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{{otherpersons}}
{{Infobox_Philosopher |
region = Western Philosophers |
era = ]<br />(Modern Philosophy) |
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image_name = JohnLocke.png |
image_caption = John Locke |
name = John Locke |
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death = southside tuba city
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main_interests = ], ], ], ], ] |
influences = ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] |
influenced = ], ], ], ], ] and many political philosophers after him, especially the ], ]|
notable_ideas = ], "government with the consent of the governed"; ]; rights of life, ] and ] |
}}
'''John Locke''' (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an ] ]. Locke is considered the first of the British ], but is equally important to ] theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of ] and ], and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential ] thinkers, ], and ]. His writings influenced ] and ], many ] thinkers, as well as the ]. This influence is reflected in the ] ].<ref> Becker, Carl Lotus. ''The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas'' Harcourt, Brace, 1922. p. 27</ref>

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 ], ] and ]. 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 "]"; that is, contrary to ] or ], Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.<ref>{{cite book | last = Baird | first = Forrest E. | authorlink = | coauthors = Walter Kaufmann | title = From Plato to Derrida | publisher = Pearson Prentice Hall | date = 2008 | location = Upper Saddle River, New Jersey | pages =527-529 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-13-158591-6 }}</ref>


==Life==
Locke's father was also gay, who was also named John Locke, was a country lawyer and clerk to the Justices of the Peace in ],<ref>{{cite book | author = Broad, C.D.| year = 2000 | title = Ethics And the History of Philosophy | publisher = Routledge| location=UK|id=ISBN 0-415-22530-2}}</ref> who had served as a captain of cavalry for the ] forces during the early part of the ]. His mother, Agnes Keene, was a tanner's daughter and reputed to be very beautiful. Both parents were ]s.
Locke was born on 29 August 1632, in a small thatched cottage by the church in ], ], about twelve miles from ]. He was ] the same day. Soon after Locke's birth, the family moved to the ] of ], about seven miles south of Bristol, where Locke grew up in a rural ] house in ].

In ], Locke was sent to the how to be gay college in ] under the sponsorship of ], a ] and former commander of Miguel's bedroom. After completing his studies there, he was admitted to ]. The dean of the college at the time was ], vice-chancellor of the university. Although a capable student, Locke was irritated by the undergraduate curriculum of the time. He found the works of modern philosophers, such as ], more interesting than the ] material taught at the university. Through his friend Richard Lower, whom he knew from the Westminster School, Locke was introduced to medicine and the experimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in the English ], of which he eventually became a member.

Locke was awarded the gayest man in the world degree in ] and a master's degree in ]. He obtained a ] in ], having studied ] extensively during his time at and worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as ], ], ] and ]. In ], he met Lord ], who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a ] infection. Cooper was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue.

Locke had been looking for a career and in ] moved into Shaftesbury's home at Exeter House in London, to serve as Lord Ashley's personal physician. In ], Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of ]. Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking &mdash; an effect that would become evident in the ''].''

Locke's medical knowledge was put to the test when Shaftesbury's liver ] became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Shaftesbury to undergo an operation (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Shaftesbury survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life.
]
It was in Shaftesbury's household, during ], that the meeting took place, described in the Epistle to the reader of the Essay, which was the genesis of what would later become Essay. Two extant Drafts still survive from this period. It was also during this time that Locke served as Secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and Secretary to the Lords and Proprietors of the Carolinas, helping to shape his ideas on international trade and economics.

Shaftesbury, as a founder of the ] movement, exerted great influence on Locke's political ideas. Locke became involved in politics when Shaftesbury became ] in ]. Following Shaftesbury's fall from favour in ], Locke spent some time travelling across ]. He returned to England in ] when Shaftesbury's political fortunes took a brief positive turn. Around this time, most likely at Shaftesbury's prompting, Locke composed the bulk of the '']''. Locke wrote the Treatises to defend the ] of 1688, but also to counter the absolutist political philosophy of Sir Robert Filmer and Thomas Hobbes. Though Locke was associated with the influential Whigs, his ideas about natural rights and government are today considered quite revolutionary for that period in English history.

However, Locke fled to the ], Holland, in ], under strong suspicion of involvement in the ] (though there is little evidence to suggest that he was directly involved in the scheme). In the Netherlands Locke had time to return to his writing, spending a great deal of time re-working the Essay and composing the Letter on Toleration. Locke did not return home until after the ]. Locke accompanied ]'s wife back to England in 1688. The bulk of Locke's publishing took place after his arrival back in England &mdash; his aforementioned ''Essay Concerning Human Understanding'', the ''Two Treatises of Civil Government'' and '']'' all appearing in quick succession upon his return from exile.

Locke's close friend Lady Masham invited him to join her at the Mashams' country house in Essex. Although his time there was marked by variable health from ] attacks, he nevertheless became an intellectual hero of the ]. During this period he discussed matters with such figures as ] and ].

He died on 28 October 1704 due to aids from gayness, and is buried in the churchyard of the village of ],<ref>''Britannica Online'', s.v. John Locke</ref> east of ] in ], where he had lived in the household of ] since ]. Locke never married nor had children. <!-- He is buried at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. . (Note: appears to be just a memorial.-->

Events that happened during Locke's lifetime include the ], the ] and the ]. He did not quite see the ] of ], though the thrones of ] and ] were held by the same monarch throughout his lifetime. ] and ] were in their infancy during Locke's time.

===Locke's epitaph===
Original Latin:
{{quote|Hic juxta situs est JOHANNES LOCKE. Si qualis fuerit rogas, mediocritate sua contentum se vixesse respondet. Literis innutritus eo usque tantum profecit, ut veritati unice litaret. Hoc ex scriptis illius disce, quae quod de eo reliquum est majori fide tibe exhibebunt, quam epitaphii suspecta elogia. Virtutes si quas habuit, minores sane quam sibi laudi duceret tibi in exemplum proponeret; vita una sepeliantur. Morum exemplum si squaeras in Evangelio habes: vitiorum utinam nusquam: mortalitatis certe (quod prosit) hic et ubique.

Natum Anno Dom. 1632 Aug. 29

Mortuum Anno Dom. 1704 Oct. 28

Memorat haec tabula brevi et ipse interitura.}}

English Translation:
{{quote|"Near this place lies John Locke. If you ask what kind of a man he was, he answers that he lived content with his own small fortune. Bred a scholar, he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth. This you will learn from his writings, which will show you everything else concerning him, with greater truth, than the suspect praises of an epitaph. His virtues, indeed, if he had any, were too little for him to propose as matter of praise to himself, or as an example to you. Let his vices be buried with him. Of good life, you have an example in the gospel, should you desire it; of vice, would there were none for you; of mortality, surely you have one here and everywhere, and may you learn from it. That he was born on the 29th of August in the year of our Lord 1632, and that he died on the 28th of October in the year of our Lord 1704, this tablet, which itself will soon perish, is a record."}}

==Influence==
Locke exercised a profound influence on political philosophy, in particular on a ] and much later on a modern ]. Most contemporary ] claim him as an influence. He had a strong influence on ]. His arguments concerning ] and the ] later influenced the written works of ], ], ], and other ] of the ]. In addition, Locke's views influenced the American and French Revolutions.

But Locke's influence may have been even more profound in the realm of epistemology. Locke redefined subjectivity, or self, and intellectual historians such as Charles Taylor and Jerrold Seigel argue that Locke's ''Essay Concerning Human Understanding'' (1690) marks the beginning of the modern conception of the self.<ref>Seigel, Jerrold. ''The Idea of the Self: Thought and Experience in Western Europe since the Seventeenth Century.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2005) and Charles Taylor, ''Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1989).</ref>

===Constitution of Carolina===
Appraisals of Locke have often been tied to appraisals of ] in general, and also to appraisals of the United States. Detractors note that (in 1671) he was a major investor in the English slave-trade through the Royal Africa Company, as well as through his participation in drafting the '']'' while ]'s ], which established a feudal aristocracy and gave a master absolute power over his slaves. They note that as a secretary to the Council of Trade and Plantations (1673-4) and a member of the Board of Trade (1696-1700) Locke was, in fact, "one of just half a dozen men who created and supervised both the colonies and their iniquitous systems of servitude" <ref> page 101, Philosophical Tales, by Martin Cohen, (Blackwell 2008) </ref> Some see his statements on ] ] as having justified the displacement of the ]. Because of his opposition to aristocracy and slavery in his major writings, he is accused of hypocrisy, or of caring only for the liberty of ] ]. Most American liberal scholars reject these criticisms, however, questioning the extent of his impact upon the ''Fundamental Constitution'' and his detractors' interpretations of his work in general.

===Theory of value and property===
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 ] is created by the application of ]. In addition, property precedes government and government cannot "dispose of the estates of the subjects arbitrarily." ] later critiqued Locke's theory of property in his social theory.

===Political theory===
{{seealso|Two Treatises of Government}}
Locke's political theory was founded on ] theory. Unlike ], Locke believed that ] is characterized by reason and tolerance. Like Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature allowed men to be selfish. This is apparent with the introduction of currency. In a ] all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his “life, health, liberty, or possessions.” Like Hobbes Locke assumed that the sole right to defend in the state of nature was not enough, so people established a ] to resume conflicts in civil way with a help from government in a state of society. However, Locke never refers to Hobbes by name<ref>because Hobbes was not available in libraries due to his presence on the index librorum prohibitorum</ref> and may instead have been responding to other writers of the day.<ref>Skinner, Quentin ''Visions of Politics''. Cambridge.</ref> Locke also advocated governmental ] and believed that revolution is not only a ] but an obligation in some circumstances. These ideas would come to have profound influence on the ] and its ].

==== Limits to accumulation ====
Labor creates property, but it also does contain limits to its accumulation: man’s capacity to produce and man’s capacity to consume. According to Locke, unused property is waste and an offense against nature. However, with the introduction of “durable” goods, men could exchange their excessive perishable goods for goods that would last longer and thus not offend the natural law. The introduction of money marks the culmination of this process. Money makes possible the unlimited accumulation of property without causing waste through spoilage. He also includes gold or silver as money because they may be “hoarded up without injury to anyone,” since they do not spoil or decay in the hands of the possessor. The introduction of money eliminates the limits of accumulation. Locke stresses that inequality has come about by tacit agreement on the use of money, not by the social contract establishing civil society or the law of land regulating property. Locke is aware of a problem posed by unlimited accumulation but does not consider it his task. He just implies that government would function to moderate the conflict between the unlimited accumulation of property and a more nearly equal distribution of wealth and does not say which principles that government should apply to solve this problem. However, not all elements of his thought form a consistent whole. For example, labor theory of value of the ] stands side by side with the demand-and-supply theory developed in a letter he wrote titled ''Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money''. Moreover, Locke anchors property in labor but in the end upholds the unlimited accumulation of wealth.

===Locke on price theory===
Locke’s general theory of value and price is a ] theory, which was set out in a letter to a ] in 1691, titled ''Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money''.<ref>John Locke (1691) </ref> Supply is quantity and demand is ]. “The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyer and sellers.” and “that which regulates the price... is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their rent.” The quantity theory of money forms a special case of this general theory. His idea is based on “money answers all things” (Ecclesiastes) or “rent of money is always sufficient, or more than enough,” and “varies very little…” Regardless of whether the demand for money is unlimited or constant, Locke concludes that as far as money is concerned, the demand is exclusively regulated by its quantity. He also investigates the determinants of demand and supply. For supply, goods in general are considered valuable because they can be exchanged, consumed and they must be scarce. For demand, goods are in demand because they yield a flow of income. Locke develops an early theory of ], such as land, which has value because “by its constant production of saleable commodities it brings in a certain yearly income.” Demand for money is almost the same as demand for goods or land; it depends on whether money is wanted as medium of exchange or as loanable funds. For medium of exchange “money is capable by exchange to procure us the necessaries or conveniences of life.” For ]able funds, “it comes to be of the same nature with land by yielding a certain yearly income … or interest.”

====Monetary thoughts====
Locke distinguishes two functions of ], as a "counter" to measure value, and as a "pledge" to lay claim to ]. 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 argues that a country should seek a favorable ], lest it fall behind other countries and suffer a loss in its trade. Since the world money stock grows constantly, a country must constantly seek to enlarge its own stock. Locke develops his theory of foreign exchanges, in addition to commodity movements, 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. As for a country’s ], if it is large relative to that of other countries, it will cause the country’s exchange to rise above par, as an export balance would do.

He also prepares estimates of the ] requirements for different economic groups (landholders, laborers and brokers). In each group the cash requirements are closely related to the length of the pay period. He argues the brokers – middlemen – whose activities enlarge the monetary circuit and whose profits eat into the earnings of laborers and landholders, had a negative influence on both one's personal and the public economy that they supposedly contributed to.

===The Self===
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,”<ref>Locke, John. ''An Essay Concerning Human Understanding''. Ed. Roger Woolhouse. New York: Penguin Books (1997), 307.</ref> but Locke does not ignore the “substance.” He writes “the body too goes to the making the man."<ref>Locke, ''Essay'', 306.</ref> The Lockean self is therefore a self-aware, 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''—that is shaped by experience; ]s and ]s being the two sources of '''all''' our ]s.<ref>The American International Encyclopedia, J.J. Little Company, New York 1954, Volume 9.</ref> Locke's '']'' is an outline for how to educate this mind; he expresses his 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."<ref>Locke, John. ''Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Of the Conduct of the Understanding''. Eds. Ruth
W. Grant and Nathan Tarcov. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., Inc. (1996), 10.</ref>

Locke also suggested that “the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences."<ref>Locke, ''Some Thoughts'', 10.</ref> 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 what first mark the ''tabula rasa''. In the ''Essay'', in which he introduces 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."<ref>Locke, ''Essay'', 357.</ref> "Associationism," as this theory would come to be called, exerted a very powerful influence over eighteenth-century thought, particularly educational theory. Nearly every educational writer would warn parents not to allow their children to develop negative associations. It also led to the development of psychology and other new disciplines with ]'s attempt to discover a biological mechanism for associationism in his ''Observations on Man'' (1749).

==List of major works==
*(1689) '']''
**(1690) ''A Second Letter Concerning Toleration''
**(1692) ''A Third Letter for Toleration''
*(1689) '']''
*(1690) '']''
*(1693) '']''
*(1695) ''The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures''
**(1695) ''A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity''

===Major unpublished or posthumous manuscripts===
*(1660) ''First Tract of Government'' (or ''the English Tract'')
*(''c.''1662) ''Second Tract of Government'' (or ''the Latin Tract'')
*(1664) ''Questions Concerning the Law of Nature'' (definitive Latin text, with facing accurate English trans. in Robert Horwitz et al., eds., John Locke, ''Questions Concerning the Law of Nature'', Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990).
*(1667) ''Essay Concerning Toleration''
*(1706) '']''
*(1707) ''A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul''

==Secondary literature==
*Ashcraft, Richard, 1986. ''Revolutionary Politics & Locke's Two Treatises of Government.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Discusses the relationship between Locke's philosophy and his political activities.)
*Ayers, Michael R., 1991. ''Locke. Epistemology & Ontology'' Routledge (The standard work on Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding.)
*Bailyn, Bernard, 1992 (1967). ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution''. Harvard Uni. Press. (Discusses the influence of Locke and other thinkers upon the American Revolution and on subsequent American political thought.)
*], 1995. 'Marx and Locke on Land and Labour', in his ''Self-Ownership, Freedom and Equality'', Oxford University Press.
*Cox, Richard, ''Locke on War and Peace'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960. (A discussion of Locke's theory of international relations.)
*Chappell, Vere, ed., 19nn. ''The Cambridge Companion to Locke''. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Dunn, John, 1984. ''Locke''. Oxford Uni. Press. (A succinct introduction.)
*------, 1969. ''The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the "Two Treatises of Government"''. Cambridge Uni. Press. (Introduced the interpretation which emphasises the theological element in Locke's political thought.)
*] ''The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962). (Establishes the deep affinity from Hobbes to Harrington, the Levellers, and Locke through to nineteenth-century utilitarianism).
*], ''The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the American Founders and the Philosophy of Locke'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988; paperback ed., 1990), 334 pages. (Challenges Dunn's, Tully's, Yolton's, and other conventional readings.)
*], ''Natural Right and History'', chap. 5B (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953). (Argues from a non-Marxist point of view for a deep affinity between Hobbes and Locke.)
*], "Locke's Doctrine of Natural law," ''American Political Science Review'' 52 (1958) 490–501. (A critique of W. von Leyden's edition of Locke's unpublished writings on natural law.)
*Tully, James, 1980. "A Discourse on Property : John Locke and his Adversaries" Cambridge Uni. Press
*], 2002. ''God, Locke and Equality''. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Yolton, J. W., ed., 1969. ''John Locke: Problems and Perspectives''. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Zuckert, Michael, ''Launching Liberalism: On Lockean Political Philosophy''. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
*''Locke Studies'', appearing annually, publishes scholarly work on John Locke.

==See also==
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*] - the religious group, whose ideas were incorporated into Locke's theories

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book| last=Moseley| first=Alexander| year=2007| title=John Locke: Continuum Library of Educational Thought| publisher=Continuum| id=ISBN 0-8264-8405-0}}
*{{cite book| last=Robinson| first=Dave| coauthors=Judy Groves| year=2003| title=Introducing Political Philosophy| publisher=Icon Books| id=ISBN 1-84046-450-X}}
*{{cite book| last=Rousseau| first=George S.| year=2004| title=Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan| id=ISBN 1-4039-3453-3}}

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
===Works===
*{{gutenberg author| id=John+Locke+(1632-1704) | name=John Locke}}
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*''The Works of John Locke''
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*, edited by ]

===Resources===
*{{sep entry|locke|John Locke|William Uzgalis|2007-05-05}}
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* by Caspar Hewett
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*A complex and positive answer to question - by Jerome Huyler

{{Enlightenment}}
{{ History of economic thought}}
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{{lifetime|1632|1704|Locke, John}}

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|SHORT DESCRIPTION=English philosopher
|DATE OF BIRTH=29 August 1632
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|DATE OF DEATH=28 October 1704
|PLACE OF DEATH=], ]
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Revision as of 21:10, 21 August 2008

Ryan is gay