Changes

Locke's view helped lay the foundation for the [[constitutional republic]]an form of [[government]] that we use in the [[United States]]. Locke had built on the prior work of fellow Englishmen [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Thomas Hobbes]].

Locke's view helped lay the foundation for the [[constitutional republic]]an form of [[government]] that we use in the [[United States]]. Locke had built on the prior work of fellow Englishmen [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Thomas Hobbes]].

Locke is also famous for his theory of the tabula rasa, or "blank slate", which he is said to have first conceived while spending many hours of fruitless effort on a math problem as a boy.  

Locke is also famous for his theory of the ''tabula rasa'', or "blank slate", which he is said to have first conceived while spending many hours of fruitless effort on a math problem as a boy. This contrasted the conservative theory of "innatism" that had been developed by [[Plato]] and promoted until the Enlightenment.

Although integral to the founding of America as well as the concept of liberty, there is some evidence and criticism, including by [[Christopher Ferrara]], that his views were also an enhancement of Hobbes' statist views, and essentially advocated for man to be a brute unconstrained by natural law.<ref>https://distributistreview.com/liberty-god-that-failed/</ref>

Although integral to the founding of America as well as the concept of liberty, there is some evidence and criticism, including by [[Christopher Ferrara]], that his views were also an enhancement of Hobbes' statist views, and essentially advocated for man to be a brute unconstrained by natural law.<ref>https://distributistreview.com/liberty-god-that-failed/</ref>

===College Education===

===College Education===

In 1652 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, then under John Owen, the Puritan dean and vice-chancellor of the university. Christ Church was Locke's occasional home for thirty years. For some years after he entered, Oxford was ruled by the Independents, who, largely through Owen, unlike the Presbyterians, were among the first in England to advocate genuine religious toleration. But Locke's hereditary sympathy with the Puritans was gradually lessened by the intolerance of the Presbyterians and the fanaticism of the Independents. He had found in his youth, he says, that " what was called general freedom was general bondage, and that the popular assertors of liberty were the greatest engrossers of it too, and not unfitly called its keepers." And the influence of the liberal divines of the Church of England afterwards showed itself in his spiritual development. Under Owen scholastic studies were maintained with a formality and dogmatism unsuited to Locke's free inquisitive temper. The aversion to them which be expressed showed thus early an innate disposition to rebel against empty verbal reasoning. He was not, according to his own account of himself to Lady Masham, a hard student at first. He sought the company of pleasant and witty men, and thus gained knowledge of life. He took the ordinary bachelor's degree in 1656, and the master's in 1658. In December 1660 he was serving as tutor of Christ Church, lecturing in Greek, rhetoric and philosophy.

In 1652 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, then under John Owen, the [[Puritan]] dean and vice-chancellor of the university. Christ Church was Locke's occasional home for thirty years. For some years after he entered, Oxford was ruled by the Independents, who, largely through Owen, unlike the [[Presbyterians]], were among the first in England to advocate genuine religious toleration. But Locke's hereditary sympathy with the Puritans was gradually lessened by the intolerance of the Presbyterians and the fanaticism of the Independents. He had found in his youth, he says, that " what was called general freedom was general bondage, and that the popular assertors of liberty were the greatest engrossers of it too, and not unfitly called its keepers." And the influence of the liberal divines of the Church of England afterwards showed itself in his spiritual development. Under Owen scholastic studies were maintained with a formality and dogmatism unsuited to Locke's free inquisitive temper. The aversion to them which be expressed showed thus early an innate disposition to rebel against empty verbal reasoning. He was not, according to his own account of himself to Lady Masham, a hard student at first. He sought the company of pleasant and witty men, and thus gained knowledge of life. He took the ordinary bachelor's degree in 1656, and the master's in 1658. In December 1660 he was serving as tutor of Christ Church, lecturing in Greek, rhetoric and philosophy.

====Oxford====

====Oxford====

==II. The Reasonableness of Christianity==

==II. The Reasonableness of Christianity==

The principles that governed Locke's social polity largely determined his attitude to Christianity. His " latitudinarianism " was the result of extraordinary reverence for truth, and a perception that knowledge may be sufficient for the purposes of human life while it falls infinitely short of speculative completeness. He never loses sight of essential reasonableness as the only ground on which Christian faith can ultimately rest. But Locke accepted Holy Scripture as infallible with the reverence of a Puritan. It has God for its author, salva-tion for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter." Yet he did not, like many Puritans, mean Scripture as interpreted by himself or by his sect. And faith in its infallibility was combined in Locke with deep distrust in " enthusiasm." This predisposed him to regard physical miracles as the solid criterion for distinguishing reasonable religious conviction from " inclinations, fancies and strong assurances. ' Assent in religion as in everything else he could justify only on the ground of its harmony with reason; professed " illumination without search, and certainty without proof " was to him a sign of absence of the divine spirit in the professor. Confidence that we are right, he would say, is in itself no proof that we are right : when God asks assent to the truth of a proposition in religion, he either shows us its intrinsic rationality by ordinary means, or he offers miraculous proof of the reality of which we need reasonable evidence. But we must know what we mean by miracle. Reasonableness, in short, must always at last be our guide. His own faith in Christianity rested on its moral excellence when it is received in its primitive simplicity, combined with the miracles which accompanied its original promulgation. But " even for those books which have the attestation of miracles to confirm their being from God, the miracles," he says, " are to be judged by the doctrine, and not the doctrine by the miracles." Miracles alone cannot vindicate the divinity of immoral doctrine. Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity was an attempt to recall religion from the crude speculations of theological sects, destructive of peace among Christians, to its original simplicity ; but this is apt to conceal its transcendent mystery. Those who practically acknowledge the supremacy of Jesus as Messiah accept all that is essential to the Christianity of Locke. His own Christian belief, sincere and earnest, was more the outcome of the common sense which, largely through him, moulded the prudential theology of England in the 18th century, than of the nobler elements present in More, Cudworth and other religious thinkers of the preceding age, or afterwards in Law and Berkeley, Coleridge and Schleiermacher.

The principles that governed Locke's social polity largely determined his attitude to Christianity. His "latitudinarianism" was the result of extraordinary reverence for truth, and a perception that knowledge may be sufficient for the purposes of human life while it falls infinitely short of speculative completeness. He never loses sight of essential reasonableness as the only ground on which Christian faith can ultimately rest. But Locke accepted Holy Scripture as infallible with the reverence of a Puritan. It has God for its author, salva-tion for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter." Yet he did not, like many Puritans, mean Scripture as interpreted by himself or by his sect. And faith in its infallibility was combined in Locke with deep distrust in " enthusiasm." This predisposed him to regard physical miracles as the solid criterion for distinguishing reasonable religious conviction from " inclinations, fancies and strong assurances. ' Assent in religion as in everything else he could justify only on the ground of its harmony with reason; professed " illumination without search, and certainty without proof " was to him a sign of absence of the divine spirit in the professor. [[Confidence]] that we are right, he would say, is in itself no proof that we are right : when God asks assent to the truth of a proposition in religion, he either shows us its intrinsic rationality by ordinary means, or he offers miraculous proof of the reality of which we need reasonable evidence. But we must know what we mean by miracle. Reasonableness, in short, must always at last be our guide. His own faith in Christianity rested on its moral excellence when it is received in its primitive simplicity, combined with the miracles which accompanied its original promulgation. But " even for those books which have the attestation of miracles to confirm their being from God, the miracles," he says, " are to be judged by the doctrine, and not the doctrine by the miracles." Miracles alone cannot vindicate the divinity of immoral doctrine. Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity was an attempt to recall religion from the crude speculations of theological sects, destructive of peace among Christians, to its original simplicity ; but this is apt to conceal its transcendent mystery. Those who practically acknowledge the supremacy of Jesus as Messiah accept all that is essential to the Christianity of Locke. His own Christian belief, sincere and earnest, was more the outcome of the common sense which, largely through him, moulded the prudential theology of England in the 18th century, than of the nobler elements present in More, Cudworth and other religious thinkers of the preceding age, or afterwards in Law and Berkeley, Coleridge and Schleiermacher.

==III. Education==

==III. Education==

==Quotes==

==Quotes==

* "It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of truth."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vjYIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA461 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding], p. 461</ref>

* "It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of truth."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vjYIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA461 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding], p. 461</ref>

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==

The Essay concerning Human Understanding has passed through more editions than any classic in modern philosophical literature. Before the middle of the 18th century it had reached thirteen, and it has now passed through some forty editions, besides being translated into Latin, French, Dutch, German and modern Greek. There are also several abridgments. In addition to those criticisms which appeared when Locke was alive, among the most important are Leibnitz's Nouveaux Essais sur l'entendement humain —written about 17oo and published in 1765, in which each chapter of the Essay of Locke is examined in a corresponding chapter by Leibnitz; Cousin's " Ecole sensualiste systeme de Locke," in his Histoire de la philosophie an X VIII' siecle (1829); and the criticisms in T. H. Green's Introduction to the Philosophical Works of Hume (1874). The Essay, with Prolegomena, biographical, critical and historical, edited by Professor Campbell Fraser and published by the Oxford Clarendon Press in 1894, is the only annotated edition, unless the Nouveaux Essais of Leibnitz may be reduced to this category. The Letters on Toleration, Thoughts on Education and The The rationale of probability means of  

The Essay concerning Human Understanding has passed through more editions than any classic in modern philosophical literature. Before the middle of the 18th century it had reached thirteen, and it has now passed through some forty editions, besides being translated into Latin, French, Dutch, German and modern Greek. There are also several abridgments. In addition to those criticisms which appeared when Locke was alive, among the most important are Leibnitz's Nouveaux Essais sur l'entendement humain —written about 17oo and published in 1765, in which each chapter of the Essay of Locke is examined in a corresponding chapter by Leibnitz; Cousin's " Ecole sensualiste systeme de Locke," in his Histoire de la philosophie an X VIII' siecle (1829); and the criticisms in T. H. Green's Introduction to the Philosophical Works of Hume (1874). The Essay, with Prolegomena, biographical, critical and historical, edited by Professor Campbell Fraser and published by the Oxford Clarendon Press in 1894, is the only annotated edition, unless the Nouveaux Essais of Leibnitz may be reduced to this category. The Letters on Toleration, Thoughts on Education and The The rationale of probability means of  

Reasonableness of Christianity have also gone through many editions, and been translated into different languages. The first collected edition of Locke's Works was in 1714, in three folio volumes. The best is that by Bishop Law, in four quartos (I777). The one most commonly known is in ten volumes (5812). The Eloge of Jean le Clerc (Bibliothèque choisie, 1705) has been the basis of the memoirs of Locke prefixed to the successive editions of his Works, or contained in biographical dictionaries. In 1829 a Life of Locke (2nd ed. in two volumes, with considerable additions, 183o), was produced by Peter, 7th Baron King, a descendant of Locke's cousin, Anne Locke. This adds a good deal to what was previously known, as Lord King was able to draw from the mass of correspondence, journals and commonplace books of Locke in his possession. In the same year Dr Thomas Foster published some interesting letters from Locke to Benjamin Furly. The most copious account of the life is contained in the two volumes by H. R. Fox-Bourne (1876), the results of laborious research among the Shaftesbury Papers, Locke MSS. in the British- Museum, the Public Record Office, the Lambeth, Christ Church and Bodleian libraries, and in the Remonstrants' library at Amsterdam. Monographs on Locke, by T. H. Fowler in 1880, in " English Men of Letters, ' and by Fraser, in 1890, in Blackwood's " Philosophical Classics " may be mentioned ; also addresses by Sir F. Pollock and Fraser at the bicentenary com-memoration by the British Academy of Locke's death, published in the Proceedings of the Academy (1904). See also C. Bastide, John Locke; ses theories politiques et leur influence en Angleterre (Paris, 1907) ; H. 011ion, La Philosophie generale de J. L. (1909).

Reasonableness of Christianity have also gone through many editions, and been translated into different languages. The first collected edition of Locke's Works was in 1714, in three folio volumes. The best is that by Bishop Law, in four quartos (I777). The one most commonly known is in ten volumes (5812). The Eloge of Jean le Clerc (Bibliothèque choisie, 1705) has been the basis of the memoirs of Locke prefixed to the successive editions of his Works, or contained in biographical dictionaries. In 1829 a Life of Locke (2nd ed. in two volumes, with considerable additions, 183o), was produced by Peter, 7th Baron King, a descendant of Locke's cousin, Anne Locke. This adds a good deal to what was previously known, as Lord King was able to draw from the mass of correspondence, journals and commonplace books of Locke in his possession. In the same year Dr Thomas Foster published some interesting letters from Locke to Benjamin Furly. The most copious account of the life is contained in the two volumes by H. R. Fox-Bourne (1876), the results of laborious research among the Shaftesbury Papers, Locke MSS. in the British- Museum, the Public Record Office, the Lambeth, Christ Church and Bodleian libraries, and in the Remonstrants' library at Amsterdam. Monographs on Locke, by T. H. Fowler in 1880, in " English Men of Letters, ' and by Fraser, in 1890, in Blackwood's " Philosophical Classics " may be mentioned ; also addresses by Sir F. Pollock and Fraser at the bicentenary com-memoration by the British Academy of Locke's death, published in the Proceedings of the Academy (1904). See also C. Bastide, John Locke; ses theories politiques et leur influence en Angleterre (Paris, 1907) ; H. 011ion, La Philosophie generale de J. L. (1909).<ref>Fraser, Alexander Campbell (1911).  ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 1911 edition</ref>

==See also==

==See also==

[[Category:Republicanism]]

[[Category:Republicanism]]

[[Category:Enlightenment]]

[[Category:Enlightenment]]

[[Category:Leftists]]

[[Category:Leftists]]

[[Category:Liberals]]

[[Category:Liberals]]