John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRSwas an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth29 August 1632
To be rational is so glorious a thing, that two-legged creatures generally content themselves with the title.
These two, I say, viz. external material things, as the objects of SENSATION, and the operations of our own minds within, as the objects of REFLECTION, are to me the only originals from whence all our ideas take their beginnings.
There are two sides, two players. One is light, the other is dark.
A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.
The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others.
Our Savior's great rule, that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, is such a fundamental truth for the regulating of human society, that, by that alone, one might without difficulty determine all the cases and doubts in social morality.
We just want to show the people of this town what the benefits are.
There being nothing more evident than that creatures of the same species should be equal amongst one another without subordination or subjection
Man... hath by nature a power .... to preserve his property - that is, his life, liberty, and estate - against the injuries and attempts of other men.
Nature never makes excellent things for mean or no uses.
Reading furnishes the mind only with material for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
If punishment makes not the will supple it hardens the offender
It is so vital to everybody who has a stake in the downtown. It is vital to anyone who lives here. It is going to put us on the map.
No man's knowledge here can go beyond experience. (An Essay concerning Human Understanding.)