John Locke
Father of liberalism and influential Enlightenment thinker
Born on 29 August 1632 and dying on 28 October 1704, John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, known as a key Enlightenment thinker and often called the "father of liberalism".[1] Locke's work shaped epistemology and political philosophy, and his writings influenced Voltaire, Rousseau, and the American Revolutionaries.[2]
Quick Facts
- Office
- Commissioner for Trade and Plantations
- Succeeded
- Matthew Prior
- Took office
- 15 May 1696
- Left office
- 28 June 1700
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Locke was born to Puritan parents in the village of Wrington, Somerset, on 29 August 1632.[3] Through the patronage of his father's commander, Alexander Popham, young Locke gained an excellent education at Westminster School in London in 1647.[4] He then attended Christ Church, Oxford, in the autumn of 1652 at age twenty.[5] At Oxford, Locke found the Aristotelian philosophy of little use and was introduced to medicine and experimental philosophy by his friend Richard Lower.[5]
Locke came back to England in 1689 with Queen Mary II and shortly after published three of his most notable works.[6]
What the cited sources add
It also states that much of Locke's work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism.[7] The Biography account reports that Locke was raised as a Puritan and earned the honor of being named a King's Scholar at Westminster School.[8] The same source notes that Shaftesbury imparted an outlook on rule and government that never left Locke.[8] It also states that Locke's own active involvement with the scientific movement was largely through his informal studies of medicine.[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "John Locke" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grave tablet from 1705: ... 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; Hirschmann, "Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory", Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 79}}{{ISBN?; Sharma, "Western Political Thought", Atlantic Publishers, 2006, p. 440; Korab-Karpowicz, "A History of Political Philosophy: From Thucydides to Locke", Global Scholarly Publications, 2010, p. 291}}{{ISBN? (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "John Locke" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Becker, "The Declaration of Independence: a Study in the History of Political Ideas", Harcourt, Brace, 1922, p. 27}}{{ISBN? (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "John Locke" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Woolhouse, Roger. John Locke, A Biography. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press 2007, pp. 5-7; Broad, "Ethics And the History of Philosophy", Routledge, 2000 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Uzgalis, "John Locke", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2024. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
- Uzgalis, "John Locke", Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2024. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
- Wikipedia, "John Locke" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bourne, H.R. Fox. The Life of John Locke. London: Henry S. King & Co. 2 volumes.; Woolhouse, Roger. John Locke, A Biography. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press 2007, . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Uzgalis, "John Locke", Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2022. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
- "John Locke - Quotes, Beliefs & Definition against", Biography, 2023-08-16. facts only, no text reused. biography.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article John Locke (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Notable Figures
Elsewhere in Historical Figures
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced