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Essay on John Locke-3
Overview of John Locke’s Life
John Locke was born on August 29, 1632, in Wrington, in Somerset, where his mother's family resided. In 1658 he was elected a senior student at his college. In this capacity he taught Greek and moral philosophy. Under conditions at the time he would have had to be ordained to retain his fellowship. Instead he changed to another faculty, medicine, and eventually received a license to practice. During the same period Locke made the acquaintance of Robert Boyle, the distinguished scientist and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and, under Boyle's direction, took up study of natural science. Finally, in 1668, Locke was made a fellow of the Royal Society. (Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2001)
Locke joined Shaftesbury's service, and when the latter fled to Holland, the philosopher followed. He remained in exile from 1683 to 1689, and during these years he was deprived of his studentship by express order of Charles III. Most of his important writings were composed during this period. After the Glorious Revolution of 1689 Locke returned to England and later served with distinction as a commissioner of trade until 1700. He spent his retirement at Oates in Essex as the guest of the Mashams. Lady Masham was the daughter of Ralph Cudworth, the philosopher. Locke died there on October 28, 1704. (Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2001)
Locke’s Task: Discovering what we can know
It is commonly held that the Age of Enlightenment was ushered in with the publication of Locke’s seminal work An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690. With the possible exception of Bible no book was more influential in the eighteenth century than Locke’s Essay. He confides that the idea for work began some twenty years earlier as he writes:
“Five or six friends meeting at my chamber, and discoursing at a subject very remote from this....
