John Locke (1632-1704)

Today's Musical Selection is "We Can be Together" by Jefferson Airplane. In this song, the Airplane explore problems of property in civil society ("All your private property is target for your enemy"). They also propose a doctrine of resistance which is perhaps even more radical than that of Locke ("We are forces of chaos and anarchy; Everything they say we are, we are, and we are very proud of ourselves"). Here are the complete lyrics to the song. Note that in this lyric sheet the word "fred" has been used in place of another four-letter word beginning with "f."

Pictures

Outline of Today's Lecture

Locke's life
Locke's science: Empiricism in the Baconian tradition
The State of Nature and the Social Contract
Locke's theory of Property
- Common Property
- The Origins of Private Property
- Social and Political Implications of Locke's Theory
The Doctrine of Legitimate Resistance

Names, Terms and Concepts

Robert Boyle
"Glorious Revolution" of 1688
Tabula rasa

Additional resources available on the Internet

This brief Sketch of Locke's ideas contains links to several of his major works.
Here's more biographical information on Locke.