James Baquet

    The British philosopher (and physician) John Locke (1632-1704) was one of the progenitors of at least two important ideas in Western philosophy.

    Born to Puritan parents, Locke took his bachelor’s degree at Christ Church, Oxford, around age 24; his master’s two years later; and a bachelor of medicine six years after that. He had studied with some of the leading lights of science, including Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke.

    They may have influenced Locke’s thinking regarding epistemology: he was an empiricist, a believer that the only source of knowledge is the direct experience of our senses. (The word “empirical” comes from a Greek word that, in Latin, gives us both “experience” and “experiment.”)

    The alternate view was rationalism, the idea that we could reason our way to knowledge from the innate ideas with which we were born. In the first chapter of one of Locke’s most important works, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” he refutes rationalist claims, and says instead that we are born as a “tabula rasa” — a blank slate — on which life writes our experiences.

    The second idea that arose from Locke’s work is that of liberalism, the belief that humans are born with certain rights, and that governments cannot interfere with these. “Liberal” is related to “liberty” or freedom; Locke was one of the main thinkers whose ideas influenced the founding of the United States. So profound was his influence in forming this idea that he has been called the “father of liberalism.”

    Like Christopher Wren, Locke was a member of the Royal Society (though never its president), the organization which also carried on correspondence with Van Leeuwenhoek. He spent five years in exile in the Netherlands due to some political intrigue; most of his works were published shortly after his return in 1688.

    Locke’s empiricism was deeply influenced by his study of Francis Bacon, and he discussed his ideas with the scientist Isaac Newton. It is fitting, then, that Thomas Jefferson said, “Bacon, Locke and Newton... I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception.”

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. that someone was born with

    2. assertions, statement that someone may disagree with

    3. important or influential people

    4. people who start an idea

    5. secret action against a government

    6. philosophy of knowledge

    7. living in another country to escape punishment

    8. proves wrong