John Locke
John Locke (
August 29,
1632 –
October 28,
1704) was an influential
English philosopher. In
epistemology, Locke has often been classified as a British
Empiricist, along with
David Hume and
George Berkeley. He is equally important as
social contract theorist and he developed an alternative to the
Hobbesian state of nature and argued a government could only be
legitimate if it received the
consent of the governed through a
social contract and protected the
natural rights of
life,
liberty, and
estate. If such consent was not given, argued Locke, citizens had a
right of rebellion. Locke is one of the few major philosophers who became a minister of government.
Locke's ideas had an enormous influence on the development of
political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential
Enlightenment thinkers and
contributors to liberal theory. His writings, along with those of the writings of many
Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, influenced the
American revolutionaries as reflected in the
American Declaration of Independence.
Locke's father, also named John Locke, was a country lawyer, and clerk to the Justices of the Peace in
Chew Magna, who had served as a captain of cavalry for the
Parliamentarian forces during the early part of the
English Civil War. His mother, Agnes Keene, was a tanner's daughter who was reputed to be very beautiful. Both parents were Puritans.
Locke was born on August 29, 1632, in a small thatched cottage by the church in
Wrington,
Somerset, 11.42 miles (18.38 km) from
Bristol. He was
baptised the same day. Soon after Locke's birth, the family moved to the
market town of
Pensford, about seven miles south of Bristol, where Locke grew up in a rural
Tudor house in
Belluton.
In
1647, Locke was sent to the prestigious
Westminster School in
London under the sponsorship of
Alexander Popham, a
member of Parliament and former commander of the younger Locke's father. After completing his studies there, he was admitted to
Christ Church college at
Oxford University. The dean of the college at the time was
John Owen, vice-chancellor of the university. Although a capable student, Locke was irritated by the undergraduate curriculum of the time. He found reading modern philosophers, such as
René Descartes, more interesting than the
classical material taught at the university. Through his friend Richard Lower whom he knew from the Westminster School, Locke was introduced to medicine and the experimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in the English
Royal Society, of which he eventually became a member.
Locke was awarded a
bachelor's degree in
1656 and a master's degree in
1658. He obtained a
bachelor of medicine in
1674, having studied
medicine extensively during his time at
Oxford and worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as
Robert Boyle,
Thomas Willis,
Robert Hooke and
Richard Lower. In
1666, he met
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a
liver infection. Cooper was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue.
Locke had been looking for a career and in
1667 moved into Shaftesbury's home at Exeter House in London, to serve as Lord Ashley's personal physician. In
London, Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of
Thomas Sydenham. Sydenham had a major impact on Locke's natural philosophical thinking - an impact that would become evident in the
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.Locke's medical knowledge was soon put to the test, since Shaftesbury's liver
infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Shaftesbury to undergo an operation (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Shaftesbury survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life.
It was in Shaftesbury's household, during
1671, that the meeting took place, described in the Epistle to the reader of the Essay, which was the genesis of what would later become Essay. Two extant Drafts still survive from this period. It was also during this time that Locke served as Secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and Secretary to the Lords and Proprietors of the Carolinas, helping to shape his ideas on international trade and economics.
Shaftesbury, as a founder of the
Whig movement, exerted great influence on Locke's political ideas. Locke became involved in politics when Shaftesbury became
Lord Chancellor in
1672. Following Shaftesbury's fall from favour in
1675, Locke spent some time travelling across
France. He returned to England in
1679 when Shaftesbury's political fortunes took a brief positive turn. It was around this time, most likely at Shaftesbury's prompting, that Locke composed the bulk of the
Two Treatises of Government. Locke wrote the Treatises to defend the
Glorious Revolution of 1688, but also to counter the absolutist political philosophy of Sir Robert Filmer and Thomas Hobbes. Though Locke was associated with the influential Whigs, his ideas about natural rights and government are today considered quite revolutionary for that period in English history.
However, Locke fled to the
Netherlands in
1683, under strong suspicion of involvement in the
Rye House Plot (though there is little evidence to suggest that he was directly involved in the scheme). In the Netherlands Locke had time to return to his writing, spending a great deal of time re-working the Essay and composing the Letter on Toleration. Locke did not return home until after the
Glorious Revolution. Locke accompanied
William of Orange's wife back to England in 1688. The bulk of Locke's publishing took place after his arrival back in England - the Essay, the Two Treatises and the Letter on Toleration all appearing in quick succession upon his return from exile.
His close friend, Lady Masham invited Locke to join her at the Masham's country house in Essex. He spent his time there in variable health owing to
asthma attacks, nevertheless becoming an intellectual hero of the
Whigs. During this period he discussed matters with such figures as
John Dryden and
Isaac Newton.
He died in
1704 after a prolonged decline in health, and is buried in the churchyard of the village of
High Laver, east of
Harlow in
Essex, where he had lived in the household of
Sir Francis Masham since
1691. Locke never married or had any children.
Events that happened during Locke's lifetime include the
English Restoration, the
Great Plague of London and the
Great Fire of London. He did not quite see the
Act of Union of
1707, though the thrones of
England and
Scotland were held by the same monarch throughout his lifetime.
Constitutional monarchy and
parliamentary democracy were in their infancy during Locke's time.
Locke exercised a profound influence on subsequent philosophy and politics, in particular on
liberalism. He was a strong influence on
Voltaire, while his arguments concerning
liberty and the
social contract later influenced the written works of
Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and other
Founding Fathers of the
United States.
Appraisals of Locke have often been tied to appraisals of
liberalism in general, and also to appraisals of the United States. Detractors note that he was a major investor in the English slave-trade through the Royal Africa Company, as well as through his participation in drafting the
Fundamental Constitution of the Carolinas while
Shaftesbury's
secretary, which established a feudal aristocracy and gave a master absolute power over his slaves. Some see his statements on
unenclosed property as having justified the displacement of the
Native Americans. Because of his opposition to aristocracy and slavery in his major writings, he is accused of hypocrisy, or of caring only for the liberty of
English capitalists. Most American liberal scholars reject these criticisms, however, questioning the extent of his impact upon the
Fundamental Constitution and his detractors' interpretations of his work in general.
Theory of Property
Locke proposed a
labour theory of property that built on the idea of
natural law. By mixing his labour with an object, a person then owns that object. However, labour also set the bounds of private property because, under the labour idea, a person could only own that which could be enjoyed and used. By these bounds, the
economy should run efficiently because property will not be wasted, spoiled, or hoarded.
Locke uses the word property in both broad and narrow senses. In a broad sense, it covers a wide range of human interests and aspirations; more narrowly, it refers to material goods. He argues property is a natural right and it is derived from labour.
Scholars believe that
Karl Marx later adapted Locke's theory on property in his philosophies. He also had an influence on the
US Constitution in the
Preamble. John Locke had the thought that all men had the natural rights of life,
liberty, and
property (the later was replaced by "the pursuit of happiness" during negotiations of the drafting of the US Declaration of Independence). He also developed the Lockeian
social contract which included the state of nature, government with the consent of the governed and all the natural instincts
Political Theory
Unlike
Thomas Hobbes, Locke believed that the original state of nature was happy and characterized by reason and tolerance. In that state all people were equal and independent, and none had a right to harm another's "life, health, liberty, or possessions." Though Locke is traditionally seen as responding to Hobbes, it must be noted that Locke never refers to Hobbes by name and Locke himself might never have read Hobbes, and was instead responding to other writers of the day.
[Skinner, Quentin Visions of Politics, page 76. Cambridge.] Locke is also noteworthy for his advocacy of governmental checks and balances and his doctrine that revolution in some circumstances is not only a right but an obligation. These ideas would come to have profound influence on the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, respectively.
The Labour theory of value
• By applying labour to the products of nature, man appropriates them and makes them his property.
• Labour not only is the origin of property but also "puts the difference of value on everything."
• He considers labour important enough to account for nine-tenths, perhaps even ninety-nine hundredths, of the value of goods, the rest being contributed by nature.
• Locke's idea is that property precedes government and that government cannot "dispose of the estates of the subjects arbitrarily" was one of the great formative forces of the modern age.
Limits to accumulation
• Labour creates property, but it also contains limits to its accumulation: man's capacity to produce and man's capacity to consume. These limits are considered to prevent goods from being spoiled, or wasted.
• Goods of greater durability are introduced, those exposed to quick spoilage can be exchanged for something that lasts longer, for example: plums for nuts, nuts for a piece of metal…
• The introduction of money marks the culmination of this process. Money makes possible the unlimited accumulation of property without causing waste through spoilage. He also includes gold or silver as money because they may be "hoarded up without injury to anyone," since they do not spoil or decay in the hands of the possessor.
• The introduction of money eliminates the limits of accumulation and inequality. Locke stresses that inequality has come about by tacit agreement on the use of money, not by the social contract establishing civil society or the law of land regulating property.
• He is aware of a problem posed by unlimited accumulation but does not consider it his task. He just implies that government would function to moderate the conflict between the unlimited accumulation of property and a more nearly equal distribution of wealth and does not say which principles that government should apply to solve this problem.
• However, not all elements of his thought form a consistent whole. For example, labour theory of value of the Treaties of Government stands side by side with the demand-and-supply theory developed in the Considerations. Moreover, Locke anchors property in labour but in the end upholds the unlimited accumulation of wealth.
Locke on value and price theory
• Locke's general theory of value and price is a supply and demand theory.
• Supply is quantity and demand is rent.
• "The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyer and sellers." and "that which regulates the price... [of goods] is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their vent."• The quantity theory of money forms a special case of this general theory. His idea is based on "money answers all things" (Ecclesiastes) or "vent of money is always sufficient, or more than enough," and "varies very little…"
• Regardless of whether the demand for money is unlimited or constant, Locke concludes that as far as money is concerned, the demand is exclusively regulated by its quantity.
• He also investigates the determinants of demand and supply. For supply, goods in general are considered valuable because they can be exchanged, consumed and they must be scarce. For demand, goods are in demand because they yield a flow of income.
• Locke develops an early theory of capitalization, such as land, which has value because "by its constant production of saleable commodities it brings in a certain yearly income."
• Demand for money is almost the same as demand for goods or land; it depends on whether money is wanted as medium of exchange or as loanable funds. For medium of exchange "money is capable by exchange to procure us the necessaries or conveniences of life." For loanable funds, "it comes to be of the same nature with land by yielding a certain yearly income … or interest."
Monetary thoughts
• Locke distinguishes 2 functions of money: "counter" serves as measure of value and "pledge" as claim to goods.
• Paper money has been used in domestic transactions, but for international transactions, gold and silver are indispensable because a domestic law may make paper money acceptable in domestic use but it can not give "the intrinsic value which the universal consent of mankind has annexed to silver and gold."
• Locke states that the ratio of a country's money stock to its "trade" must not be "far less" than it is in other countries, if it happens the country will suffer a loss in its trade.
• His arguments serve a mercantilist idea of a favourable balance of trade. A country must seek a favourable balance of trade, minimizing its money stock fall behind that of other countries.
• He argues the world money stock is continuously growing, if a country that stands still will fall behind as other countries' money stock rises, a country can not afford merely to maintain its own but must seek to enlarge it.
• He does not consider low prices a welcome stimulus to exports. If M is rising, P could only remain stable if T is to increase.
• Locke develops his theory of the foreign exchanges, in addition to commodity movements, there are also movements in country stock of money and movements of capital determine exchange rate. The latter is less significant and less volatile than commodity movements.
• As for country's money stock, if it is large relative to that of other countries, it will cause the country's exchange to rise above par, as an export balance would do.
• He also prepares estimates of the cash requirements for different economic groups (landholders, labourers and brokers). In each group the cash requirements are closely related to the length of the pay period. He argues the brokers â€" middlemen â€" whose activities enlarge the monetary circuit and whose profits eat into the earnings of labourers and landholders.
*(1689)
A Letter Concerning Toleration**(1690)
A Second Letter Concerning Toleration**(1692)
A Third Letter for Toleration*(1689)
Two Treatises of Government*(1689)
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding*(1693)
Some Thoughts Concerning Education*(1695)
The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures**(1695)
A Vindication of the Reasonableness of ChristianityMajor unpublished or posthumous manuscripts
*(1660)
First Tract on Government (or
the English Tract)
*(
c.1662)
Second Tract on Government (or
the Latin Tract)
*(1664)
Questions Concerning the Law of Nature (definitive Latin text, with facing accurate English trans. in Robert Horwitz et. al., eds., John Locke,
Questions Concerning the Law of Nature, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990).
*(1667)
Essay Concerning Toleration*(1706)
Of the Conduct of the Understanding*(1707)
A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul(translated from
Latin)
"Stop, Traveller! Near this place lieth John Locke. If you ask what kind of a man he was, he answers that he lived content with his own small fortune. Bred a scholar, he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth. This thou will learn from his writings, which will show thee everything else concerning him, with greater truth, than the suspect praises of an epitaph. His virtues, indeed, if he had any, were too little for him to propose as matter of praise to himself, or as an example to thee. Let his vices be buried together. As to an example of manners, if you seek that, you have it in the Gospels; of vices, to wish you have one nowhere; if mortality, certainly, (and may it profit thee), thou hast one here and everywhere."
*Ashcraft, Richard, 1986.
Revolutionary Pollitics & Locke's Two Treatises of Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Discusses the relationship between Locke's philosophy and his political activities.)
*Bailyn, Bernard, 1992 (1967).
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard Uni. Press. (Discusses the influence of Locke and other thinkers upon the American Revolution and on subsequent American political thought.)
*
Brooks, Thom, ed.,
Locke and Law. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006.
*Cox, Richard,
Locke on War and Peace, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960. (A discussion of Locke's theory of international relations.)
*Chappell, Vere, ed., 19nn.
The Cambridge Companion to Locke. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Dunn, John, 1984.
Locke. Oxford Uni. Press. (A succinct introduction.)
*--, 1969.
The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the "Two Treatises of Government". Cambridge Uni. Press. (Introduced the interpretation which emphasizes the theological element in Locke's political thought.)
*
Macpherson. C. B. The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke, Oxord: Oxford University Press, 1962. (Establishes from a Marxist point of view the deep affinity between Hobbes and Locke).
*
Pangle, Thomas,
The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the American Founders and the Philosophy of Locke (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988; paperback ed., 1990), 334 pages. (Challenges Dunn's, Tully's, Yolton's, and other conventional readings.)
*
Strauss, Leo,
Natural Right and History, chap. 5B (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953). (Argues from a non-Marxist point of view for a deep affinity between Hobbes and Locke.)
*
Strauss, Leo, "Locke's Doctrine of Natural law,"
American Political Science Review 52 (1958) 490-501. (A searing critique of W. von Leyden's edition of Locke's unpublished writings on natural law.)
*Tully, James, 1980. "A Discourse on Property : John Locke and his Adversaries" Cambridge Uni. Press
*Yolton, J. W., ed., 1969.
John Locke: Problems and Perspectives. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Zuckert, Michael,
Launching Liberalism: On Lockean Political Philosophy. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Locke Studies, appearing annually, publishes scholarly work on John Locke.
*
Liberalism*
Libertarianism*
Contributions to liberal theory*
Locke's theory of consciousness as the basis of personal identity*
Lockean proviso*
*
John Locke (1632-1704), "the philosopher of freedom"*
Free, full-text works by John Locke*
Free ebook of John Locke at
Project Gutenberg*
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry*
John Locke Bibliography*
John Locke Manuscripts*
Readable versions of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding and the Second Treatise on Government*
The John Locke School of Business and Economics at Euclid University
