John Locke was an English philosopher born in 1632. He was educated at Westminster School and Oxford, where he studied medicine. Locke became personal physician to Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury, in 1667. Locke published several influential works, including An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which outlined his empiricist theory of knowledge, and Two Treatises of Government, which influenced political thought. Locke argued that governments should protect natural rights and respect religious toleration. He spent his later years in Essex, dying in 1704.

1. JOHN LOCKE
1634-1704

2. John Locke's Early Life
and Education
John Locke was born in Wrington,
Somerset, on Aug. 29, 1632.
The father, also named John Locke, was
a devout, even-tempered man.
Locke was educated at Westminster
School and Oxford.

3. He was interested in meteorology and the
experimental sciences, especially chemistry.
He turned to medicine and became known
as one of the most skilled practitioners of his
day.
He graduated with a bachelor’s of medicine
in 1674.
He was an associate of Robert Hooke,
Robert Boyle and other leading Oxford
scientists.

4. John Locke and the Earl of
Shaftesbury
In 1667 Locke became confidential secretary
and personal physician to Anthony Ashley
Cooper, later lord chancellor and the first earl of
Shaftesbury.

5.  He supervised a dangerous liver
operation on Shaftesbury that likely
saved his patron’s life.
Shaftesbury was indicted for high
treason. He was acquitted, but Locke
was suspected of disloyalty.
In 1683, he left England for Holland
and returned only after the revolution of
1688.

6. John Locke's Publications and Final Years
Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding"
(1689) outlined a theory of human knowledge, identity
and selfhood.

7. An Empirical Theory of
Knowledge
For Locke, all knowledge comes exclusively
through experience.
He argues that at birth the mind is a tabula
rasa, or blank slate, that humans fill with ideas
as they experience the world through the five
senses.
Locke defines knowledge as the connection
and agreement, or disagreement and
repugnancy, of the ideas humans form.

8. The "Two Treatises of Government" (1690)
offered political theories developed and refined
by Locke during his years at Shaftesbury's side.
In his "Thoughts Concerning Education" (1693),
Locke argued for a broadened syllabus and
better treatment of students—ideas that were an
enormous influence on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's
novel "Emile" (1762).
In three "Letters Concerning Toleration"
(1689-92), Locke suggested that governments
should respect freedom of religion except when
the dissenting belief was a threat to public
order.

9. Locke spent his final 14 years in Essex
at the home of Sir Francis Masham and
his wife, the philosopher Lady Damaris
Cudworth Masham. He died there on
October 24, 1704, as Lady Damaris read
to him from the Psalms.
Locke never married nor had a children.

10. Locke’s other
themes,
arguments and
ideas

11. The moral role of government
Locke was very critical of the British
Monarchy
Locke believed that Government was
needed to protect everyone's natural rights.
The reason why men enter into society is
the preservation of their property.

12. Locke uses a state of nature to explain what life would be
like without a Government
“ALL MEN ARE LIABLE TO ERROR; AND MOST MEN ARE,
IN MANY POINTS, BY PASSION OR INTEREST, UNDER
TEMPTATION TO IT.”
What will happen
without a government?
LOOTING

13. A Natural Foundation of Reason
Locke argues that God gave us our
capacity for reason to aid us in the search
for truth.
God created in us a natural aversion to
misery and a desire for happiness.
Locke’s belief in separation of church and
state.

14. Political leaders do not have the right
to impose beliefs on people.
Locke insists that if men were to follow
the government blindly, they would be
surrendering their own reason and thus
violating God’s law, or natural law.

15. The Right to Private
Property
The right to private property is the cornerstone
of Locke’s political theory, encapsulating how
each man relates to God and to other men.
Locke explains that man originally exists in a
state of nature in which he need answer only to
the laws of nature.

16. The beginnings of a
modern outlook
Locke has been described as having
the first modern mind.
Locke believed that languages should
be learned not via grammar but through
practice and example.