John Locke (1632–1704) was an English philosopher and political theorist. This founder of British empiricism and political liberalism greatly influenced modern philosophical empiricism and political theory through his writings. He endeavored to focus philosophy on an analysis of the extent and capabilities of the human mind. Two centuries later, the British philosopher John Stuart Mill called Locke the “unquestioned founder of the analytic philosophy of mind.”
In Two Treatises of Government (1690,) Locke justified the Revolution of 1688 by contending that, counter to the theory of the divine right of kings, the authority of rulers has a human origin and is limited. In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690,) he negated that any ideas are innate, and argued instead that all knowledge is rooted in experience derived from the senses. He established that it is not possible to know everything about the world and that our inadequate knowledge must be fortified by faith.
Regarded as one of the first of the British empiricists, in the tradition of Francis Bacon, Locke is equally important to social contract theory. His works greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. Locke’s contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory even influenced the United States Declaration of Independence.
Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) argued that religion is a matter for each individual and that churches are voluntary associations. The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695) provoked more controversy than the political works. Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693) argued for a broader syllabus and a more humane attitude towards pupils.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John Locke
The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.
—John Locke
All men are liable to error, and most men are … by passion or interest, under temptation to it.
—John Locke
Topics: Failures, Mistakes
I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information, and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits.
—John Locke
Topics: Learning, Questions
Where all is but dream, reasoning and arguments are of no use, truth and knowledge nothing.
—John Locke
To ask at what time a man has first any ideas is to ask when he begins to perceive; having ideas and perception being the same thing.
—John Locke
Topics: Ideas
So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with.
—John Locke
Topics: Words
Fear is an uneasiness of the mind, upon the thought of a future evil likely to befall us.
—John Locke
Topics: Anxiety, Fear
Curiosity in children, is but an appetite for knowledge.
—John Locke
Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural.
—John Locke
Topics: Manners, Affectation
We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.
—John Locke
Topics: Words
The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.
—John Locke
Topics: Thoughts, Thought, Action, Thinking
The great question which, in all ages, has disturbed mankind, and brought on them the greatest part of those mischiefs, which have ruined cities, depopulated countries, and disordered the peace of the world, has been, not whether there be power in the world, not whence it came, but who should have it.
—John Locke
Topics: Power
Folly consists in drawing of false conclusions from just principles, by which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions from false principles.
—John Locke
Curiosity in children is but an appetite for knowledge. One great reason why children abandon themselves wholly to silly pursuits and trifle away their time insipidly is, because they find their curiosity balked, and their inquiries neglected.
—John Locke
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Immanuel Kant Prussian German Philosopher
Francis Bacon English Philosopher
David Hume Scottish Philosopher, Historian
John Stuart Mill English Philosopher, Economist
Aristotle Ancient Greek Philosopher
Charles Sanders Peirce American Philosopher
Bertrand A. Russell British Philosopher, Mathematician
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz German Philosopher, Mathematician
Roger Bacon English Philosopher
William of Ockham English Philosopher, Polemicist