John Locke

John Locke (1632–1704) was an English philosopher whose accounts of knowledge, personal identity, and political authority helped shape empiricism and liberal thought.

Empiricism: The philosophical view that experience is the primary source of knowledge. Locke made experience, rather than innate ideas, the basis of human understanding.
Tabula rasa: The image of the mind as initially blank, receiving its contents through experience. Locke uses this image to challenge claims that people are born with ideas.
Two Treatises of Government: Locke’s political work arguing against absolute monarchy and for government by consent. It gives the fullest statement of his account of rights, authority, and resistance.
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury: An English statesman and political leader who employed Locke as physician and adviser. Locke’s work and political life were closely tied to Shaftesbury’s household and circle.
Liberalism: A political tradition that emphasizes individual rights, consent, and limits on government. Locke’s defense of natural rights and constrained government became a foundational strand of liberal thought.
Innate ideas: Ideas or principles claimed to be present in the mind from birth or by nature. Locke’s rejection of innate ideas opens his account of how knowledge develops.
Sensation: The process by which external objects produce ideas in the mind through the senses. Locke treats sensation as one of the two sources of ideas.
A Letter Concerning Toleration: Locke’s essay arguing that civil government should not control religious belief. It applies his limits on political authority to disputes over religion.
Thomas Hobbes: An English philosopher who defended a powerful sovereign as the remedy for political insecurity. Hobbes’s political theory provides a sharp contrast with Locke’s account of consent and resistance.
American Revolution: The political and military struggle through which thirteen British colonies became independent states. Lockean language about rights and resistance informed arguments used by some revolutionaries.

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