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Child hood
John Locke was born on August 29, 1632, in Warington, a village in Somerset, England. In 1646 he went to Westminster school, and in 1652 to Christ Church in Oxford. I -
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John Lockes life
n 1646 he went to Westminster school, and in 1652 to Christ Church in Oxford. In 1659 he was elected to a senior studentship, and tutored at the college for a number of years. Still, contrary to the curriculum, he complained that he would rather be studying Descartes than Aristotle. In 1666 he declined an offer of preferment, although he thought at one time of taking up clerical work. In 1668 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1674 he finally graduated as a bachelor of medicine -
College
After studying philosophy, medicine, law, and mathematics and graduating with multiple degrees Locke becomes a very important professor at Oxford College -
I think, therefore I am"
Locke reads Rene Descartes' Discourse on the Method and likes what he reads. This work includes the famous quote "I think, therefore I am" -
An important friend
Anthony Ashley Cooper "Lord Ashley" who is an important British politician meets and befriends Locke. Who will later help him -
Life saved
Locke who is now Lord Ashley's personal physician supervises a liver operation that saves Lord Ashley's life and remarkably he lives another 15 years -
New British Collonies
Because of Lord Ashley's involvement in the new British colonies in America Locke is asked to write the Fundamental Constitution of Carolina -
Two Treatises of Civil Government
Locke had written Two Treatises of Civil Government in the early 1680s while Whig revolutionary plots against Charles II were still in the works, and in 1690 he was finally able to publish them. This work is a theory of natural law and rights in which he makes a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate civil governments and argues for the legitimacy of revolution against tyrannical governments. -
Social Contract
Locke's begins to write and promote the idea of a Social Contract, he may not be the first with the idea but his social status will make the idea popular -
An attack on Sir Robert Filmer and his text Patriarcha
The first treatise is an attack on Sir Robert Filmer and his text Patriarcha (1680), which he wrote in defense of divine monarchy. Locke uses this critique to launch his criticism of the work of Thomas Hobbes. In the Second Treatis Locke states his theory of natural law and natural right, revealing a rational purpose to government. Locke felt that the public welfare made government necessary and was the test of good government, and he always defended the government as an institution. -
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Locke admired Descartes as an alternative to the Aristotelianism dominant at Oxford. Descartes' "way of ideas" was a major influence on Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke's ideas on freedom of religion and the rights of citizens were considered a challenge to the King's authority by the English government and in 1682 Locke went into exile in Holland. It was here that he completed An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and published Epistola de Tolerantia in Latin. -
Sir Neweton
Locke meets Sir Isaac Newton and they become friends -
Some Considerations of the Consequences of Lowering of Interest
The new government of England offered Locke the post of ambassador to Berlin or Vienna in recognition of his part in the revolution, however Locke declined the honorable position. In 1689 he became commissioner of appeals, and from 1696 to 1700 acted as commissioner of trade and plantations. In 1691 Locke responded to financial difficulties in the government by publishing Some Considerations of the Consequences of Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money, and in 1695 Further Consider -
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
In 1693 he published Some Thoughts Concerning Education -
The Reasonableness of Christianity.
In 1695 The Reasonableness of Christianity. -
Last Wotks
e was later inspired to write two Vindications of this last work in response to some criticism. Locke invested a great deal of energy in theology in his later years, and among his work published post mortem are commentaries on the Pauline epistles, a Discourse on Miracles, a fragment of the Fourth Letter for Toleration, and An Examination of Father Malebranche's Opinion of Seeing all things in God, Remarks on Some of Mr. Norris's Books. -
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Last Years
In his final years he lived in the country at Oates in Essex at the home of Sir Francis and Lady Masham (Damaris Cudworth). Locke had met Cudworth in 1682, a philosopher and daughter of the Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cudworth. They had an intellectual and amorous relationship, which was cut short by Locke's exile in Holland. Cudworth had married Sir Francis Masham in Locke's absence, yet she and Locke remained close friends. Before his death, Locke saw four more editions of An Essay Concerning Hu -
The creation of the Decloration of independance
Thomas Jefferson borrows from Locke's ideas to write the Declaration of Independence