John Locke

Basic Information
 Born August 29, 1632 in Wrington, Somerset in England
 His father was also John Locke, a country lawyer and clerk to Justice of the Peace in Chew Magna
 Attended Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford college
 Received a bachelor’s degree in 1656, a master’s in 1658 and a bachelor of medicine in 1674
 Becomes personal physician to Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury, in 1667
 Serves as Secretary of the Board of trade and Plantations
 Serves as Secretary to the Lords and Proprietors of the Carolinas
 Flees to the Netherlands in 1683 under suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot
 Returns to England after the Glorious Revolution and publishes many of his works
 Dies on October 28, 1704, and is buried in the village of High Laver, where he had lived since 1691
Major Works
 A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
o A Second Letter Concerning Toleration (1690)
o A Third Letter for Toleration (1692)
 Two Treatises of Government (1689)
 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
 Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)
 The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scripture (1695)
o A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
Key Ideas/Contributions
 Locke’s arguments on liberty and social contract influenced works of the founding fathers of the
United States.
 Locke’s influence on epistemology was very significant. He redefined subjectivity, or self, and his
Essay Concerning Human Understanding marks the beginning of the modern western conception of
the self.
 Locke’s writing on political philosophy was the start of modern liberalism and separation of church
and state
 Promoted Religious Tolerance
 Wrote that people have a right to property that is derived from their labor
 Locke advocated governmental separation of powers
 Locke wrote that revolution is not only a right but that it is in some cases an obligation of the people
Connections to the Enlightenment
 In school found writings of philosophes such as Descartes more interesting than the classical
philosophers he was being taught
 Writes in response to Hobbes and other writers of the time
 Some of his ideas take shape in the new governments during the enlightenment period
Other Facts
 He was introduced to medicine and experimental philosophy during college by Richard Lower, a
friend from Westminster School. These things would become his life’s work between his
employment as physician to Shaftesbury and his much more well known contributions to philosophy
 Locke wrote much of his works while in the Netherlands when he was suspected of involvement in
the Rye House Plot