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LOCKE, JOHN (1632-1704)
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See also:LOCKE, See also: He had found in his youth, he says, that " what was called See also:general freedom was general bondage, and that the popular assertors of See also:liberty were the greatest engrossers of it too, and not unfitly called its keepers." And the See also:influence of the liberal divines of the Church of England afterwards showed itself in his spiritual development. Under Owen scholastic studies were maintained with a formality and dogmatism unsuited to Locke's See also:free inquisitive See also:temper. The aversion to them which he expressed showed thus .early an innate disposition to See also:rebel against empty verbal reasoning. He was not, according to his own See also:account of himself to See also:Lady See also:Masham, a hard student at first. He sought the See also:company of pleasant and witty men, and thus gained knowledge of See also:life. He took the See also:ordinary See also:bachelor's degree in 1656, and the See also:master's in 1658. In See also:December r66o he was serving as See also:tutor of Christ Church, lecturing in See also:Greek, See also:rhetoric and See also:philosophy. At Oxford Locke was nevertheless within reach of liberal intellectual influence tending to promote self-education and strong individuality. The metaphysical See also:works of See also:Descartes had appeared a few years before he went to Oxford, and the Human Nature and See also:Leviathan of See also:Hobbes during his under-See also:graduate years. It does not seem that Locke read extensively, but he was attracted by Descartes. The first books, be told Lady Masham, which gave him a relish for philosophy, were those of this philosopher, although he very often differed from him. At the Restoration potent influences were See also:drawing Oxford and England into experimental inquiries. Experiment in physics became the See also:fashion. The Royal Society was then founded, and we find Locke experimenting in See also:chemistry in 1663, also in See also:meteorology, in which he was particularly interested all his life. Fro. 15. Time locks. The restraints of a professional career were not suited to Locke. There is a surmise that early in his Oxford career he contemplated taking orders in the Church of England. His religious disposition attracted him to See also:theology. Revulsion from the dogmatic temper of the Presbyterians, and the unreasoning See also:enthusiasm of the Independents favoured sympathy afterwards with See also:Cambridge Platonists and other liberal See also:Anglican churchmen. Whithcote was his favourite preacher, and See also:close intimacy with the See also:Cudworth family cheered his later years. But, though he has a See also:place among See also:lay theologians, dread of ecclesiastical impediment to free inquiry, added to strong inclination for scientific investigation, made him look to See also:medicine as his profession, and before 1666 we find him practising as a physician in Oxford. Nevertheless, although known among his See also:friends as " See also:Doctor Locke," he never graduated in medicine. His See also:health was uncertain, for he suffered through life from chronic See also:consumption and See also:asthma. A fortunate event soon withdrew him from the medical profession.
Locke early showed an inclination to politics, as well as to theology and medicine. As early as 1665 he diverged for a See also:short time from medical pursuits at Oxford, and was engaged as secretary to See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Vane on his See also:mission to the Elector of See also:Brandenburg. Soon after his return in 1666 the incident occurred which determined his career. See also:Lord See also:Ashley, afterwards first See also:earl of See also:Shaftesbury, had come to Oxford for his health. Locke was introduced to him by his physician, Dr See also: The most significant of 'those early revelations is the See also:Essay concerning Toleration (1666), which anticipates conclusions more fully argued nearly thirty years later. The Shaftesbury connexion must have helped to See also:save Locke from those idols of the " Den " to which professional life and narrow experience is exposed. It brought him into contact with public men, the springs of See also:political See also:action and the duties of high See also:office. The place he held as Shaftesbury's adviser is indeed the outstanding circumstance in his See also:middle life. Exeter House afforded every opportunity for society. He became intimate among others with the illustrious See also:Sydenham; he joined the Royal Society and served on its See also:council. The See also:foundation of the monumental work of his life was laid when he was at Exeter House. He was led to it in this way. It was his See also:habit to' en-courage informal reunions of his intimates, to discuss debatable questions in See also:science and theology. One of these, in the See also:winter of 167o, is historically memorable. " Five or six friends," he says, met in his rooms and were discussing " principles of morality and religion. They found themselves quickly at a stand by the difficulties that arose on every See also:side." Locke proposed some See also:criticism of the necessary " limits of human understanding " as likely to open a way out of their difficulties. He undertook to See also:attempt this, and fancied that what he had to say might find sufficient space on " one See also:sheet of paper." What was thus " begun by See also:chance, was continued by entreaty, written by incoherent parcels, and after See also:long intervals of neglect resumed again as See also:humour and occasions permitted." At the end of nearly twenty years the issue was given to the See also:world as Locke's now famous Essay Concerning Human Understanding. The fall of Shaftesbury in 1675 enabled Locke to See also:escape from English politics. He found a See also:retreat in See also:France, where he could unite calm reflection upon the legitimate operations of " human understanding " with See also:attention to his health. He spent three years partly at See also:Montpellier and partly in See also:Paris. His See also:journals and commonplace books in these years show the Essay in preparation. At Paris he met men of science and letters—See also:Peter Guenellon, the well-known See also:Amsterdam physician; Ole Romer, the Danish astronomer; Thoynard, the critic; Melchisedech Thevenot, the traveller; See also:Henri Justel., the jurist; and See also:Francois Bernier, the expositor of Gassendi. But there is no mention of See also:Malebranche, whose Recherche de la verite had appeared three years before, nor of See also:Arnauld, the illustrious See also:rival of Malebranche. Locke returned to London in 1679. Reaction against the See also:court party had restored Shaftesbury to See also:power. Locke resumed his old confidential relations, now at See also:Thanet House in Aldersgate. A period of often interrupted leisure for study followed. It was a time of plots and counterplots, when England seemed on the brink of another civil See also:war. In the end Shaftesbury was committed to the See also:Tower, tried and acquitted. More insurrectionary plots followed in the summer of 1682, after which, suspected at home, the versatile statesman escaped to See also: For a time he was in danger of See also:arrest at the instance of the English government. After months of concealment he escaped; but he was deprived of his studentship at Christ Church by See also:order of the See also: At Rotterdam he was a confidant of political exiles, including See also:Burnet and the famous earl of See also:Peterborough, and he became known to See also: In spring, 1691, he took up his residence in the See also:manor house of Otes in See also:Essex, the See also:country seat of Sir See also:Francis Masham, between Ongar and Harlow. Lady Masham was the accomplished daughter of See also:Ralph Cudworth, and was his friend before he went to Holland. She told Le Clerc that after Locke's return from exile, " by some considerably long visits, he had made trial of the air of Otes, which is some 20 M. from London, and he thought that none would be so suitable for him. His company," she adds, " could not but be very desirable for us, and he had all the assurances we could give him of being always welcome; but, to make him easy in living with us, it was necessary he should do so on his own terms, which Sir Francis at last assenting to, he then believed himself at home with us, and resolved, if it pleased See also:God, here to end his days as he did." At Otes he enjoyed for fourteen years as much domestic See also:peace and See also:literary leisure as was consistent with broken health, and sometimes anxious visits to London on public affairs, in which he was still an active adviser. Otes was in every way his home. In his letters and otherwise we have pleasant pictures of its inmates and domestic life and the occasional visits of his friends, among others Lord Peterborough, Lord Shaftesbury of the Characteristics, Sir See also:Isaac See also:Newton, William See also:Molyneux and See also:Anthony See also:Collins. At Otes he was busy with his See also:pen. The See also:Letter on Toleration involved him in controversy. An Answer by See also:Jonas Proast of See also:Queen's College, Oxford, had See also:drawn forth in 1690 a Second Letter. A rejoinder in 1691 was followed by Locke's elaborate Third Letter on Toleration in the summer of the following year. In 1691 currency and See also:finance were much in his thoughts, and in the following year he addressed an important letter to Sir John See also:Somers on the Consequences of the Lowering of See also:Interest and Raising the Value of See also:Money. When he was in Holland he had written letters to his friend Clarke of Chipley about the education of his See also:children. These letters formed the substance of the little See also:volume entitled Thoughts on Education (1693), which still holds its place among See also:classics in that See also:department. Nor were the " principles of revealed religion " forgotten. The subtle theological controversies of the 17th century made him anxious to show how See also:simple after all fundamental Christianity is. In the Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures (anonymous, 1695), Locke sought to See also:separate the divine essence of Christ's religion from later accretions of dogma, and from reasonings due to oversight of the necessary limits of human thought. This intended Eirenicon involved him in controversies that lasted for years. Angry polemics assailed the book. A certain John See also:Edwards was conspicuous. Locke's Vindication, followed by a Second Vindication in 1697, added See also:fuel to this See also:fire. Above all, the See also:great Essay was assailed and often misinterpreted by philosophers and divines. Notes of opposition had been heard almost as soon as it appeared. John See also:Norris, the See also:meta-See also:physical See also:rector of Bemerton and English See also:disciple of Malebranche, criticized it in 1690. Locke took no notice at the time, but his second winter at Otes was partly employed in An Examination of Malebranche's See also:Opinion of Seeing all Things in God, and in Remarks upon some of m r Norris's Books, tracts which throw light upon his own ambiguous theory of See also:perception through the senses. These were published after his death. A second edition of the Essay, with a See also:chapter added on " See also:Personal Identity," and numerous alterations in the chapter on " Power," appeared in 1694. The third, which was only a reprint, was published in 1695. Wynne's well-known abridgment helped to make the book known in Oxford, and his friend William Molyneux introduced it in See also:Dublin. In 1695 a revival of controversy about the currency diverted Locke's attention. Events in that year occasioned his Observations on See also:Silver Money and Further Considerations on Raising the Value of Money. In 1696 Locke was induced to accept a commissionership on the See also:Board of See also:Trade. This required frequent visits to London. Meantime the Essay on Human Understanding and the Reasonableness of Christianity were becoming more involved in a wordy warfare between dogmatists and latitudinarians, See also:trinitarians and unitarians. The controversy with Edwards was followed by a more memorable one with See also:Stillingfleet, See also:bishop of See also:Worcester. John See also:Toland, in his Christianity not Mysterious, had exaggerated doctrines in the Essay, and then adopted them as his own. In the autumn of 1696, Stillingfleet, an argumentative ecclesiastic more than a religious philosopher, in his Vindication of the See also:Doctrine of the Trinity, charged Locke with disallowing See also:mystery in human knowledge, especially in his account of the metaphysical See also:idea of " substance. " Locke replied in January 1697. Stilling-See also:fleet's rejoinder appeared in May, followed by a Second Letter from Locke in August, to which the bishop replied in the following year. Locke's Third Letter, in which the ramifications of this controversy are pursued with a copious See also:expenditure of acute reasoning and polished See also:irony, was delayed till 1699, in which year Stillingfleet died. Other critics of the Essay entered the lists. One of the ablest was John Sergeant, a See also:priest of the Roman Church, in Solid Philosophy Asserted Against the Fancies of the Ideists (1697). He was followed by Thomas Burnet and Dean See also:Sherlock. See also: The Latin version by See also:Richard Burridge of Dublin followed a year after, reprinted in due time at Amsterdam and at See also:Leipzig. In 1700 Locke resigned his See also:commission at the Board of Trade, and devoted himself to Biblical studies and religious meditation. The Gospels had been carefully studied when he was preparing his Reasonableness of Christianity. He now turned to the Epistles of St See also:Paul, and applied the spirit of the Essay and the ordinary rules of See also:critical interpretation to a literature which he venerated as infallible, like the pious Puritans who surrounded his youth. The work was ready when he died, and was published two years after. A See also:tract on Miracles, written in 1702, also appeared posthumously. Fresh adverse criticism of the Essay was re-ported to him in his last year, and the book was formally condemned by the authorities at Oxford. " I take what has been done rather as a recommendation of the book," he wrote to his See also:young friend Anthony Collins, " and when you and I next meet we shall be merry on the subject." One attack only moved him. In 1704 his adversary, Jonas Proast, revived their old controversy. Locke in consequence began a Fourth Letter on Toleration. A few pages, ending in an unfinished See also:paragraph, exhausted his remaining strength; but the theme which had employed him at Oxford more than See also:forty years before, and had been a ruling idea throughout the long See also:interval, was still dominant in the last See also:clays of his life. All the summer of 1704 he continued to decline, tenderly nursed by Lady Masham and her step-daughter See also:Esther. On the 28th of See also:October he died, according to his last recorded words, in perfect charity with all men, and in sincere communion with the whole church of Christ, by whatever names Christ's followers See also:call themselves." His See also:grave is on the See also:south side of the See also:parish church of High Laver, in which he often worshipped, near the tombs of the Mashams, and of Damaris, the widow of Cudworth. At the distance of i m. are the See also:garden and See also:park where the manor house of Otes once stood. Locke's writings have made his intellectual and moral features See also:familiar. The reasonableness of taking See also:probability as our See also:guide in life was in the essence of his philosophy. The See also:desire to see for himself what is true in the light of reasonable See also:evidence, and that others should do the same, was his ruling passion, if the See also:term can be applied to one so calm and judicial. " I can no more know anything by another See also:man's understanding," he would say, " than I can see by another man's eyes." This repugnance to believe blindly what rested on arbitrary authority, as distinguished from what was seen to be sustained by self-evident See also:reason, or by demonstration, or by See also:good probable evidence, runs through his life. He is typically English in his reverence for facts, whether facts of sense or of living consciousness, in his aversion from abstract See also:speculation and verbal reasoning, in his suspicion of See also:mysticism, in his calm reasonableness, and in his ready submission to truth, even when truth was incapable of being fully reduced to See also:system by man. The delight he took in exercising reason in regard to everything he did was what his friend Pierre Coste remarked in Locke's daily life at Otes. " He went about the most trifling things always with some good reason. Above all things he loved order; and he had got the way of observing it in everything with wonderful exactness. As he always kept the useful in his See also:eye in all his disquisitions, he esteemed the employments of men only in proportion to the good they were capable of producing; for which cause he had no great value for the critics who See also:waste their lives in composing words and phrases in coming to the choice of a various See also:reading, in a passage that has after all nothing important in it. He cared yet less for those professed disputants, who, being taken up with the desire of coming off with victory, justify themselves behind the See also:ambiguity of a word, to give their adversaries the more trouble. And whenever he had to See also:deal with this sort of folks, if he did not beforehand take a strong See also:resolution of keeping his temper, he quickly fell into a passion; for he was naturally choleric, but his anger never lasted long. If he retained any resentment it was against himself, for having given way to so ridiculous a passion; which, as he used to say, " may do a great deal of harm, but never yet did anyone the least good." Large, " See also:round-about " common sense, intellectual strength directed by a virtuous purpose, not subtle or daring speculation sustained by an idealizing See also:faculty, in which he was deficient, is what wefind in Locke. Defect in speculative See also:imagination appears when he encounters the vast and complex final problem of the universe in its organic unity. Locke is See also:apt to be forgotten now, because in his own See also:generation he so well discharged the intellectual mission of initiating criticism of human knowledge, and of diffusing the spirit of free inquiry and universal toleration which has since profoundly affected the civilized world. He has not bequeathed an imposing system, hardly even a striking See also:discovery in See also:metaphysics, but he is a See also:signal example in the Anglo-Saxon world of the love of attainable truth for the See also:sake of truth and goodness. " If Locke made few discoveries, See also:Socrates made none." But both are memorable in the See also:record of human progress. In the inscription on his See also:tomb, prepared by himself, Locke refers to his books as a true See also:representation of what he was. They are concerned with Social See also:Economy, Christianity, Education and Philosophy, besides See also:Miscellaneous writings. I. SOCIAL EcoNOMY.—(I) Epistola de Tolerantia (1689, translated into English in the same year). ' (2) Two Treatises on Government (1690) (the Patriarcha of See also:Filmer, to which the First See also:Treatise was a reply, appeared in 168o). (3) A Second Letter concerning Toleration (169o). (4) Some Considerations on the Consequence of Lowering the See also:Rate of Interest and Raising the Value of Money (1691). (5) A Third Letter for Toleration (1692). (6) Short Observations on a printed paper entitled, " For encouraging the Coining of Silver Money in England, and after for Keeping it here " (1695). (7) Further Considerations concerning Raising the Value of Money (1695) (occasioned by a See also:Report containing an " Essay for the See also:Amendment of Silver Coins," published that year by William See also:Lowndes, secretary for the See also:Treasury). (8) A Fourth Letter for Toleration (17o6, posthumous). II. CHRISTIANITY.—(I) The Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures (1695). (2) A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity from Mr Edwards's Reflections (1695). (3) A Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity (1697). (4) A See also:Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St Paul to the See also:Galatians, First and Second See also:Corinthians, See also:Romans and See also:Ephesians. To which is prefixed an Essay for the understanding of St Paul's Epistles by consulting St Paul himself (1705-1707, posthumous). (5) A Discourse of Miracles (1716, posthumous). IV. PHILOSOPHY.—(1) An Essay concerning Human Understanding, in four books (169o). (2) A Letter to the Bishop of Worcester concerning some passages See also:relating to Mr Locke's Essay of Human Understanding in a See also:late Discourse of his Lordship's in Vindication of the Trinity (1697). (3) Mr Locke's Reply to the Bishop of Worcester's Answer to his Letter (1697). (4) Mr Locke's Reply to the Bishop of Worcester's Answer to his Second Letter (1699). (5) An Examination of Father Malebranche's Opinion of Seeing all Things in God (1706, posthumous). (6) Remarks upon Some of Mr Norris's Books, wherein he asserts Father Malebranche's Opinion of Seeing all Things in God (1720, posthumous). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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