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This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a 1829 edition by Henry Colburn, London. ... Read more

Book Description
In this important study Nicholas Wolterstorff interprets and discusses the ethics of belief which Locke developed in the latter part of Book IV of his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding." After lengthy discussion on the origin of ideas, the nature of language, and the nature of knowledge, Locke got around to arguing what he indicated in the opening Epistle to the Reader to be his overarching aim: how we ought to govern our belief, especially (though by no means only) on matters of religion and morality. Professor Wolterstorff shows that what above all placed this topic on Locke's agenda was the collapse, in his day, of a once-unified moral and religious tradition in Europe into warring factions. Locke's epistemology was thus a culturally and socially engaged one; it was his response to the cultural crisis of his day. Convinced also that of genuine knowledge we human beings have very little, Locke argued that instead of following tradition we ought to turn "to the things themselves" and let "Reason be your guide." This view of Locke, in which centrality is given to the last book of the "Essay," invites an interpretation of the origins of modern philosophy different from most of the current ones. Accordingly, after discussing Hume's powerful attack on Locke's recommended practice, Wolterstorff argues for Locke's originality and discusses his contribution to the modernity of post-sixteenth-century philosophy. ... Read more

Book Description
Locke on Human Understanding, is a comprehensive introduction to John Locke's major work, Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke's Essay remains a key work in many philosophical fields, notably in epistemology, metaphysics and the philosophies of mind and language. In addition, Locke is often referred to as the first English empiricist. Knowledge of this influential work and figure is essential to Enlightenment thought.

E. J. Lowe's approach enables students to effectively study the Essay by placing Locke's life and works in their intellectual and historical context. The book provides a critical examination of the leading themes in the Essay, illuminating the main lines in Locke's thinking. Such topics include innate ideas, perception, primary and secondary qualities, personal identity, free will, action and language. Finally, E. J. Lowe examines the comtemporary work being done on this highly influential English philosopher. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent introduction to Locke -- and to Lowe
John Locke was without a doubt one of the sanest and soberest souls ever to put pen to paper. Here philosopher Jonathan Lowe provides a fine and thorough introduction to Locke's greatest and most influential work: his_Essay Concerning Human Understanding_.

Lowe not only provides clear andsound explications of Locke's own views, carefully placing them intohistorical context, but also inquires into whether Locke's views can bedefended today -- and, perhaps surprisingly, finds that many of them aredefensible though perhaps in need of modification. And Lowe does nothesitate to add his own views where necessary, by way of suggesting how amodern follower of Locke might carry his philosophy forward in light ofscientific developments since Locke's day.

The result is more than anintroduction to Locke -- it is a scintillating volume that will be apleasurable read even for longtime readers of Locke. Lowe has a knack forpicking out the most interesting features of Locke's thought and presentingthem in a new light.

For example, I was quite struck by Lowe's remarks onLocke's "particularist" (Lowe's term) view of logic. Locke, ashis readers may know, was extremely critical of syllogistic formalism,holding that while reasoned arguments may indeed be put in syllogisticform, it was nevertheless ridiculous to maintain that the use of the formitself is what gives validity to an argument. As Locke famously remarked,God was not so sparing as to make men barely two-legged and leave it toAristotle to make them rational.

Lowe trenchantly notes that Locke'scritiques would apply equally well to the Frege-Russell variety of formallogic; Locke, very much like Brand Blanshard in _Reason and Analysis_, heldthat we reason by connecting terms through their _meanings_, which astrictly formal logic provides no way to do.

Lowe's remarks on this pointare food for thought not only on the matter of formal logic but on thequestion of what allegedly divides "rationalism" from"empiricism." Elsewhere in this volume, Lowe suggests that thefirm distinction between these allegedly opposite schools of thought cannotbe made out; and Locke was quite clearly a rationalist as regards knowledgeeven if he believed we arrived at all of our our ideas"empirically." That is, Locke clearly still has something to sayto the rationalist philosophers of our own day -- and through Lowe, he saysit.

And says it well: it is very much to Lowe's credit that, through hisown lucid prose, he has allowed Locke to speak so clearly. The reader ofthis excellent introduction will find Locke to be fine intellectual company-- and also Lowe, a clear thinker and graceful writer whose own admirationfor Locke is never explicitly stated but is nevertheless obvious throughthe keen sympathy of his presentation.

All in all, then, a delightfulvolume very much in the Lockean spirit. ... Read more

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Book Description
John Locke's theory of property is perhaps the most distinctive and the most influential aspect of his political theory. In this book James Tully uses an hermeneutical and analytical approach to offer a revolutionary revision of early modern theories of property, focusing particularly on that of Locke. Setting his analysis within the intellectual context of the seventeenth century, Professor Tully overturns the standard interpretations of Locke's theory, showing that it is not a justification of private property. Instead he shows it to be a theory of individual use rights within a framework of inclusive claim rights. He links Locke's conception of rights not merely to his ethical theory, but to the central arguments of his epistemology, and illuminates the way in which Locke's theory is tied to his metaphysical views of God and man, his theory of revolution and his account of a legitimate polity. ... Read more

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The Most Important Book About Locke
I first came across this book while a grad student in college, it inspired me so much that I followed its lead and continued the reasoning in my Master's Thesis. Basically what you have here is the most important book about Locke and his philosophy.

During the 20th century, in an attempt to show the merits of capitalism over communism (and specifically, to justify the existence of private property), many philosophers and their ideas were stolen and used to justify capitalistic ideology - Locke was one of those philosophers. This was a great tragedy; it was a serious misreading and misinterpretation of his works in an attempt to serve the status quo and use history to justify ones own political and economic agenda.

Why has Locke so often been described as a 'founding father' of capitalism (thanks especially to C.B. Macpherson and Robert Nozick)? Those philosophers that characterize his philosophy as such simply read the Two Treatises in isolation from the rest of his writings, especially the Essay concerning Human Understanding and the Essays concerning the Law of Nature.

Tully rectifies this problem by giving us an interpretation of Ch. 5 of the Second Treatise set in its historical context, within the framework of the entire Lockean corpus, and within the context of natural law theory. Tully sets the Lockean idea of 'property' within the historical context, as it would have been understood by Locke himself. He then goes on to offer an interpretation of Locke's theory of property which is more consistent with his natural law theory and his Christian worldview.

Locke is the most important thinker in the Western intellectual tradition - Cambridge University Press is doing a great service to Lockean followers by reissuing this classic work in a paperback edition. This book was out of print when I was a grad student, so it is nice to finally have my own edition!

If you are looking for great analysis and historical scholarship at its highest level, purchase this book - then go read your Locke. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
Two Treatises of Government is a influential work of political philosophy originally published in 1689 by English philosopher John Locke. This treatise is an attack on patriarchalism and is a sentence-by-sentence refutation of Patriarcha by Robert Filmer. The second treatise outlines the theory of having a civil society which is based on both natural rights and contract theory. Two Treatises of Government is highly recommended for those who enjoy the writings of John Locke, and also for those who are students and scholars of political science who have not yet had the opportunity to read this key political work. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1801 edition by J. Johnson; etc., London. ... Read more

Book Description
This book provides a major new historical account of the development of the political, religious, social and moral thought of the political theorist and philosopher John Locke. It offers reinterpretations of several of his most important works, particularly the Two Treatises, and includes extensive analyses of his unpublished manuscripts. Professor Marshall's arguments challenge many other scholars' interpretations of the character and influences of Locke's moral, social and religious thought and provide an alternative account. ... Read more

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BRAND NEW leather bound book accented with gilt! ! One of the most significant works to impact our view of government and the law, TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT is John Locke's masterpiece on the origin and use of political authority. Locke's beliefs that the authority of kings was not divine and that people were inherently equal are two cornerstones of a democratic society. Similarly signigficant are his conclusions that the government is the result of the people and must exist for the welfare of the people. TWO TREATISES reminds us that the beliefs today that we take for granted are indeed the culmination of great thinkers of the past. ... Read more

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Educational Basics
Of course John Locke's tabula rasa has been more or less debunked by the cognitive revolution of the 20th century, but this work still remains one of the most important works of political education in all of political philosophy. Locke believes that "the minds of children" are turned as easily as the direction of water. His goal is to direct the minds of children in such a way as to lead England in the modern world. Locke's vision of education is one of obedience and control, which in turn, is followed by trust and release. It is the modern form of parenting. He writes: "The first thing they should learn to know should be that they were not to have anything because it pleased them, but because it was fit for them" (29). Locke's educational philosophy echoes the instructions for living virtuously by Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics. The goal is to enable the child to strive as a reasonable creature, although it is the parent that instills this reason, not the individual itself that crafts his own mind and behavior. This is the dominant perspective on education in the west; it is rivaled only by Rousseau and Dewey. ... Read more

Book Description
John Locke's Moral Revolution critiques two traditional approaches to John Locke's philosophy. The first approach interprets John Locke as committed to justifying his early his early Christian / Aristotelian views of the law of nature. The second approach sees Locke attempting to manage a cluster of inconsistent moral views. In this new work, author Samuel Zinaich, Jr. argues that Locke attempts to establish a solid underpinning for religious, moral, and political ideas upon the philosophy of corpuscularism. ... Read more

Book Description
Volume 2 (nonfiction) is the definitive book on Reeve's life and work. It includes a lengthy career biography of Reeve, all major nonfiction works by Reeve reflecting on his career or detective fiction, an extensive bibliography of his work (magazine, book, newspaper, comic strip, stage, radio, film, television), an Art Gallery, a sources bibliography, and index. (Volume 1 includes a cross-section of Reeve's short fiction.) ... Read more

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An excellent introduction to the work
This is an excellent introduction to the work of Locke, but is deficient in its telling of Locke's life story. It does trace the story of his public life and career. It tells of his long preparation in politics his work for Shaftesbury, his many friendships with political figures and thinkers not only from Britain but from Holland and France; it tells of the four years of political exile in which he wrote his masterpiece " An Essay on Human Understanding" tells of the fame this book brought him, and his public career afterwards- but it tells almost nothing of his emotional and intimate life. This may not be the main thing, but as Ben- Ami Scharfstein has shown in his work on thelives of the great Philosophers- understandingthe life may provide key insights into the work. Locke never married but he did have one significant long- term relationship with the woman who was his best friend intellectual companion and confidante, Damaris Cudworth, later Lady Masham.
Dunn ably explores Locke's championing of the value of religious tolerance( for dissenting sects of Protestants but not for Catholics) his pioneering efforts at basing human understanding on knowledge given by the senses. He shows how for Locke
" knowledge itself is a form of perception" He shows where Locke contradicted the teachings of the one from whom he had learned so much Descartes, especially on the matter of innate knowledge. For Locke the mind is a ' tabula rasa' at the beginning, and all we know we know through our experience. Knowledge which is the perception ' of the connexion and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy of any of our ideas" is for Locke always " particular ideas existing in our own minds".
Locke's insistence on verbal clarity, his insistence on the role the senses play in " furnishing men with the knowledge of nature , " are still Dunn claims valuable today. Dunn too shows where Locke is more pessimistic about our power of understanding especially in regard to the way the power of custom,the ' elaborate process through which men form, modify and protect their beliefs"and the " unedifying character of most worldly desires" lead to distortion in perception and thought.
Nonetheless Locke stands as the great forerunner in major changes in the human perception of the individual's power to know and right to believe. He is the pioneer of those ideas which would be embodied in the American Declaration of Independance and Constitution. It is possible toargue that he is one of the few of the great philosophers whose work can be said to have done some real good in the world.
This is a very clearly written study and a highly valuable introduction to his thought. ... Read more

Book Description
John Locke (1632-1704) was one of the towering philosophers of the Enlightenment and arguably the greatest English philosopher. Many assumptions we now take for granted, about liberty, knowledge and government, come from Locke and his most influential works, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government.

In this superb introduction to Locke's thought, EJ Lowe covers all the major aspects of his philosophy. Whilst sensitive to the Seventeenth century background to Locke's thought, he concentrates on introducing and assessing Locke in a contemporary philosophical setting, explaining why he is so important today.

Beginning with a helpful overview of Locke's life and times, he explains how Locke challenged the idea that the human mind and knowledge of the external world rested on innate principles, laying the philosophical foundations of empiricism later taken up Berkeley and Hume.

Subsequent chapters introduce and critically assess topics fundamental to understanding Locke: his theories of substance and identity, language and meaning, philosophy of action and free will, and political freedom and toleration. In doing so, he explains some of the more complex yet pivotal aspects of Locke's thought, such as his theory that language rests on ideas and how Locke's theory of personal identity paved the way for modern empirical psychology.A final chapter assesses Locke's legacy, and the book includes a helpful chronology of Locke's life and glossary of unfamiliar terms.

Ideal for those coming to Locke for the first time, in any discipline, EJ Lowe provides a stimulating and lucid introduction to this widely-studied philosopher. ... Read more