John Locke

Felix, Frances Madelaine B
BEED-ECED 2A
John
Locke
(29 August 1632 – 28 October
1704)
He was an English philosopher. Locke is

considered the first of the British
Empiricists, but is equally important to
social contract theory. His ideas had
enormous influence on the development
of epistemology and political philosophy,
and he is widely regarded as one of the
most influential Enlightenment thinkers,
classical republicans, and contributors to
liberal theory. His writings influenced
Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish
Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in
the American Declaration of Independence.
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and "the
self", figuring prominently in the later works of philosophers such as David Hume, Jean-
Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first philosopher to define the self
through a continuity of "consciousness". He also postulated that the mind was a "blank slate"
or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that
people are born without innate ideas.
Locke uses the word property in both broad and narrow senses. In a broad sense, it covers a
wide range of human interests and aspirations; more narrowly, it refers to material goods. He
argues that property is a natural right and it is derived from labor.
Locke believed that ownership of property is created by the application of labor. In addition,
property precedes government and government cannot "dispose of the estates of the subjects
arbitrarily."
Locke distinguishes two functions of money, as a "counter" to measure value, and as a

"pledge" to lay claim to goods. He believes that silver and gold, as opposed to paper money,
are the appropriate currency for international transactions. Silver and gold, he says, are treated
to have equal value by all of humanity and can thus be treated as a pledge by anyone, while
the value of paper money is only valid under the government which issues it.
Locke develops his theory of foreign exchanges, there are also movements in country stock of
money, and movements of capital determine exchange rates. The latter is less significant and
less volatile than commodity movements.
Locke defines the self as "that conscious thinking thing, (whatever substance, made up of
whether spiritual, or material, simple, or compounded, it matters not) which is sensible, or
conscious of pleasure and pain, capable of happiness or misery, and so is concerned for itself,
as far as that consciousness extends". He does not, however, ignore "substance", writing that
"the body too goes to the making the man." The Lockean self is therefore a self-aware and
self-reflective consciousness that is fixed in a body.
In his Essay, Locke explains the gradual unfolding of this conscious mind. Arguing against
both the Augustinian view of man as originally sinful and the Cartesian position, which holds
that man innately knows basic logical propositions; Locke posits an "empty" mind, a tabula
rasa, which is shaped by experience; sensations and reflections being the two sources of all
our ideas. Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education is an outline on how to educate this
mind: he expresses the belief that education makes the man, or, more fundamentally, that the
mind is an "empty cabinet", with the statement, "I think I may say that of all the men we meet
with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education."
Locke also wrote that "the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies
have very important and lasting consequences. “He argued that the "associations of ideas" that
one makes when young are more important than those made later because they are the
foundation of the self: they are, put differently, what first mark the tabula rasa. In his Essay,
in which is introduced both of these concepts, Locke warns against, for example, letting "a
foolish maid" convince a child that "goblins and sprites" are associated with the night for
"darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall be so joined,
that he can no more bear the one than the other."
Philosophy:
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
“We are like chameleons; we take our hue and the colour of our moral character, from
those who are around us.”
Reference:
http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/philoso.htm
http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/LockeEpistem.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_locke.html
http://discoverjohnlocke.com/quotes.html
John Locke, et. al. (1681). Political Writings. Published by Hackett Publishing, 2003. page
329
John Locke, et. al. John Locke: Critical Assessments. Published by Routledge. 1991 page 84,
231, 300
John Locke, et. al. 1667-1683. An Essay Concerning Toleration: And Other Writings on Law
and Politics. Oxford University Press, 2006. pages 134-137

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Felix, Frances Madelaine B

He was an English philosopher. Locke is

Locke distinguishes two functions of money, as a "counter" to measure value, and as a

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