John Locke's portrait byGodfrey Kneller, National Portrait Gallery, London
Locke was born on 29 August 1632, in a small thatchedcottage by the church inWrington, Somerset, about 12 miles (19 km) fromBristol. He wasbaptised the same day, as both of his parents werePuritans. Locke's father, also named John, was an attorney who served as clerk to theJustices of the Peace inChew Magna,[21] and as a captain ofcavalry for theParliamentarian forces during the early part of theEnglish Civil War. His mother was Agnes Keene. Soon after Locke's birth, the family moved to themarket town ofPensford, about seven miles south of Bristol, where Locke grew up in a ruralTudor house inBelluton.
In 1647, Locke was sent to the prestigiousWestminster School in London under the sponsorship ofAlexander 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 theexecution of Charles I; however, the boys were not allowed to go and watch. After completing studies at Westminster, he was admitted toChrist Church,Oxford, in the autumn of 1652 at the age of 20. The dean of the college at the time wasJohn Owen, vice-chancellor of the university.[22]
Although a capable student, Locke was irritated by the undergraduate curriculum of the time. He found the works of modern philosophers, such asRené Descartes, more interesting than theclassical material taught at the university. Through his friendRichard Lower, whom he knew from the Westminster School, Locke was introduced to medicine and theexperimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in theRoyal Society, of which he eventually became a member.[23]
Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Ashley's home atExeter House in London to serve as his personal physician. In London, Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage ofThomas Sydenham. Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking—an effect evident inAn 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 the cyst. Ashley survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life. During this time, Locke served as Secretary of theBoard of Trade and Plantations and Secretary to theLords Proprietors ofCarolina, which helped shape his ideas on international trade and economics.[29]
Ashley, as a founder of theWhig movement, exerted great influence on Locke's political ideas. Locke became involved in politics when Ashley becameLord Chancellor in 1672 (Ashley was created1st Earl of Shaftesbury in 1673). After Shaftesbury fell from favour in 1675, Locke spent some time travelling across France as a tutor and medical attendant toCaleb Banks.[30] 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 theTwo Treatises of Government.[31]
While it was once thought that Locke wrote theTreatises to defend theGlorious Revolution of 1688, recent scholarship has shown that the work was composed well before that.[31] The work is now viewed as a more general argument againstabsolute monarchy (particularly as espoused byRobert Filmer andThomas Hobbes) and for individual consent as the basis ofpolitical legitimacy. Although Locke was associated with the influentialWhigs, his ideas aboutnatural rights and government are considered quite revolutionary for that period in English history.
Netherlands
Locke fled to theNetherlands in 1683 in the company ofShaftesbury, under strong suspicion of involvement in theRye 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.[32] The philosopher and novelistRebecca Newberger Goldstein argues that during his five years in Holland, Locke chose his friends "from among the same freethinking members of dissenting Protestant groups asSpinoza'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."[33]
While she says that "Locke's strong empiricist tendencies" would have "disinclined him to read a grandly metaphysical work such as Spinoza'sEthics, in other ways he was deeply receptive to Spinoza's ideas, most particularly to the rationalist's well thought out argument for political andreligious tolerance and the necessity of the separation of church and state."[34] Among the friends he made in the Netherlands areVan Leeuwenhoek and Van Limborch, the leader of theRemonstrants.[32] In the Netherlands, Locke had time to return to his writing, spending a great deal of time working on theEssay Concerning Human Understanding and composing theLetter on Toleration.
Return to England
Locke did not return home until after theGlorious Revolution. He accompaniedMary II back to England in 1689. The bulk of Locke's publishing took place upon his return from exile—An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, theTwo Treatises of Government andA Letter Concerning Toleration all appearing in quick succession. Locke's close friendLady Masham invited him to join her at Otes, the Mashams' country house in Essex. Although his time there was marked by variable health fromasthma attacks, he nevertheless became an intellectual hero of the Whigs. During this period, he discussed matters with such figures asJohn Dryden andIsaac Newton.
In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Locke'sTwo Treatises were rarely cited. HistorianJulian 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'."[39]
John Kenyon, in his study of British political debate from 1689 to 1720, has remarked that Locke's theories were "mentioned so rarely in 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".[40]: 200 In contrast, Kenyon adds thatAlgernon Sidney'sDiscourses Concerning Government were "certainly much more influential than Locke'sTwo Treatises."[i][40]: 51
In the 50 years after Queen Anne's death in 1714, theTwo Treatises were reprinted only once, except in the collected works of Locke. With the rise of American resistance to British taxation, theSecond 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.[41]
Locke exercised a profound influence onpolitical philosophy, in particular on modern liberalism.Michael Zuckert has argued that Locke launched liberalism by tempering Hobbesian absolutism and clearlyseparating the realms of Church and State. He had a strong influence onVoltaire, who called him "le sage Locke". His arguments concerningliberty and thesocial contract later influenced the written works ofThomas Jefferson. One passage from theSecond Treatise is reproduced verbatim in the Declaration of Independence, the reference to a "long train of abuses". Of Locke, Jefferson wrote:[42][43][44]
Bacon, Locke andNewton ... 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.
Locke's influence may have been even more profound in the realm ofepistemology. He redefinedsubjectivity, or theself, leadingintellectual historians such asCharles Taylor andJerrold Seigel to argue that Locke'sAn Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689/90) marks the beginning of the modern Western conception of the self.[45][46] Locke'stheory of association heavily influenced the subject matter ofmodern psychology. At the time, Locke's recognition of two types of ideas,simple andcomplex—and, more importantly, their interaction through association—inspired other philosophers, such asDavid Hume andGeorge Berkeley, to revise and expand this theory and apply it to explain how humans gain knowledge in the physical world.[47] 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 futureliberalpoliticians andphilosophers.[48]
Locke's views on slavery were multifaceted. Although he wrote againstslavery in general, he was an investor and beneficiary of the slave-tradingRoyal Africa Company. While secretary to theEarl of Shaftesbury, Locke also participated in drafting theFundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which established a quasi-feudalaristocracy and gave Carolinianplanters 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".[56][57]
PhilosopherMartin Cohen observes that Locke, as secretary to theCouncil of Trade and Plantations and a member of theBoard of Trade, was "one of just half a dozen men who created and supervised both the colonies and their iniquitous systems of servitude".[58][59] 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 theAtlantic slave trade.[60] Locke's positions on slavery have been described as hypocritical, and laying the foundation for theFounding Fathers to hold similarly contradictory thoughts regarding freedom and slavery.[61]
HistorianHolly Brewer argues that Locke's role in 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.[62] 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 a few years.[63] Brewer likewise argues that Locke actively worked to undermine slavery in Virginia while heading a Board of Trade created byWilliam of Orange following theGlorious 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.[64]
In hisTwo Treatises of Government, Locke provided 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.[citation needed] Locke also supportedchild labour. 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 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".[65]: 190 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".[65]: 190 He goes on to outline the economics of these schools, arguing not only that they will be profitable for the parish, but also that they will instil a good work ethic in the children.[65]: 191
Animals
Locke rejected the Cartesian view that animals are mere automata without consciousness. In hisEssay Concerning Human Understanding, he argued that animals possess some cognitive faculties, particularly perception and memory, though not abstraction or reasoning in the human sense. Locke maintained that perception is present "in some degree, in all sorts of animals", including even oysters and cockles, though he described their sensations as "dull". He further held that animals are capable of retaining ideas, but he denied them the capacity for forming abstract or general ideas, which he regarded as a defining feature ofhuman cognition.[66]
Locke used these observations to challenge Descartes'sanimal machine doctrine and to support the possibility that matter could think, if God so willed. This hypothesis, that God might superadd thought to matter, allowed Locke to argue that mental faculties could be distributed in varying degrees among animals and humans. Locke sometimes used these arguments rhetorically against theological opponents, but was cautious about committing to the immateriality or immortality ofanimal souls. Instead, he suggested that attributing mental faculties to animals did not necessitate belief in their immortality, thereby avoiding the theological implications Descartes sought to escape by denyinganimal sentience altogether.[66]
Locke's political theory was founded upon that ofsocial contract. UnlikeThomas Hobbes, Locke believed thathuman nature is characterised byreason andtolerance. Like Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature allows people to be selfish. This is apparent with the introduction of currency. In anatural state, all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend their "life, health, liberty, or possessions".[67]: 198 Most scholars trace the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" in theAmerican Declaration of Independence to Locke's theory of rights,[68] although other origins have been suggested.[69]
Like Hobbes, Locke assumed that the sole right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people established acivil society to resolve conflicts in a civil way with help from government in a state of society. But Locke never refers to Hobbes by name and may instead have been responding to other writers of the day.[70] Locke also advocated governmentalseparation of powers and believed that revolution is not only aright but an obligation in some circumstances. These ideas had a profound influence on theDeclaration of Independence and theConstitution of the United States.
According to Locke, unused property is wasteful and an offence against nature,[71] but, with the introduction of"durable" goods, men could exchange their excessive perishable goods for those which would last longer and thus not offend thenatural 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.[72] He includes gold or silver as money because they may be "hoarded up without injury to anyone",[73] as they do not spoil or decay in 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 establishingcivil society or thelaw 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 the conflict between the unlimited accumulation of property and a more nearly equal distribution of wealth; he does not say which principles government should apply to solve this problem. Not all elements of his thought form a consistent whole. For example, thelabour theory of value in theTwo Treatises of Government stands side by side with the demand-and-supply theory of value developed in a letter he wrote titledSome 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.[74]
Locke's general theory of value and price is asupply-and-demand theory, set out in a letter to a member of parliament in 1691, titledSome Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money.[75] In it, he refers to supply asquantity and demand asvent: "The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyers and sellers ... that which regulates the price ... [of goods] is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their vent."[76] Thequantity theory of money forms 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, thedemand 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. Forsupply, he explains the value of goods as based on theirscarcity and ability to beexchanged andconsumed. He explainsdemand for goods as based on their ability to yield a flow of income. Locke develops an early theory ofcapitalisation, such as of land, which has value because "by its constant production of saleablecommodities it brings in a certain yearly income". He considers the demand for money as almost the same as demand for goods or land: it depends on whether money is wanted asmedium of exchange. As a medium of exchange, he states that "money is capable by exchange to procure us the necessaries or conveniences of life", and forloanable funds "it comes to be of the same nature with land by yielding a certain yearly income ... or interest".
Monetary thoughts
Locke distinguishes two functions of money: as acounter tomeasure value, and as apledge to lay claim togoods. He believes that silver and gold, as opposed topaper 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 a favourablebalance of trade, lest it fall behind other countries and suffer a loss in its trade. Since the worldmoney 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 determineexchange rates. He considers the latter less significant and lessvolatile 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.
Locke prepares estimates of thecash requirements for different economic groups (landholders, labourers, and brokers). In each group he posits that the cash requirements are closely related to the length of the pay period. He argues the brokers—themiddlemen—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.[77]
Theory of value and property
Locke uses the concept ofproperty in both broad and narrow terms: broadly, it covers a wide range of human interests and aspirations; more particularly, it refers tomaterial goods. He argues that property is anatural right that is derived fromlabour. In Chapter V of hisSecond 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.[78]
Locke states in hisSecond Treatise that nature on its own provides little of value to society, implying that the labour expended in the creation of goods gives them their value. From this premise, understood as alabour theory of value,[78] Locke developed alabour theory of property, whereby ownership ofproperty 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.[79]
Locke definesthe 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".[80] He does not wholly ignore "substance", writing that "the body too goes to the making the man".[81] In hisEssay, Locke explains the gradual unfolding of this conscious mind. Arguing against both theAugustinian view of man asoriginally sinful and theCartesian position, which holds that man innately knows basic logical propositions, Locke posits an 'empty mind', atabula rasa, which is shaped by experience,sensations andreflections being the two sources of all ourideas.[82] He writes inAn 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 is very like it, and might properly enough be called 'internal sense.'[83]
Locke'sSome Thoughts Concerning Education is an outline on how to educate this mind. Drawing on thoughts expressed in letters written toMary Clarke and her husband about their son,[84] he expresses the belief that education makes the man—or, more fundamentally, that the mind is an "empty cabinet":[85]
I think I may say that of all 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, "the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences".[85] He argues that the "associations of ideas" one makes when young are more important than those made later because they are the foundation of theself; they are, put differently, what first mark thetabula rasa. In hisEssay, 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".[86]
This theory came to be calledassociationism. It strongly influenced 18th-century thought, particularlyeducational theory, as nearly every educational writer warned parents not to allow their children to develop negative associations. It also led to the development ofpsychology and other new disciplines withDavid Hartley's attempt to discover a biological mechanism for associationism in hisObservations on Man (1749).
Dream argument
Locke was critical of Descartes's version of thedream argument, making the counter-argument that people cannot have physical pain in dreams as they do in waking life.[87]
Religion
Religious beliefs
Some scholars have seen Locke's political convictions as based on his religious beliefs.[88][89][90] Locke's religious trajectory began inCalvinisttrinitarianism, but by the time of theReflections (1695) Locke was advocating not justSocinian views on tolerance but also SocinianChristology.[91] Wainwright (1987) notes that in the posthumously publishedParaphrase (1707) Locke's interpretation of one verse,Ephesians 1:10, is markedly different from that of Socinians likeBiddle, and may indicate that near the end of his life Locke returned nearer to anArian position, thereby accepting Christ's pre-existence.[92][91]
Locke was at times unsure about the subject oforiginal sin, so he was accused of Socinianism, Arianism, orDeism.[93] Locke argued that the idea that "allAdam's Posterity [are] doomed to Eternal Infinite Punishment, for the Transgression ofAdam" was "little consistent with the Justice or Goodness of the Great and Infinite God", leadingEric Nelson to associate him withPelagian ideas.[94] However, he did not deny the reality of evil. Man was capable of waging unjust wars and committing crimes. Criminals had to be punished, even with the death penalty.[95]
With regard to the Bible, Locke was very conservative. He retained the doctrine of theverbal inspiration of the Scriptures.[50] 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).[96][50] Although Locke was an advocate of tolerance, he urged the authorities not to tolerateatheism, because he thought denial of God's existence undermined the social order and led to chaos.[97] That excluded all atheistic varieties of philosophy and all attempts to deduce ethics and natural law from purely secular premises.[98] In Locke's opinion thecosmological argument was valid and proved God's existence. His political thought was based on Protestant Christian views.[98][99] Locke advocated a sense of piety out of gratitude to God for giving reason to men.[100]
Philosophy from religion
Locke's concept of man started with the belief in creation.[101] Like philosophersHugo Grotius andSamuel Pufendorf, Locke equatednatural law with the biblicalrevelation.[102][103][104] Locke derived the fundamental concepts of his political theory from biblical texts, in particular fromGenesis 1 and 2 (creation), theDecalogue, theGolden Rule, the teachings of Jesus, and the letters ofPaul the Apostle.[105]The Decalogue puts a person's life, reputation and property under God's protection. Locke's philosophy on freedom is also derived from the Bible. Locke derived from the Bible basic human equality, includingequality of the sexes, the starting point of the theological doctrine ofImago Dei.[106]
To Locke, one of the consequences of the principle of equality was that all humans were created equally free and therefore governments needed the consent of the governed.[107] Locke compared the English monarchy's rule over the British people to Adam's rule over Eve in Genesis, which was appointed by God.[108] Following Locke's philosophy, the AmericanDeclaration of Independence founded human rights partially on the biblical belief in creation. Locke's doctrine that governments need the consent of the governed is also central to the Declaration of Independence.[109]
Library
Manuscripts, books and treatises
Locke's signature in Bodleian Locke 13.12. Photo taken at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Locke was an assiduous book collector and notetaker throughout his life. By his death in 1704, Locke had amassed a library of more than 3,000 books, a significant number in the seventeenth century.[110] Unlike some of his contemporaries, Locke took care to catalogue and preserve his library, and his will made specific provisions for how his library was to be distributed after his death. Locke's will offered Lady Masham the choice of "any four folios, eight quartos and twenty books of less volume, which she shall choose out of the books in my Library."[111] Locke also gave six titles to his "good friend"Anthony Collins, but Locke bequeathed the majority of his collection to his cousinPeter King (later Lord King) and to Lady Masham's son, Francis Cudworth Masham.[111]
Francis Masham was promised one "moiety" (half) of Locke's library when he reached "the age of one and twenty years."[111] The other "moiety" of Locke's books, along with his manuscripts, passed to his cousin King.[111] Over the next two centuries, the Masham portion of Locke's library was dispersed.[112] The manuscripts and books left to King remained with King's descendants (later theEarls of Lovelace), until most of the collection was bought by theBodleian Library, Oxford in 1947.[113] Another portion of the books Locke left to King was discovered by the collector and philanthropistPaul Mellon in 1951.[113] Mellon supplemented this discovery with books from Locke's library which he bought privately, and in 1978, he transferred his collection to the Bodleian.[113]
The holdings in the Locke Room at the Bodleian have been a valuable resource for scholars interested in Locke, his philosophy, practices for information management, and the history of the book. Many of the books still contain Locke's signature, which he often made on thepastedowns of his books. Many also include Locke'smarginalia. The printed books in Locke's library reflected his various intellectual interests as well as his movements at different stages of his life. Locke travelled extensively in France and the Netherlands during the 1670s and 1680s, and during this time he acquired many books from the continent.[114]
Only half of the books in Locke's library were printed in England, while close to 40% came from France and the Netherlands.[115] These books cover a wide range of subjects. According to John Harrison and Peter Laslett, the largest genres in Locke's library weretheology (23.8% of books), medicine (11.1%), politics and law (10.7%), and classical literature (10.1%).[116] The Bodleian library currently holds more than 800 of the books from Locke's library.[113] These include Locke's copies of works by several of the most influential figures of the seventeenth century, including:
The QuakerWilliam Penn:An address to Protestants of all perswasions (Bodleian Locke 7.69a)
The explorerFrancis Drake:The world encompassed by Sir Francis Drake (Bodleian Locke 8.37c)
The scientistRobert Boyle:A discourse of things above reason (Bodleian Locke 7.272)
The bishop and historianThomas Sprat:The history of the Royal-Society of London (Bodleian Locke 9.10a)
In addition to books owned by Locke, the Bodleian possesses more than 100manuscripts related to Locke or written in his hand. Like the books in Locke's library, these manuscripts display a range of interests and provide different windows into Locke's activity and relationships. Several of the manuscripts include letters to and from acquaintances like Peter King (MS Locke b. 6) andNicolas Toinard [fr] (MS Locke c. 45).[117] MS Locke f. 1–10 contain Locke's journals for most years between 1675 and 1704.[117]
Some of the most significant manuscripts include early drafts of Locke's writings, such as hisEssay Concerning Human Understanding (MS Locke f. 26).[117] The Bodleian also holds a copy of Robert Boyle'sGeneral History of the Air with corrections and notes Locke made while preparing Boyle's work for posthumous publication (MS Locke c. 37 ).[118] Other manuscripts contain unpublished works. Among others, MS. Locke e. 18 includes some of Locke's thoughts on theGlorious Revolution, which Locke sent to his friend Edward Clarke but never published.[119]
One of the largest categories of manuscript at the Bodleian comprises Locke's notebooks andcommonplace books. The scholar Richard Yeo calls Locke a "Master Note-taker" and explains that "Locke's methodical note-taking pervaded most areas of his life."[120] In an unpublished essay "Of Study," Locke argued that a notebook should work like a "chest-of-drawers" for organising information, which would be a "great help to the memory and means to avoid confusion in our thoughts."[121] Locke kept several notebooks and commonplace books, which he organised according to topic. MS Locke c. 43 includes Locke's notes on theology, while MS Locke f. 18–24 contain medical notes.[117] Other notebooks, such as MS c. 43, incorporate several topics in the same notebook, but separated into sections.[117]
Page 1 of Locke's unfinished index in Bodleian Locke 13.12. Photo taken at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
These commonplace books were highly personal and were designed to be used by Locke himself rather than accessible to a wide audience.[122] Locke's notes are often abbreviated and are full of codes which he used to reference material across notebooks.[123] Another way Locke personalised his notebooks was by devising his own method of creating indexes using a grid system and Latin keywords.[124] Instead of recording entire words, his indexes shortened words to their first letter and vowel. Thus, the word "Epistle" would be classified as "Ei".[125]
Locke published his method in French in 1686, and it wasrepublished posthumously in English in 1706. Some of the books in Locke's library at the Bodleian are a combination of manuscript and print. Locke had some of his books interleaved, meaning that they were bound with blank sheets in-between the printed pages to enable annotations. Locke interleaved and annotated his five volumes of the New Testament in French, Greek, and Latin (Bodleian Locke 9.103–107). Locke did the same with his copy of Thomas Hyde's Bodleian Library catalogue (Bodleian Locke 16.17), which Locke used to create a catalogue of his own library.[126]
^Kenyon (1977) adds: "Any unbiassed study of the position shows in fact that it was Filmer, not Hobbes, Locke or Sidney, who was the most influential thinker of the age" (p. 63).
^Bostock, David (2009).Philosophy of Mathematics: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 43.All of Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume supposed that mathematics is a theory of ourideas, but none of them offered any argument for this conceptualist claim, and apparently took it to be uncontroversial.
^Yolton, John W. (2000).Realism and Appearances: An Essay in Ontology. Cambridge University Press. p. 136.[ISBN missing]
^Hansen, Hans V.; Pinto, Robert C., eds. (1995).Fallacies: classical and contemporary readings. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN978-0271014166.OCLC30624864.
^Grave tablet from1705:... That he was born on the 29th of August in the year of our Lord 1632, and that he died on the 28th of October in the year of our Lord 1704, this tablet, which itself will quickly perish, is a record.See also: R. Woolhouse,Locke. A Biography, NY 2007, p. 1.
^Sharma, Urmila; S. K. Sharma (2006).Western Political Thought. Washington:Atlantic Publishers. p. 440.
^Korab-Karpowicz, W. Julian (2010).A History of Political Philosophy: From Thucydides to Locke. New York: Global Scholarly Publications. p. 291.[ISBN missing]
^"Foreword and study guide to"John Locke's Two Treatises on Government: A Translation into Modern English, ISR Publications, 2013, p. ii.ISBN978-0906321690
^Broad, C. D. (2000).Ethics And the History of Philosophy. UK: Routledge.ISBN978-0415225304.
^Uzgalis, William (2024),"John Locke", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2024 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved17 March 2025
^Uzgalis, William (2024),"John Locke", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2024 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved17 March 2025
^Roger Woolhouse (2007).Locke: A Biography. Cambridge University Press. p. 116.[ISBN missing]
^Attar, Samar (2007).The vital roots of European enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's influence on modern Western thought. Lanham (Md.): Lexington books.ISBN978-0739119891.
^Uzgalis, William (2022),"John Locke", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved7 March 2024
^abLaslett 1988, III.Two Treatises of Government and the Revolution of 1688.
^abJan Bor, Errit Petersma & Jelle Kingma (eds.),De verbeelding van het denken. Geïllustreerde geschiedenis van de westerse en oosterse filosofie, Amsterdam/Antwerpen : Atlas Contact, 1996,[ISBN missing], p. 260
^Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (2006).Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity. New York: Schocken Books. pp. 260–261.[ISBN missing]
^Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (2006).Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity. New York: Schocken Books. pp. 260–261.[ISBN missing]
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^Locke, John (2002), Nuovo, Victor (ed.),Writings on religion, Oxford{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
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^Wainwright, Arthur W., ed. (1987).The Clarendon Edition of the Works of John Locke: A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 806.ISBN978-0198248064.
^Dunn, John (1969),The Political Thought of John Locke: A Historical Account of the Argument of the 'Two Treatises of Government', Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 99,[TheTwo Treatises of Government are] saturated with Christian assumptions..
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^abcdeClapinson, M, and TD Rogers. 1991.Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press.
^The works of Robert Boyle, vol. 12. Edited by Michael Hunter and Edward B. Davis. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2000, pp. xviii–xxi.
^James Farr and Clayton Robers. "John Locke on the Glorious Revolution: a Rediscovered Document"Historical Journal 28 (1985): 395–398.
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Dunn, John (1988).The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the Two Treatises of Government (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521074087.OCLC1077366466.Introduced the interpretation which emphasises the theological element in Locke's political thought.
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Hudson, Nicholas (1997). "John Locke and the Tradition of Nominalism". In Hugo Keiper;Christoph Bode; Richard Utz (eds.).Nominalism and Literary Discourse. Amsterdam: Rodopi. pp. 283–299.ISBN978-9042002883.OCLC38471194.
Locke, John (1996). Grant, Ruth W; Tarcov, Nathan (eds.).Some Thoughts Concerning Education and of the Conduct of the Understanding. Indianapolis:Hackett Publishing Co. p. 10.ISBN978-0872203341.
Locke Studies, appearing annually from 2001, formerlyThe Locke Newsletter (1970–2000), publishes scholarly work on John Locke.
Macpherson, C.B.; Cunningham, Frank (2011) [1962].The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke (Wynford ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0195444018.OCLC648388121.Establishes the deep affinity from Hobbes to Harrington, the Levellers, and Locke through to nineteenth-century utilitarianism.
Waldron, Jeremy (2002).God, Locke, and Equality: Christian Foundations in Locke's Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521890571.
Huyler, Jerome,Was Locke a Liberal?(PDF), Independent, archived fromthe original(PDF) on 26 March 2009, retrieved2 August 2008, a complex and positive answer.
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