locke john

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Biography of John Locke

Dates of Birth and Death:(∗) 29 August 1632 in Wrington near Bristol, England(†) 28 October 1704 in Oates, Essex, England

Family Data:John Locke was born into a Puritan family. His father was lawyer and clerkin the court of Justice of the Peace in Chew Magna. During the Civil Warhe was officer on the side of the Parliament and the Puritans. His motherwas Agnes Keene.

In 1661, Locke inherited several cottages and some land from his father. Thismade him independent.

Locke never married and had no children. In 1682, he had a romantic-intellectual relation to Damaris Cudworth (1659-1708). After Locke had togo to the exile to the Netherlands, she married Lord Masham, a widower with8 children, but she and Locke remained friends till his death. Locke spentthe last years of his life (since 1691) in the country house of the Mashamfamily in Oates, Essex.

Locke was buried on the churchyard of High Laver.

Education:Promoted by Alexander Popham (1605-1669) John attended the prestigiousWestminster School in London since 1647, where he had a scholarship, whichenabled him to continue his education at one of the famous universities.As from 1652, he studied classical philosophy and science at ChristchurchCollege in Oxford; he finished his studies with the Bachelor of Arts in 1656and with the Master of Arts in 1658. Then he became senior student teachingGreek, Rhetoric, Ethics and Morals as a lecturer. In 1674, he also made theBachelor of Medicine. Then he travelled to France.

Professional Career:As from 1666, Locke was secretary and personal physician at the service ofAnthony Ashley Cooper, the 1. Earl of Shaftesbury (1621-1683). He suc-ceeded to save the Earl’s life by operating his liver. Later, he became tutor ofthe grandchildren of the Earl and was also politically influenced by Shaftes-bury, who belonged to the Whigs. During the changing political situation,

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Shaftesbury was imprisoned and had to go into exile to the Netherlands in1682 because of his opposition against James II. as future king. He died therein 1683. Locke also went to exile according to the Rye House Plot, i.e. inthe accordance, James II and Charles II were killed during the exile in theNetherlands in the years between 1683 and 1688.

When William of Orange came to power, Locke was offered a political posi-tion in 1689, but he refused because of health reasons. In the country-houseof the Masham family he became the intellectual hero of the Whigs. In themeantime he was famous all over Europe, because of his publications.

The king made him excluded from Oxford, where he was not very popular.– Locke became important for the enlightenment. He strictly refused theforced conversion to a religion and pleaded for religious tolerance, except forthe atheists, because he thought a belief in god was necessary, and the sameof the Catholics, because they obeyed a second “prince”.

Locke pleaded for freedom, equality and invulnerability of persons and prop-erty.

Locke strongly influenced Voltaire and Rousseau and the American Revolu-tion.

Publications:

• John W. Yolton, later Michael A. Stewart (eds.), The Clarendon editionof the works of John Locke (Oxford 1975ff), with: The correspondenceof John Locke, 8 vols. (1975-1980), A paraphrase and notes on theepistles of St. Paul to the Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Roman,Ephesians, 2 vols. (1987), An Essay concerning human understanding(1987), Some thoughts concerning education (1989, 2000, 2003), Draftsfor the Essay concerning human understanding, and other philosophicalwritings (1990), Locke on money, 2 vols. (1991), On the reasonablenessof Christianity as delivered in the scriptures (1999).

• Peter Anstey (ed.), John Locke, 4 vols. (London 2006).

• Essays on the law of nature: the Latin text with a translation, intro-duction and notes, together with transcripts of Locke’s shorthand in hisjournal for 1676 (Oxford 1954, 2002, 2007).

• Ioan. Lockii Epistola de tolerantia (Oxford 1968) (A Letter ConcerningToleration) (Goudae 1689), Latin-English: (The Hague 1963), German:



Herrn Johann Lockens Sendschreiben von der Toleranz, Oder von derReligions- und Gewissens-Freyheit (s.l. 1710; Konigsberg 1755; Bristol2004), new: Ein Brief uber Toleranz (englisch-deutsch) (Hamburg 1996;other Edition: Paderborn 2007), French: Lettre sur la tolerance integral(Paris 1995).

• A second letter on tolerance (London 1690).

• A third letter on tolerance (London 1692).

• Letters concerning toleration (London 1765; online Farminton Hills)

• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690; 1701, 1726, 1759,1775, 1788, ...; London 2004; Oxford 2006), http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/f locke.html (16.08.2007), also: http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#2447 (16.08.2007), German: Johann Lockens Anleitung desmenschlichen Verstandes zur Erkaentnis der Wahrheit (Konigsberg 1755),new: Versuch uber den menschlichen Verstand (Hamburg 1988-2000;6. ed. 2006), also: Die Leitung des Verstandes (Schutterwald 1999),French: Identite et difference: l’invention de la conscience; an essayconcerning human understanding (Paris 1998), also: Essai philosophiqueconcernant l’entendement humain (Paris 2004).

• Two treatises of government (London 1694, 1698, 1728, 1755, 1764,... ; New Haven, Con. 2003; Cambridge 2003, 2005), German: ZweiAbhandlungen uber die Regierung (Frankfurt 1906, ..., 1977, 2004, 2006,2007), other Edition: Uber die Regierung (Stuttgart 1966, 1999, 2003,2005).

• The Second Treatise of Government (1690), http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/f locke.html (16.07.2007), and: http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#2447 (16.08.2007), and: The second treatise of governmentand A Letter concerning toleration (New York 1956, Mineola 2002),German: Zweite Abhandlung uber die Regierung (Frankfurt 2007).

• Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest,and Raising the Value of Money (London 1692, 1696, 1718; Dusseldorf1993).

• Some Thoughts Concerning Education (London 1693; Indianapolis 1998;Oxford 2000, 2001; Mineola, NJ 2007), German: Gedanken uber Erziehung(Leipzig 1881; Langesalza 1883, 1910; ... Stuttgart 2002).



• The Reasonableness of Christianitas Deliver’d in the Scriptures (Lon-don 1695; Chicago 1965; Oxford 1999), French: Que la religion chretienneest tres-raisonnable, telle qu’elle nous est rerpresentee dans l’EcritureSainte (Oxford 1999).

• Of the Conduct of Understanding (London 1706, 1741, 1754, 1781,1794), German: Anleitung des menschlichen Verstandes (Konigsberg1755), or: Locke’s Leitung des Verstandes (Heidelberg 1983), also: Uberden richtigen Gebrauch des Verstandes (Leipzig 1920; Hamburg 1978),or: Die Leitung des Verstandes (Schutterwald 1999).

• Posthumous works of Mr. John Locke (London 1706).

• Locke in Germany. Des beruhmten Englanders Johann Loke vernun-ftmaßiges Christenthum, wie es in der Heiligen Schrift enthalten ist, 8vols. (Berlin, Leipzig 1709-1761; Bristol 2006).

• Que la religion chretienne est tres-raisonnable, telle qu’elle nous estrepresentee dans l’Ecriture Sainte (Oxford 1999).

• Some thoughts concerning education (Oxford 2000, 2001).

• Mark Goldie (ed.), John Locke: Selected correspondence (Oxford 2002).

• John Locke: writings on religion (Oxford 2002).

• Gedanken uber Erziehung (Stuttgart 2002).

• The political writings of John Locke (London 2005).

• Locke’s travels in France 1675-1679: as related in his journals, corre-spondence and other papers (Cambridge 2008).

• Manuscripts v. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/locke/mss/index.html(16.08.2007).

Scientific Awards:In 1668 Locke became member of the Royal Society.



Bibliography:We only mention the newest literature on Locke.• Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of scientific biography, vol.

VIII (New York 1973) pp. 436-440.• Jim Alvey, John Locke after 300 years (Palmerston North 2004).•Mashhad Al-Allaf, John Locke’s philosophy of science and metaphysics: theproblem of cohesion (Lewiston 2007).• Peter R. Anstey, The philosophy of John Locke: new perspectives [Sympo-sium ’New Work on the Philosophy of John Locke’] (London 2003).• Peter R. Anstey, John Locke: critical assessments of leading philosophers,series II (Cambridge 2006).• Heber Arbuet Vignali, Los contractualistas ingleses y su concepcion de lasoberanıa: Thomas Hobbes y John Locke (Montevideo 2005).• Richard Ashcraft, John Locke: critical assessments, 4 vols. (2000).• Reinhard Aulke, Grundprobleme moralischer Erziehung in der Moderne:Locke - Rousseau - Kant (Norderstedt 2000).• Richard Baumann, “Language philosophy as language ideology: JohnLocke and Johann Gottfried Herder”, in: Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimesof language (2000) pp. 139-204.• Michael Ben-Chaim, Experimental philosophy and the birth of empiricalscience: Boyle, Locke, and Newton (Aldershot 2004).• Jonathan Francis Bennett, Learning from six philosophers: Descartes,Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume (Oxford 2001).• Jonathan Francis Bennett, Locke, Berkeley, Hume: central themes (Oxford2004).• Michael Billig, The hidden roots of critical psychology (2008).• Thom Brooks, Locke and law (Aldershot 2007).• Daniel Carey, Locke, Shaftesbury, and Hutcheson: contesting diversity inthe Enlightenment and beyond (Cambridge 2006).• Vere Clairborne Chappell, The Cambridge companion to Locke (Cambridge1999, 2006 10. Aufl.).• Giulio M. Chiodi, La filosofıa politica di Locke (Milano 2006).• Jean Pierre Clero, Locke (Paris 2004 ).• John F. Cleverley, Visions of childhood: influential models from Locke toSpock (New York 2001).• Elart von Collani, Defining the Science of Stochastics (Lemgo 2004).• Christopher Hughes Conn, Locke on essence and identity (Dordrecht 2003).• Lorraine Daston, Classical Probability in the Enlightenment (Princeton1988).• Jenny Davidson, Hypocrisis and the politics of politeness: manners andmorals from Locke to Austen (Cambridge 2004).



• Eldon J. Eisenach, Narrative power and liberal truth: Hobbes, Locke, Ben-tham, and Mill (Lanham 2002).• Verena Epp, “Herrschaft und Eigentum bei Wilhelm von Ockham und JohnLocke”, Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 34 (1999) pp. 63-75.• Frederick Esser, John Locke’s investigtion into our knowledge of bodies(elektr. Ressource 2001).• Laurent Fonbaustier, John Locke: le droit avant l’etat (Paris 2004).• Greg Forster, John Locke’s politics of moral consensus (Cambridge 2005).• Bernard Gilson, L’apport de Locke a la philosophie generale et politique(Paris 2000).• Ross Harrison, Hobbes, Locke, and confusion’s masterpiece: an examina-tion of seventeenth-century political philosophy (Cambridge 2003).• Nader Hashemi, “The relevance of John Locke to social change in the Mus-lim world: a comparison with Iran”, Iran (Lanham 2003) pp. 25-36.• Susanne Held, Eigentum und Herrschaft bei John Locke und ImmanuelKant: ein ideengeschichtlicher Vergleich (Berlin 2006).• Nancy J. Hirschmann, Feminist interpretations of John Locke (UniversityPark, PA 2007).• Laurent Jaffro, Le sens moral: une histoire de la philosophie morale deLocke a Kant (Paris 2000).• Nicholas Jolley, Locke: his philosophical thought (Oxford 2004).• Peter Josephson, The great art of government: Locke’s use of consent(Lawrence, Kan. 2002).• Diana M. Judd, Questioning authority: political resistance and the ethic ofnatural science (New Brunswick, NJ 2008).• Paul J. Kelly, Locke’s ’Second Treatise on Government’ (London 2007).• Matthew H. Kramer, John Locke and the origins of private property: philo-sophical explorations of individualism, community, and equality (Cambridge2004).• Lothar Kreimendahl (ed.), Themenschwerpunkt: John Locke; Aspekte seinertheoretischen und praktischen Philosophie (Hamburg 2006).• Andrew Levine, Engaging political philosophy: from Hobbes to Rawls (Ox-ford 2002).• Rhodri Lewis, Language, mind and nature: artificial languages in Englandfrom Bacon to Locke (Cambridge 2007).• E. Jonathan Lowe, Routledge philosophy guidebook to Locke on human un-derstanding (London 2000).• E.J. Lowe, Locke on human understanding (London 2000, 2003).• E. J. Lowe, Locke (London 2005, 2006).• Susan Manly, Language, custom, and nation in the 1790s: Locke, Tooke,Wordsworth, Edgeworth (Aldershot 2007).



• Franco Manti, Locke e il costituzionalismo: etica, politica, governo civile(Genova 2004).• Bortolo Martinelli, Leopardi tra Leibniz e Locke: alla ricerca di un orien-tamento e di un fondamento (Roma 2003).• Maurizio Merlo, La legge e la coscienza: il problema della liberta nellafilosofia politica di John Locke (Monza 2006).• John Marshall, “Huguenot thought after the Revocation of the Edict ofNantes: toleration, ’Socinanism’, integration”, in: From strangers to citi-zens: the integration of immigrant communities in Britain, Ireland and colo-nial America (Brighton 2001) pp. 383-396.• John Marshall, John Locke, toleration and early Enlightenment culture:religious intolerance and arguments for religious toleration in early modernand ’early Enlightenment’ Europe (Cambridge 2006).• Michaela Meermann, Mensch oder Burger? (Munster 2005).• Alexander Moseley, John Locke (London 2007).• Lex Newman, The Cambridge companion to Locke’s “Essay concerning hu-man understanding” (Cambridge 2007).• Kim Ian Parker, The biblical politics of John Locke (Waterloo, Ont. 2004).• Walter R. Ott, Locke’s philosophy of language (Cambridge 2004).• Ivano Petrocchi, Lockes Nachlaßschrift Of the Conduct of the Understand-ing und ihr Einfluß auf Kant: das Gleichgewicht des Verstandes; zum Einflußdes spaten Locke auf Kant und die deutsche Aufklarung (Frankfurt 2004).• Alexander S. Rosenthal, Crown under law: Richard Hooker, John Locke,and the ascent of modern constitutionalism (Lanham 2008).• Charles Kershaw Rowley, Property rights and the limits of democracy (Chel-tenham 2002).• Paul Schuurman, Ideas, mental faculties, and method: the logic of ideasof Descartes and Locke and its reception in the Dutch Republic, 1630-1750(Leiden 2004).• Gottfried Schwitzgebel, Edward Stillingfleet als Kritiker der IdeenlehreJohn Lockes (Frankfurt 2000).• Sean R. Silver, “Locke’s pineapple and the history of taste”, The eighteenthcentury 49 (2008) pp. 43-65.• Rainer Specht, John Locke (Munchen 2007).• W.M. Spellman, John Locke and the problem of depravity (Oxford 2003).• Jean-Fabien Spitz, John Locke et les fondements de la liberte moderne(Paris 2001).• Edward Stillingfleet, The philosophy of Edward Stillingfleet: including hisreplies to John Locke (London 1661, 1817; Bristol 2000).• Edward Stillingfleet, The philosophy of Edward Stillingfleet. Vol. 5: TheBishop of Worcester’s answer to Mr. Locke’s letter: concerning some pas-



sages relating to his essay of human understanding (London 1697; 2000).• Henrik Syse, Natural law, religion, and rights: an exploration of the rela-tionship between natural law and natural rights, with special emphasis on theteachings of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke (Cambridge 2007).• Nathan Tarcov, Locke’s education for liberty (Lanham 1999).• Udo Thiel, Locke: epistemology and metaphysics (Aldershot 2002).• David A. Lloyd Thomas, Locke on government (London 2002, 2003).• Yasuhiko Tomida, Inquiries into Locke’s theory of ideas (Hildesheim 2001).• Yasuhiko Tomida, Quine, Rorty, Locke: essays and discussions on natu-ralism (Hildesheim 2007).• Alex Scott Tuckness, Locke and the legislative point of view: toleration,contested principles, and the law (Princeton 2002).• James Tully, A discourse on property: John Locke and his adversaries(Cambridge 2006).• Tapani Turkka, Laslett and beyond: John Locke’s “Two treatises of gov-ernment” revisited (Tampere 2004).• William Uzgalis, Locke’s Essay concerning human understanding: a read-ers guide (London 2007).• Thea Vinnicombe, Richard W. Staveley, “John Locke, Thomas Hobbesand the development of political economy”, in: Deductive rationality (Lan-ham 2008) pp. 29-46.• Philip Vogt, John Locke and the rhetoric of modernity (Lanham 2008).• Voltaire Foundation (ed.), La diffusion de Locke en France (Oxford 2001).• Peter Walmesley, Locke’s essay and the rhetoric of science (Lewisburg2003).• Jeremy Waldron, God, Locke, and equality: Christian foundations of JohnLocke’s political thought (Cambridge 2002, 2007).• Roger Stuart Woolhouse, Locke: a biography (Cambridge 2007).• Gideon Yaffe, Liberty worth the name: Locke on free agency (Princeton2000).• John W. Yolton, Locke and the way of ideas (South Bend, Ind. 2000).• John W. Yolton, The two intellectual worlds of John Locke: man, person,and spirits in the Essays (Ithaca NY 2004).• Samuel Zinaich, John Locke’s moral revolution: from natura law to moralrelativism (Lanham 2006).• Michael P. Zuckert, Launching liberalism: on Lockean political philosophy(Lawrence, Kan. 2002).

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John Locke (16 August 2007).• http://www.philolex.de/locke.htm (16 August 2007).• http:/plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/ (16.08.2007).



• http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/locke.html (03 November 2008).

Author(s) of this contribution:Claudia von Collani

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locke john

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