John Locke Biography

John Locke was one of the first philosophers of the Enlightenment period. He had theories on everything from knowledge to education. He published many books, and had great influence on other philosophers and schools of thought for many years; almost three centuries.

Locke disagreed with the idea of metaphysics. Instead, he believed knowledge could only be gained by experience and reflection on experience. This type of knowledge was already being gained by people such as Boyle, Sydenham, Christiaan Huygens, and Newton; so Locke set about the task of finding what “the original, certainty, and extent of human knowledge, together with the grounds and degrees of belief, opinion, and assent” were.

Locke had four books in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In the I and II Books he addresses the ideas of Empiricism. Here he says that knowledge of the world began in sense perception, and self-knowledge with introspection, or the ability to reflect upon experience. In Book II, Locke also addressed self-experience. He says personal identity depends on self-consciousness, the ability to say I am the person that did this or that 15 years ago because I can remember doing it.

In Book III Locke discussed language. He toys with the idea that the general word might stand for a particular idea, or it might just be used in representative capacity. Locke felt that the use of general words was possible only because they signified “nominal essences.” In Book III, Locke also argued that the theory of definition was not always defined by per genus et differentiam; by comparison and contrast.

Book IV discussed the nature and extent of human knowledge. Locke seemed to be more rationalistic in this book, since he looked for the idea of knowledge in the use of mathematics.

The book Two Treatises of Government is Locke’s most important book on political philosophy. He feels political power is “a right of making laws, with penalties, of death, and consequently all less penalties for the regulating and preserving of property and of employing the force of the community in the execution of such laws, and in the defense of the commonwealth from foreign injury, and all this only for the public good.” Locke thought the legislative should be an elected body, the executive a single person, and the people would be the sovereign.

Locke also had theories on moral philosophy, education, and religion. Locke’s influence lasted for nearly three centuries, and set traditions of thought for British empiricism and American pragmatism. He developed the Whig ideology that was the underlying cause of the Exclusion Controversy and the Revolution of 1688. Locke’s influence is still felt today, in the notions of thought, freedom, and authority.