Major Works
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- Recommended edition: Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Edited by Peter H. Nidditch. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.Excerpt: “Since it is the understanding, that sets man above the rest of sensible beings, and gives him all the advantage and dominion, which he has over them; it is certainly a subject, even for its nobleness, worth our labour to inquire into. The… More
Commentary
The Politics of Locke’s Philosophy: A Social Study of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- Neal Wood, The Politics of Locke's Philosophy: A Social Study of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).Among scholars working in the history of ideas, Neal and Ellen Wood hold a special place. For more than a decade, working jointly and alone, they have been discovering the social contexts of philosophical thought. … As Neal Wood summarizes in this… MoreJohn Locke’s Liberalism
- Ruth Grant, John Locke’s Liberalism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).In this work, Ruth W. Grant presents a new approach to John Locke’s familiar works. Taking the unusual step of relating Locke’s Two Treatises to his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Grant establishes the unity and coherence of… More“John Locke”
- Robert Goldwin, "John Locke" in History of Political Philosophy, eds. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).Excerpt: The theme of human freedom characterizes those of Locke’s works which are most important for an understanding of his political thought: in A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), he wrote of religious freedom; in the Two Treatises of Government… MoreThe Cambridge Companion to Locke’s ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’
- The Cambridge Companion to Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed. Lex Newman (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).First published in 1689, John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding is widely recognised as among the greatest works in the history of Western philosophy. The Essay puts forward a systematic empiricist theory of mind, detailing how all ideas and… More