John Locke

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Understanding John Locke's A Letter Concerning Toleration

University of Oxford

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of Shaftesbury

For Students

John Locke, oil painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. In Christ Church, Oxford.

John Locke summary

John Locke

John Locke Timeline

Glorious Revolution

John Locke’s Important Works

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Spiral Galaxy type Sa-Sb or Sa/Sb in the constellation Virgo. The majestic Sombrero Galaxy Messier 104 (M104) or NGC 4594. The team took six pictures of the galaxy, stitched them together to create the final composite image. Photo from May-June 2003

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Aristotle (384-322 BC), Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. One of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western thought, Aristotle established the foundations for the modern scientific method of enquiry. Statue

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John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher, regarded as the father of British empiricism author of Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). His political philosophy exerted considerable influence on the American revolution and French revolution.

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Parsons Weems' Fable, oil on canvas by Grant Wood, 1939; in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Catalog entry: The historian Mason Locke Weems, commonly known by his clerical title, Parson Weems, pulls back a curtain to point at 6-year-old George Washington. Bearing an adult head and holding an axe, George gazes blankly up at his father, Augustine, who questions his son while holding a partially cut cherry tree. All of this takes place in front of a 20th-century brick building, which Wood modeled after his own home in Iowa. The scene illustrates the fable of Washington and the cherry tree, which Weems invented in 1806 for the first president's biography. Wood playfully suggests the artifice of the tale here, presenting the story in the manner of a costumed stage play rather than a real event. Amid the action, two Black figures pick cherries in the background, a reference to Washington' slaveholding past and a reminder of of what often gets left out in historical mythmaking.

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The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590

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The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. Giant amphitheatre built in Rome under the Flavian emperors. (ancient architecture; architectural ruins)

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Shah Jahan. Taj Mahal. Mughal architecture. Emperor Shah Jahan fifth Mughal Emperor (reigned 1628-1658) India, Himachal Pradesh, Basohli or Jammu and Kashmir, Mankot, circa 1690 Drawings; Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper (see notes)

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John Locke: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Born	August 29, 1632 • England
Died	October 28, 1704 (aged 72) • England
Notable Works	“A Letter Concerning Toleration” • “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” • “Essays on the Law of Nature” • “Some Thoughts Concerning Education” • “The Reasonableness of Christianity” • “Two Tracts on Government” • “Two Treatises of Government”
Subjects Of Study	Christianity • government • idea • intuition • knowledge • language • personal identity • political power • primary quality • religious toleration • secondary quality • social contract • state of nature • universal
Role In	Enlightenment

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Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of Shaftesbury

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