John Locke

England

Born near Bristol in 1632; he studied medicine and natural science at Oxford.

💡 Did you know? Locke lived in turbulent times: civil war, plague and revolution shaped the England whose liberal order he helped to found.

blank slate

No innate ideas: only experience fills the mind, through sensation and reflection.

💡 Did you know? The mind at birth is a „blank slate“: all knowledge comes from experience, nothing is innate.

empiricism

All knowledge stems from experience: Berkeley and Hume carried the line forward.

💡 Did you know? As founder of empiricism Locke set experience above pure reason: against Descartes's innate ideas.

life, liberty, property

Government exists solely to protect these rights.

💡 Did you know? Life, liberty and property as natural rights: this trio directly inspired the American Declaration of Independence.

right of resistance

Rule rests on consent: if it betrays its mandate, the people may remove it.

💡 Did you know? If a government violates natural rights, the citizens may overthrow it: a revolutionary idea for the 17th century.

Two Treatises of Government

Published anonymously: its theses against divine right were too explosive.

💡 Did you know? The „Two Treatises“ founded modern liberalism and influenced the constitutions of the USA and France.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Twenty years in the making: sparked by a discussion among friends that stalled without clarifying the limits of knowledge.

💡 Did you know? In the „Essay Concerning Human Understanding“ Locke examines where our ideas come from and how far our knowledge reaches.

liberalism

America's founding fathers wrote his ideas almost verbatim into the Declaration of Independence.

💡 Did you know? Locke is called the „father of liberalism“: his ideas of freedom and limited government still resonate today.

separation of church and state

Belief cannot be forced: though Locke still made exceptions for atheists and (on political grounds) Catholics.

💡 Did you know? His „Letter Concerning Toleration“ called for the separation of church and state: faith cannot be compelled.

Holland

Only after the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 did he return, with the manuscripts of his major works.

💡 Did you know? After his patron's fall Locke fled to tolerant Holland and returned only with the „Glorious Revolution“ of 1688.

Some Thoughts Concerning Education

Against beatings, for playful learning: Locke counts as a co-founder of modern pedagogy.

💡 Did you know? His „Thoughts Concerning Education“ became a bestseller: „a sound mind in a sound body“ was his motto.

Shaftesbury

Locke saved his life with a risky liver operation and followed him into high politics.

💡 Did you know? The operation, using a silver drainage tube, was a medical sensation.

John Locke

John Locke was an English philosopher who, as the father of liberalism and empiricism, shaped modern politics and epistemology.

💡 Did you know? His idea of natural rights to life, liberty and property flowed directly into the American Declaration of Independence.