innate idea, but because we are all exposed to sweet tastes at an early age. One of Locke's fundamental arguments against innate ideas is the very fact that there is no truth to which all people attest. He took the time to argue against
6808-459: The server farm Education [ edit ] Primary education , the first stage of compulsory education Primary FRCA , academic examination for anaesthetists in the U.K. Primary school , school providing primary education Mathematics [ edit ] p -group of prime power order Primary decomposition into primary ideals Primary ideals , concept in commutative algebra Primary number , positive integer power of
6900-464: The soul, a sage has arrived who has modestly written its history. John Locke John Locke ( / l ɒ k / ; 29 August 1632 ( O.S. ) – 28 October 1704 ( O.S. )) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ". Considered one of the first of the British empiricists , following
6992-551: The sum of ideas and perceptions . Locke discusses the limit of human knowledge , and whether such can be said to be accurate or truthful. Thus, there is a distinction between what an individual might claim to know , as part of a system of knowledge, and whether or not that claimed knowledge is actual. Locke writes at the beginning of the fourth chapter ("Of the Reality of Knowledge"): I doubt not but my Reader by this Time may be apt to think that I have been all this while only building
7084-528: The time of the Reflections (1695) Locke was advocating not just Socinian views on tolerance but also Socinian Christology . However Wainwright (1987) notes that in the posthumously published Paraphrase (1707) Locke's interpretation of one verse, Ephesians 1 :10, is markedly different from that of Socinians like Biddle , and may indicate that near the end of his life Locke returned nearer to an Arian position, thereby accepting Christ's pre-existence. Locke
7176-479: The tradition of Francis Bacon , Locke is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy . His writings influenced Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau , and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American Revolutionaries . His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in
7268-406: The truly existing primary qualities of bodies, like shape, motion and the arrangement of minute particles, and the secondary qualities that are "powers to produce various sensations in us" such as "red" and "sweet." These secondary qualities , Locke claims, are dependent on the primary qualities . He also offers a theory of personal identity , offering a largely psychological criterion. Book III
7360-536: The tutelage of Thomas Sydenham . Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking—an effect that would become evident in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding . Locke's medical knowledge was put to the test when Ashley's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Ashley to undergo surgery (then life-threatening in itself) to remove
7452-856: The use of words which are not linked to clear ideas, and to those who change the criteria or meaning underlying a term. Thus, Locke uses a discussion of language to demonstrate sloppy thinking, following the Port-Royal Logique (1662) in numbering among the abuses of language those that he calls "affected obscurity" in chapter 10. Locke complains that such obscurity is caused by, for example, philosophers who, to confuse their readers, invoke old terms and give them unexpected meanings or who construct new terms without clearly defining their intent. Writers may also invent such obfuscation to make themselves appear more educated or their ideas more complicated and nuanced or erudite than they actually are. This book focuses on knowledge in general—that it can be thought of as
7544-407: The value of goods as based on their scarcity and ability to be exchanged and consumed . He explains demand for goods as based on their ability to yield a flow of income. Locke develops an early theory of capitalisation , such as of land, which has value because "by its constant production of saleable commodities it brings in a certain yearly income". He considers the demand for money as almost
7636-445: The work of later philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume , and Immanuel Kant . He postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate, or tabula rasa . Contrary to Cartesian philosophy based on pre-existing concepts, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas , and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception , a concept now known as empiricism . Locke
7728-505: The work was composed well before this date. The work is now viewed as a more general argument against absolute monarchy (particularly as espoused by Robert Filmer and Thomas Hobbes ) and for individual consent as the basis of political legitimacy . Although Locke was associated with the influential Whigs, his ideas about natural rights and government are today considered quite revolutionary for that period in English history. Locke fled to
7820-423: Was an advocate of tolerance, he urged the authorities not to tolerate atheism , because he thought the denial of God's existence would undermine the social order and lead to chaos. That excluded all atheistic varieties of philosophy and all attempts to deduce ethics and natural law from purely secular premises. In Locke's opinion the cosmological argument was valid and proved God's existence. His political thought
7912-732: Was an attorney who served as clerk to the Justices of the Peace in Chew Magna and as a captain of cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces during the early part of the English Civil War . His mother was Agnes Keene. Soon after Locke's birth, the family moved to the market town of Pensford , about seven miles south of Bristol, where Locke grew up in a rural Tudor house in Belluton . In 1647, Locke
8004-577: Was at times not sure about the subject of original sin , so he was accused of Socinianism, Arianism, or Deism . Locke argued that the idea that "all Adam ' s Posterity [are] doomed to Eternal Infinite Punishment, for the Transgression of Adam " was "little consistent with the Justice or Goodness of the Great and Infinite God", leading Eric Nelson to associate him with Pelagian ideas. However, he did not deny
8096-884: Was based on Protestant Christian views. Additionally, Locke advocated a sense of piety out of gratitude to God for giving reason to men. Primary For Misplaced Pages's policy on primary sources , see Misplaced Pages:No original research § Primary . [REDACTED] Look up primary in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media [ edit ] Music [ edit ] Groups and labels [ edit ] Primary (band) , from Australia Primary (musician) , hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea Primary Music , Israeli record label Works [ edit ] Primary (album) by Rubicon (2002) "Primary" (song) by The Cure "Primary", song by Spoon from
8188-765: Was introduced to medicine and the experimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in the Royal Society , of which he eventually became a member. Locke was awarded a bachelor's degree in February 1656 and a master's degree in June 1658. He obtained a bachelor of medicine in February 1675, having studied the subject extensively during his time at Oxford and, in addition to Lower, worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as Robert Boyle , Thomas Willis and Robert Hooke . In 1666, he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley , who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for
8280-569: Was one of the principal sources of empiricism in modern philosophy, and influenced many enlightenment philosophers, such as David Hume and George Berkeley . Book I of the Essay is Locke's attempt to refute the rationalist notion of innate ideas . Book II sets out Locke's theory of ideas, including his distinction between passively acquired simple ideas —such as "red", "sweet", "round"—and actively built complex ideas , such as numbers, causes and effects, abstract ideas, ideas of substances, identity, and diversity. Locke also distinguishes between
8372-414: Was sent to the prestigious Westminster School in London under the sponsorship of Alexander Popham , a member of Parliament and John Sr.'s former commander. At the age of 16 he was at school just half a mile away from the execution of Charles I ; however, the boys were not allowed to go and watch. After completing studies at Westminster, he was admitted to Christ Church , Oxford , in the autumn of 1652 at
8464-491: Was unintelligible, a view which he also later advanced in the Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous . At the same time, Locke's work provided crucial groundwork for future empiricists such as David Hume . John Wynne published An Abridgment of Mr. Locke's Essay concerning the Human Understanding , with Locke's approval, in 1696. Likewise, Louisa Capper wrote An Abridgment of Locke's Essay concerning
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