John Locke
For Locke, all our ideas come from experience, and government exists only to protect people’s natural rights to life, liberty and property.
Placement
The mind is a tabula rasa; the rights to life, liberty and property and government by consent became founding ideas of liberalism.
Key ideas
- Tabula rasa
- Natural rights
- Tolerance
- Government by consent
Students: Shaftesbury
Influence
Influenced by 3
Francis Bacon
influenced by
Locke’s ‘historical, plain method’ of describing the mind’s ideas in the Essay (1689) follows the Baconian natural history practised in the early Royal Society, as P. Anstey argues. J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1689), Introduction; P. R. Anstey, John Locke and Natural Philosophy (2011); SEP “John Locke”
Evidence: AI draft
Francis Bacon › 1561–1626
Hugo Grotius
influenced by ✓
Locke worked out the property theory of the Two Treatises (1689) in dialogue with Grotius, whose On the Law of War and Peace he recommended for education (1693). J. Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689); Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693); J. Tully, A Discourse on Property: John Locke and His Adversaries (1980); SEP “John Locke”
Hugo Grotius › 1583–1645
Pierre Gassendi
influenced by disputed
During his years in France (1675–79) Locke met François Bernier, whose abridgement spread Gassendi’s philosophy; how much the Essay owes to Gassendi is disputed. F. Bernier, Abrégé de la philosophie de Gassendi (1674–78); R. W. Puster, Britische Gassendi-Rezeption am Beispiel John Lockes (1991); T. M. Lennon, The Battle of the Gods and Giants (1993); SEP “Pierre Gassendi”
Evidence: AI draft
Pierre Gassendi › 1592–1655
Influenced 12
Montesquieu
influenced
Montesquieu’s account of the English constitution in The Spirit of the Laws (1748) is commonly read as recasting Locke’s legislative and executive powers into three separated powers. Montesquieu, De l’esprit des lois (1748), Book XI; J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689); SEP “Montesquieu”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Montesquieu › 1689–1755
Voltaire
influenced ✓
In the Philosophical Letters (1734) Voltaire praised Locke’s modest ‘history of the soul’ and his suggestion that God could give matter the power of thought. Voltaire, Lettres philosophiques (1734), “Sur M. Locke”; SEP “Voltaire”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Voltaire › 1694–1778
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
influenced
Rousseau’s Emile (1762) builds on ‘the wise Locke’ and his Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693), while rejecting its maxim of reasoning with children. J.-J. Rousseau, Émile ou De l’éducation (1762); J. Locke, Some Thoughts concerning Education (1693); SEP “Jean Jacques Rousseau”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Jean-Jacques Rousseau › 1712–1778
Moses Mendelssohn
influenced ✓
In Jerusalem (1783) Mendelssohn took up Locke’s distinction between state and church from the Letter concerning Toleration (1689), arguing that neither may coerce belief. M. Mendelssohn, Jerusalem oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum (1783); J. Locke, Epistola de tolerantia (1689); SEP “Moses Mendelssohn”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Moses Mendelssohn › 1729–1786
John Rawls
influenced ✓
Rawls sought to carry the social contract of Locke, Rousseau and Kant ‘to a higher level of abstraction’ in the original position (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971); Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, ed. S. Freeman (2007)
John Rawls › 1921–2002
Robert Nozick
influenced
Nozick started from Locke’s state of nature and natural rights and reworked his proviso on just acquisition for an entitlement theory of justice (Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 1974). R. Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974); J. Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689); SEP “Libertarianism”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Robert Nozick › 1938–2002
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Damaris Masham
influenced
Masham’s Occasional Thoughts (1705), written in Locke’s circle at Oates, argues in a Lockean spirit that women must understand the reasons for their religious and moral beliefs. D. Masham, Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous or Christian Life (1705); SEP “Lady Damaris Masham”
Evidence: AI draft
Damaris Masham › 1659–1708
John Toland
influenced
Toland’s Christianity not Mysterious (1696) applied the theory of knowledge of Locke’s Essay to religion: nothing in the Gospel is contrary to reason or above it. J. Toland, Christianity not Mysterious (1696); J. Locke, replies to Stillingfleet (1697–99); S. H. Daniel, John Toland: His Methods, Manners, and Mind (1984)
Evidence: AI draft
John Toland › 1670–1722
Émilie du Châtelet
influenced
In the Institutions de physique (1740) Du Châtelet set aside Locke’s modest view of metaphysics, arguing with Leibniz’s sufficient reason that Newtonian physics needs firmer metaphysical foundations. É. Du Châtelet, Institutions de physique (1740); R. Hagengruber (ed.), Emilie du Châtelet between Leibniz and Newton (2012); SEP “Émilie Du Châtelet”
Evidence: AI draft
Émilie du Châtelet › 1706–1749
Denis Diderot
influenced
Diderot’s Letter on the Blind (1749) took up Molyneux’s question from Locke’s Essay and asked, through the blind mathematician Saunderson, how ideas depend on the senses. D. Diderot, Lettre sur les aveugles à l’usage de ceux qui voient (1749); SEP “Denis Diderot”; SEP “Molyneux’s Problem”
Evidence: AI draft
Denis Diderot › 1713–1784
Mary Wollstonecraft
influenced
Wollstonecraft built on Locke’s view that the mind is formed by experience and education, arguing women’s apparent weakness is an effect of their upbringing (Rights of Woman, 1792). M. Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792); SEP “Mary Wollstonecraft”
Evidence: AI draft
Mary Wollstonecraft › 1759–1797
Derek Parfit
influenced
Parfit developed Locke’s memory criterion into psychological continuity – overlapping chains of memories, intentions and character – and asked whether identity is what matters (Reasons and Persons, 1984). D. Parfit, Reasons and Persons (1984); J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (2nd ed., 1694), “Of Identity and Diversity”; SEP “Locke on Personal Identity”
Evidence: AI draft
Derek Parfit › 1942–2017
Criticism
Criticized by 11
Shaftesbury taught
taught ✓
The first Earl of Shaftesbury put Locke, his physician and adviser, in charge of the education of his grandson, the later third Earl; the two remained friends until Locke’s death, although the pupil came to reject much of Locke’s philosophy. SEP “Lord Shaftesbury [Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury]”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Shaftesbury wrote that Locke struck ‘the home blow’ by denying innate moral ideas and making virtue depend on fashion and custom (letter to Michael Ainsworth, 1709). Shaftesbury to M. Ainsworth, 3 June 1709, in Several Letters Written by a Noble Lord to a Young Man at the University (1716); SEP “Lord Shaftesbury”
Evidence: AI draft
Shaftesbury › 1671–1713
George Berkeley influenced
influenced ✓
In the New Theory of Vision (1709) Berkeley took up Molyneux’s question from Locke’s Essay, agreeing with Locke’s negative answer and building his theory of vision on it. G. Berkeley, An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision (1709); J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (2nd ed., 1694); SEP “Molyneux’s Problem”
criticised by
Berkeley rejected Locke’s abstract general ideas – a triangle neither oblique nor right-angled – and his distinction of primary and secondary qualities (Principles, 1710). G. Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge (1710), Introduction §§6–20, Part I §§9–15; J. Locke, Essay IV.vii.9; SEP “George Berkeley”
Evidence: AI draft
George Berkeley › 1685–1753
Thomas Reid influenced
influenced
Reid kept Locke’s primary–secondary quality distinction but recast it: primary qualities are conceived directly, secondary only relatively (Essays on the Intellectual Powers, 1785). T. Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind (1764); Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785); SEP “Thomas Reid”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
With the ‘brave officer’ Reid argued that Locke’s memory criterion of personal identity breaks transitivity: the general would be and not be the flogged boy (Essays, 1785, III.6). T. Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785), III.6; J. Locke, Essay II.xxvii; SEP “Thomas Reid”
Evidence: AI draft
Thomas Reid › 1710–1796
David Hume influenced
influenced ✓
Hume took over Locke’s principle that all ideas come from experience, recasting it as the thesis that every simple idea copies a prior impression (Treatise, 1739). D. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739); J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1689); SEP “David Hume”
criticised by
Hume objected that Locke drew the idea of power from reasoning, though no reasoning can yield a new simple idea (Treatise, 1739, 1.3.14; Enquiry VII). D. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), 1.3.14; An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748), VII, note; J. Locke, Essay II.xxi
Evidence: AI draft
David Hume › 1711–1776
Immanuel Kant
criticised by
Kant objected that Locke derived the pure concepts of the understanding from experience, a ‘physiology’ of the understanding that cannot show their necessity (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781). I. Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft, A ix; §§ 13–14 (B 118–119, B 127–128)
Evidence: AI draft
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Jeremy Bentham influenced
influenced
Building on the empiricist psychology of Locke and Hume, Bentham took pleasure and pain as the ultimate motives and measures of action (Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789). J. Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789); J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1689); IEP “Jeremy Bentham”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised by
Bentham dismissed the original contract as a fiction (against Blackstone, 1776) and natural rights as ‘nonsense upon stilts’ (against the French Declaration), both central to Locke. J. Bentham, A Fragment on Government (1776), ch. I §§36–48; Nonsense upon Stilts (written c. 1795); SEP “Jeremy Bentham”
Evidence: AI draft
Jeremy Bentham › 1748–1832
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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
criticised by
In the New Essays (written 1704, published 1765) Leibniz defended innate ideas against Locke: the mind is not a blank tablet but like veined marble. G. W. Leibniz, Nouveaux essais sur l’entendement humain (1704; publ. 1765), Preface and Book I
Evidence: AI draft
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Mary Astell
criticised by
Astell attacked Locke’s suggestion that matter might think (The Christian Religion, 1705) and asked why, if all men are born free, women are born slaves (1706). M. Astell, The Christian Religion, as Profess’d by a Daughter of the Church of England (1705); Some Reflections upon Marriage, 3rd ed. (1706), Preface; SEP “Mary Astell”
Evidence: AI draft
Mary Astell › 1666–1731
Carole Pateman
criticised by
Pateman objected that Locke, rejecting Filmer’s paternal power, kept husbands’ natural conjugal right, as ‘the abler and the stronger’, outside the social contract (The Sexual Contract, 1988). C. Pateman, The Sexual Contract (1988); J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), § 82
Evidence: AI draft
Carole Pateman › b. 1940
Charles W. Mills
criticised by
Mills argued that Locke’s theory of property through labour let Native American land appear as vacant waste – part of a ‘racial contract’ (The Racial Contract, 1997). C. W. Mills, The Racial Contract (1997); J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), ch. V
Evidence: AI draft
Charles W. Mills › 1951–2021
Brian Burkhart
criticised by
Burkhart argued that Locke’s labour theory of property made Indigenous land appear unowned, a concept framed to exclude Indigenous peoples (Indigenizing Philosophy through the Land, 2019). B. Burkhart, Indigenizing Philosophy through the Land (2019); J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), ch. V
Evidence: AI draft
Brian Burkhart › contemporary
Criticizes 3
Aristotle
criticised
Locke denied that Aristotle’s syllogism is the instrument of reasoning: God did not leave it ‘to Aristotle to make them rational’ (An Essay concerning Human Understanding, 1689). J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1689), IV.xvii.4
Evidence: AI draft
Aristotle › 384–322 BCE
Thomas Hobbes influenced by
influenced by ✓
Locke’s early Two Tracts on Government (1660–62) defended an absolute magistrate close to Hobbes; later he kept the state of nature and consent but denied reading Hobbes closely. J. Locke, Two Tracts on Government, ed. P. Abrams (1967); replies to Stillingfleet (1697–99); SEP “Locke’s Political Philosophy”
criticised
Locke set the state of nature apart from the state of war and rejected absolute rule as its remedy (Second Treatise, 1689, §§19, 93); Hobbes is not named. J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), §§13, 19, 90–94; SEP “Locke’s Political Philosophy”
Evidence: AI draft
Thomas Hobbes › 1588–1679
René Descartes influenced by
influenced by ✓
According to Damaris Masham, Descartes’ writings first gave Locke a relish for philosophy, for he found them intelligible even where he disagreed (letter to Le Clerc, 1705). D. Masham, letter to J. Le Clerc (Jan. 1705); M. Cranston, John Locke: A Biography (1957); SEP “John Locke”
criticised
Locke denied innate ideas (Essay, 1689, Book I) and, against the Cartesians, that the soul always thinks, since thinking is its action, not its essence (II.i.10). J. Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1689), I.ii–iv, II.i.10–19; SEP “John Locke”
Evidence: AI draft
René Descartes › 1596–1650
Works
Against Filmer’s patriarchal divine right of kings: life, liberty, property – and the right of resistance.
The separation of church and state.
No innate ideas: all knowledge comes from experience.
Position
Locke asked where our ideas come from and answered: from experience. At birth the mind is like a blank sheet; all ideas arise from sensation and reflection, and we should not claim knowledge beyond what they warrant. He distinguished primary qualities of bodies from secondary qualities and examined personal identity through consciousness and memory. In politics he argued that people have natural rights to life, liberty and property, and that government exists by consent to protect them; a government that violates them may be resisted. His plea for religious toleration was equally influential. Locke is often counted the father of empiricism and of political liberalism, and the American founders drew on him. He was also an investor in the slave-trading Royal African Company and was involved in drafting the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669), which gave every freeman “absolute power and authority” over the people he held in slavery; his labour theory of property was used to justify taking Native American land.
Life & context
Born in 1632 in Wrington, Somerset, Locke studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and trained in medicine. As physician and adviser to the Earl of Shaftesbury he became involved in Whig politics and had to flee to the Netherlands in 1683. He returned after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and published his major works in quick succession. He died in 1704.
Further main works
- Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)
- The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
Appears in
- Journey ‘Doubt and the Self’ · Stop 4 of 10
- Journey ‘What Is Just?’ · Stop 4 of 10
As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made