John Locke
Born 29 August 1632 · Died 28 October 1704
John Locke, widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered the first of the British empiricists, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary to pre-existing Cartesian philosophy, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception.<sup>1</sup>
Quotes
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II “Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided.”
Some Thoughts Concerning Education “We are all a sort of camelions, that still take a tincture from things near us; nor is it to be wonder'd at in children, who better understand what they see than what they hear.”
Some Thoughts Concerning Education “It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.”
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book IV “Thus parents, by humouring and cockering them when little, corrupt the principles of nature in their children, and wonder afterwards to taste the bitter waters, when they themselves have poison'd the fountain.”
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0), chosen with AI.
Books by John Locke in order
Books by John Locke in the order they were published, from A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) to Two Treaties of Government (2021).
- 1A Letter Concerning Toleration
A Letter Concerning Toleration1689 - 2An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding1689 - 3Two Treatises of Government
Two Treatises of Government1689 - 4The Second Treatise of Government
The Second Treatise of Government1691 - 5Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Some Thoughts Concerning Education1693 - 6The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scri
The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures1695 - 7A Commonplace-book to the Holy Bible
A Commonplace-book to the Holy Bible1697 - 8The Conduct of the Understanding
The Conduct of the Understanding1706 - 9Works of John Locke
Works of John Locke1714 - 10A Collection of Several Pieces of Mr. John Locke
A Collection of Several Pieces of Mr. John Locke1720 - 11The Reasonableness of Christianity
The Reasonableness of Christianity1740 - 12The Philosophical Works of John Locke
The Philosophical Works of John Locke1843 - 13Philosophical Works
Philosophical Works1854 - 14Of the Conduct of the Understanding
Of the Conduct of the Understanding1859 - 15Two Treatises on Civil Government
Two Treatises on Civil Government1884 - 16Locke's Travels in France, 1675-1679
Locke's Travels in France, 1675-16791953 - 17Essays on the Law of Nature
Essays on the Law of Nature1954 - 18The Second Treatise on Civil Government
The Second Treatise on Civil Government1956 - 19John Locke's Of the Conduct of the Understanding
John Locke's Of the Conduct of the Understanding1966 - 20Two Tracts on Government
Two Tracts on Government1967 - 21An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 16901970 - 22The Empiricists
The Empiricists1974 - 23Political Writings
Political Writings1993 - 24Two Treaties of GovernmentTwo Treaties of Government2021