By the middle of the 17th century, the reform movement intensified in England and the Puritan church was established. In contrast to the imperious and fabulously wealthy Catholic Church, the Reform movement preached the rejection of wealth and luxury, economy and restraint, diligence and modesty. Puritans simply dressed, refused all kinds of decorations and recognized the simplest food, denied idleness and empty pastime, and, on the contrary, welcomed constant work in every possible way.
In 1632, in one Puritan family, the future philosopher and educator John Locke was born. He received an excellent education at Westminster School and continued his academic career as a teacher of Greek and rhetoric and philosophy at Christ Church College.
The young teacher was interested in the natural sciences, and especially in chemistry, biology and medicine. In college, he continues to study the sciences of interest to him, while he is also concerned about political and legal issues, ethics and educational issues.
At the same time, he closely converges with a relative of the king, Lord Ashley Cooper, who led the opposition to the ruling elite. He openly criticizes the royal power and the state of affairs in England, boldly speaks out about the possibility of overthrowing the existing system and the formation of a bourgeois republic.
John Locke leaves teaching and settles on the estate of Lord Cooper as his personal doctor and close friend.
Lord Cooper, along with opposition-minded nobles, is trying to make his dreams come true, but the palace coup has failed, and Cooper, together with Locke, has to flee to Holland in a hurry.
It was here, in Holland, that John Locke wrote his best works, which subsequently brought him worldwide fame.
Basic philosophical ideas (briefly)
The political outlook of John Locke had a huge impact on the formation of the political philosophy of the West. The "Declaration of the Rights of Man", created by Jefferson and Washington, is built on the teachings of the philosopher, especially in such sections as the creation of the three branches of government, the separation of church and state, freedom of religion and all issues related to human rights.
Locke believed that all the knowledge gained by mankind over the entire period of existence can be divided into three parts: natural philosophy (exact and natural sciences), practical art (this includes all political and social sciences, philosophy and rhetoric, as well as logic), teaching about signs (all linguistic sciences, as well as all concepts and ideas).
Western philosophy before Locke rested on the philosophy of the ancient scientist Plato and his ideas of ideal subjectivism. Plato believed that people received some ideas and great discoveries even before birth, that is, the immortal soul received information from space, and knowledge appeared from almost nowhere.
Locke in many of his writings refuted the teachings of Plato and other "idealists", proving that there is no evidence for the existence of an eternal soul. But at the same time, he believed that such concepts as morality and morality are inherited and there are people who are “morally blind”, that is, who do not understand any moral foundations and therefore are alien to human society. Although he also could not find evidence for this theory.
As for the exact mathematical sciences, most people have no idea about them, since long and methodical preparation is necessary for teaching these sciences. If this knowledge could be obtained, as the agnostics claimed, from nature, then there would be no need to strain, trying to understand the complex postulates of mathematics.
Features of consciousness according to Locke
Consciousness is a feature of only the human brain to display, remember and explain the existing reality. According to Locke, consciousness resembles a blank white sheet of paper, on which, starting from the first birthday, one can reflect one's impressions of the world around.
Consciousness relies on sensory images, that is, obtained with the help of the senses, and then we generalize, analyze and systematize them.
John Locke believed that every thing appeared as a result of a cause, which in turn was a product of the idea of human thinking. All ideas are generated by the qualities of already existing things.
For example, a small snowball is cold, round and white, which is why it gives rise to these impressions in us, which can also be called qualities. . But these qualities are reflected in our minds, which is why they are called ideas. .
Primary and secondary qualities
Locke considered the primary and secondary qualities of any thing. The primary qualities are those necessary to describe and consider the internal qualities of each thing. These are the ability to move, figure, density and number. The scientist believed that these qualities are inherent in every object, and already our perception forms the concept of the external and internal state of objects.
Secondary qualities include the ability of things to generate certain sensations in us, and since things are able to interact with the bodies of people, they are also able to awaken sensory images in people through vision, hearing and sensations.
Locke's theories are rather obscure in relation to religion, since the concepts of "God" and "soul" in the 17th century were unshakable and inviolable. One can understand the scientist's position on this issue, since, on the one hand, Christian morality dominated him, and on the other hand, together with Hobbes, he defended the ideas of materialism.
Locke believed that “the highest pleasure of a person is happiness”, and only it can make a person act purposefully in order to achieve what he wants. He believed that since every person is attracted to things, it is this desire to possess things that makes us suffer and experience the pain of an unsatisfied desire.
At the same time, we experience twofold feelings: since possession causes pleasure, and the impossibility of possession causes mental pain. Locke referred to the concepts of pain such feelings as anger, shame, envy, hatred.
Locke's ideas regarding the state of state power at various stages of development of the human collective are interesting. Unlike Hobbes, who believed that in the pre-state state there was only the "law of the jungle" or the "law of power", Locke wrote that the human collective always obeyed rules more complex than the law of power, which determined the essence of human existence.
Since people are primarily rational beings, they are able to use their mind to control and organize the existence of any collective.
In the state of nature, each person enjoys freedom as a natural right given by nature itself. At the same time, all people are equal both in terms of their society and in terms of rights.
The concept of ownership
According to Locke, only labor is the basis for the emergence of property. For example, if a man planted a garden and cultivated it patiently, then the right to the result obtained belongs to him on the basis of the labor invested, even if the land does not belong to this worker.
The ideas of the scientist about property were truly revolutionary for that time. He believed that a person should not have more property than he can use. The very concept of "property" is sacred and protected by the state, so you can put up with inequality in property status.
The people as the bearer of supreme power
As a follower of Hobbes, Locke supported the "social contract theory", that is, he believed that people enter into an agreement with the state, while giving away part of their natural rights in exchange for the state protecting it from internal and external enemies.
At the same time, the supreme power is necessarily approved by all members of society, and if the supreme overlord does not cope with his duties and does not justify the trust of the people, then the people can re-elect him.
The main goal of any state, according to Locke, is the well-being of its citizens, therefore, if state tyranny and constant pressure on citizens do not satisfy the needs, then the people can rise up and overthrow such a government, changing it to a new one, more loyal and able to change depending on the circumstances.
Locke John, founder of psychological empiricism in philosophy and political writer, was born in 1632 in Wrington. He received his primary education at Westminster School, from where he later entered Oxford University.
In 1667, Locke met Lord Ashley, later Earl of Shaftesbury, with whom he was on friendly terms until his death. Thanks to him, Locke twice held a position in the Ministry of Commerce, 1675-1679, John Locke spent abroad, mainly in France.
In 1682, Shaftesbury fled to Holland because of the hatred of King Charles II for his resistance to his absolutist theories. Locke followed him there in 1683, knowing that he was hated by the government for his association with Shaftesbury.
Important writings of John Locke
- Essay concerning human understanding
- "The treatise on government" ("On civil government", 1689)
- Three Letters on Religious Tolerance
- book "The Reasonableness of Christianity"
- "A Few Thoughts on Parenting"
- essay about money and others.
John Locke's theory
Locke's main merit in the history of philosophy is that he was the first to draw attention to the origin, development and scope of human knowledge and introduced a purely psychological method into the study of this issue.
According to his theory, a person does not have innate concepts, they are all acquired by experience.
Experience happens:
- external or sensation (sensation), i.e., the action of external objects on us through our senses
- internal or reflection (reflexion), that is, the observation of the spirit over its internal activity, aimed at impressions received from outside.
Concepts begin to arise in a person as soon as he has received the first sensory impression. Ideas received directly through our senses are called simple. Having received impressions, the mind begins to reflect on its own activity directed to the ideas given by sensation, and, thanks to the ability to reproduce them, compare and connect, forms from them infinitely diverse combinations and thus creates new complex ideas.
When the mind reflects on its own activity, which is then the object of observation for it, then it becomes the source of our knowledge. Our sensory representations, although derived from objects, are not always similar to them, just as words are not similar to the concepts they denote.
According to Locke, the following qualities are indeed found in the objects themselves: size, image, number, position, movement or rest of their particles (these are primary qualities). Our ideas about these qualities are actual copies of them.
But objects have the capacity to produce in us impressions of colors, smells, tastes, sensations of heat or cold, etc. (these are secondary qualities). Ideas about colors, smells, etc., are not inherent in the bodies themselves, for with the removal of the organ of sensation, color, smell, etc. disappear. These ideas have no resemblance to bodies and exist in them only as a force capable of causing in us known feelings.
Our knowledge is subjective, because it is the result of its own processing and combinations of impressions received by our mind, and since the latter does not receive knowledge about objects directly, but only with the help of those ideas that it has about them, then our knowledge is true only insofar as ideas correspond to the real nature of things.
Anticipating that such a situation could serve as a breeding ground for the development of complete skepticism, Locke stipulates:
If we are convinced that our abilities act correctly and correctly point us to the existence of objects that affect us, then we cannot consider the confidence that is in us in our knowledge to be unfounded.
Locke's teaching served as the basis, on the one hand, for the development of idealism (Berkeley), on the other hand, skepticism (Hume). This theory of John Locke caused many critical works, of which the most important is Leibniz's Nouveaux essais sur l "entendement humain".
Thoughts on politics
In the history of political doctrines, Locke is known as the first inventor of the scientific theory of constitutionalism. His treatise "On Civil Government" aims to explain the state order that was established in England with the accession to the throne of William of Orange. Locke deduces the origin of the state from a mutual agreement concluded by people among themselves to ensure life, liberty and property.
In the state, Locke recognizes two powers: legislative and executive, which include judicial and military. Legislative power is concentrated in parliament, and the king is at the head of the executive. Locke's political theory had a stronger influence on Montesquieu and Rousseau.
- The state of nature is a state of complete freedom and equality in the management of one's property and one's life. It is a state of peace and goodwill. The law of nature prescribes peace and security.
- He was the first to propose the principle of separation of powers: into legislative, executive and federal. The federal government deals with the declaration of war and peace, diplomatic issues and participation in alliances and coalitions.
- Developed the ideas of a democratic revolution. Locke considered it legitimate and necessary for the people to revolt against the tyrannical power that encroaches on the natural rights and freedom of the people.
- Despite this, Locke was one of the largest investors in the British slave trade of his day. He also gave a philosophical justification for the taking of land by the colonists from the North American Indians. His views on economic slavery in modern scientific literature are regarded either as an organic continuation of Locke's anthropology, or as evidence of its inconsistency.
John Locke the main ideas of the English teacher and philosopher are summarized in this article.
The main ideas of John Locke
Brief political and state ideas of John Locke
He believed that the state arose as a result of a social contract. In his ideal version, all people are independent and equal. They act according to the main rule - do not harm the health, life, property and freedom of another person. This is the purpose of the creation of the state.
The basis of the state is an agreement, which is concluded by a certain number of people to create bodies of judicial, legislative and executive power. The state doctrine of John Locke is based on the concept of legality he substantiated: everyone is equal before the law and can act as they wish, if this is not prohibited by law.
The form of the state directly depends on who heads it, who owns the legislative power. It started the creation of the state. But it is limited by the law of nature and the public good. The best form of government, according to the philosopher, is a limited monarchy.
Locke defended the principle of guaranteed freedom of conscience. Church and state must exist separately from each other, because these two instances have different goals and objectives. He proposed to divide state power in order to create a system of interaction between the state and society. The scientist identified 3 types of power:
- Legislative, which indicates how the power of the state should be used. It was created by the people.
- Executive, which monitors the implementation of laws. Its "representatives" are the monarch, minister and judges.
- Federal
John formulated the idea of popular sovereignty: the people have the right to control the work of the legislature and change its structure and composition. He gave the king the right to convene and dissolve parliament, the right to veto and legislative initiative.
Locke is considered the founder of liberalism, since he formulated the principles of bourgeois statehood.
John Locke discoveries in pedagogy
John Locke formulated thoughts about education on the basis of how his father raised him. He was fully convinced that the upbringing of a child develops his character, discipline and will. But the most important thing is to combine physical education along with spiritual development. It manifests itself in the development of health and hygiene, and spiritual - in the development of dignity and morality.
Locke was the first thinker to reveal personality through the continuity of consciousness. He believed that the mind was like a "blank slate", that is, contrary to Cartesian philosophy, Locke argued that people are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience gained by sense perception.
John Locke pedagogical ideas:
- Compliance with discipline, a strict daily routine and eating simple meals.
- Application of developing exercises and games.
- Children should be taught graceful manners from an early age.
- The child must do everything that does not contradict morality.
- Children should be punished only in case of systematic disobedience or defiant behavior.
John Locke major writings- "An Essay on Human Understanding", "Two Treatises on Government", "Experiments on Law and Nature", "Letters on Toleration", "Thoughts on Education".
We hope that from this article you have learned what are the main ideas of John Locke.
en.wikipedia.org
Locke's theoretical constructions were also noted by later philosophers such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first philosopher to express personality through continuity of consciousness. He also postulated that the mind is a "blank slate", i.e. contrary to Cartesian philosophy, Locke argued that human beings are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience gained through sense perception.
Biography
Born August 29, 1632 in the small town of Wrington in the west of England, near Bristol, in the family of a provincial lawyer.
In 1652, one of the best students in the school, Locke entered Oxford University. In 1656 he received a bachelor's degree, and in 1658 - a master's degree from this university.
1667 - Locke accepts the offer of Lord Ashley (later Earl of Shaftesbury) to take the place of his son's family doctor and tutor and then actively joins political activities. Starts writing the Epistles on Toleration (published: 1st - in 1689, 2nd and 3rd - in 1692 (these three are anonymous), 4th - in 1706, already after Locke's death).
1668 - Locke is elected a member of the Royal Society, and in 1669 - a member of its Council. Locke's main areas of interest were natural science, medicine, politics, economics, pedagogy, the relationship of the state to the church, the problem of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience.
1671 - decides to carry out a thorough study of the cognitive abilities of the human mind. This was the idea of the main work of the scientist - "Experiment on human understanding", on which he worked for 16 years.
1672 and 1679 - Locke receives various prominent positions in the highest government institutions in England. But Locke's career was directly affected by the ups and downs of Shaftesbury. From the end of 1675 until the middle of 1679, due to deteriorating health, Locke was in France.
1683 - Locke emigrates to Holland following Shaftesbury.
1688-1689 - the denouement came, putting an end to Locke's wanderings. The Glorious Revolution took place, William III of Orange was proclaimed King of England. Locke participated in the preparation of the coup of 1688, was in close contact with William of Orange and had a great ideological influence on him; at the beginning of 1689 he returned to his homeland.
1690s - again, along with the government service, he conducts a wide scientific and literary activity. In 1690, "An Essay on Human Understanding", "Two Treatises on Government" were published, in 1693 - "Thoughts on Education", in 1695 - "The Reasonableness of Christianity".
1704, October 28 - At the country house of his friend Lady Dameris Masham, Locke, whose strength was undermined by asthma, died.
Philosophy
The basis of our knowledge is experience, which consists of individual perceptions. Perceptions are divided into sensations (the action of an object on our sense organs) and reflections. Ideas arise in the mind as a result of the abstraction of perceptions. The principle of building the mind as "tabula rasa", which gradually reflects information from the senses. The principle of empiricism: the primacy of sensation over reason.
Politics
The state of nature is a state of complete freedom and equality in the management of one's property and one's life. It is a state of peace and goodwill. The law of nature prescribes peace and security.
- Natural law - the right to private property; the right to action, to their work and to its results.
- A supporter of constitutional monarchy and social contract theory.
- Locke - the theorist of civil society and the rule of law democratic state (for the accountability of the king and lords to the law).
- He was the first to propose the principle of separation of powers: into legislative, executive and federal or federal.
- The state was created to guarantee natural rights (freedom, equality, property) and laws (peace and security), it should not encroach on these rights, it should be organized so that natural rights are reliably guaranteed.
- Developed the ideas of a democratic revolution. Locke considered it legitimate and necessary for the people to revolt against the tyrannical power that encroaches on the natural rights and freedom of the people.
He is best known for developing the principles of democratic revolution. "The right of the people to revolt against tyranny" is most consistently developed by Locke in Reflections on the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Bibliography
Thoughts on education. 1691...what a gentleman should study.1703.
The same "Thoughts on Education" with correction. noticed typos and working footnotes
Study of Father Malebranche's Opinion…1694. Notes to Norris's Books…1693.
Letters.1697-1699.
The dying speech of the censor. 1664.
Experiments on the law of nature. 1664.
The experience of tolerance. 1667.
The message of tolerance. 1686.
Two Treatises on Government. 1689.
An Essay on Human Understanding (1689) (translation: A. N. Savina)
Elements of natural philosophy.1698.
Discourse on miracles.1701.
State
The most important works
Letters on religious tolerance (A Letter Concerning Toleration) (1689).
Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
The Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690).
Some Thoughts on Education (Some Thoughts Concerning Education) (1693).
Interesting Facts
One of the key characters of the famous television series "Lost" is named after John Locke.
Also, the surname Locke as a pseudonym was taken by one of the heroes of the cycle of fantasy novels by Orson Scott Card about Ender Wiggin. In the Russian translation, the English name "Locke" is incorrectly rendered as "Loki".
Biography
LOCKE, JOHN (Locke, John) (1632-1704) English philosopher, sometimes called the "intellectual leader of the 18th century." and the first philosopher of the Enlightenment. His theory of knowledge and social philosophy had a profound impact on the history of culture and society, in particular on the development of the American constitution. Locke was born August 29, 1632 in Wrington (Somerset) in the family of a judicial official. Thanks to the victory of Parliament in the civil war, in which his father fought as a captain of cavalry, Locke was admitted at the age of 15 to Westminster School, then the leading educational institution in the country. The family adhered to Anglicanism, but tended to Puritan (Independent) views. At Westminster, royalist ideas found an energetic champion in Richard Buzby, who, through an oversight of parliamentary leaders, continued to run the school. In 1652, Locke entered Christ Church College, Oxford University. By the time of the Stuart restoration, his political views could be called right-wing monarchy and in many respects close to the views of Hobbes.
Locke was a diligent, if not brilliant, student. After receiving a master's degree in 1658, he was elected a "student" (i.e., research fellow) of the college, but soon became disillusioned with the Aristotelian philosophy that he was supposed to teach, began to practice medicine and helped in the natural science experiments that R. Boyle conducted at Oxford and his students. However, he did not receive any significant results, and when Locke returned from a trip to the Brandenburg court on a diplomatic mission, he was denied the desired degree of doctor of medicine. Then, at the age of 34, he met a man who influenced his entire subsequent life - Lord Ashley, later the first Earl of Shaftesbury, who was not yet the leader of the opposition. Shaftesbury was a lawyer for freedom at a time when Locke still shared the absolutist views of Hobbes, but by 1666 his position had changed and became closer to the views of the future patron. Shaftesbury and Locke saw each other as kindred spirits. A year later, Locke left Oxford and took the place of a family doctor, adviser and educator in the Shaftesbury family living in London (Anthony Shaftesbury was among his pupils). After Locke operated on his patron, whose life was threatened by a festering cyst, Shaftesbury decided that Locke was too big to practice medicine alone, and took care of advancing his ward in other areas.
Under the roof of the Shaftesbury house, Locke found his true calling - he became a philosopher. Discussions with Shaftesbury and his friends (Anthony Ashley, Thomas Sydenham, David Thomas, Thomas Hodges, James Tyrrel) prompted Locke to write, in his fourth year in London, the first draft of a future masterpiece, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Sydenham introduced him to new methods of clinical medicine. In 1668 Locke became a member of the Royal Society of London. Shaftesbury himself introduced him to the spheres of politics and economics and gave him the opportunity to get his first experience of participating in public administration.
Shaftesbury's liberalism was quite materialistic. The great passion of his life was trading. He understood better than his contemporaries what wealth - national and personal - could be obtained by freeing entrepreneurs from medieval extortions and taking a number of other bold steps. Religious tolerance allowed Dutch merchants to prosper, and Shaftesbury was convinced that if the English put an end to religious strife, they could create an empire not only superior to the Dutch, but equal in size to the possessions of Rome. However, the great Catholic power of France stood in the way of England, so he did not want to extend the principle of religious tolerance to "papists", as he called the Catholics.
While Shaftesbury was interested in practical matters, Locke was busy developing the same political line in theory, substantiating the philosophy of liberalism, which expressed the interests of emerging capitalism. In 1675-1679 he lived in France (in Montpellier and Paris), where he studied, in particular, the ideas of Gassendi and his school, and also carried out a number of Whig assignments. It turned out that Locke's theory was destined for a revolutionary future, since Charles II, and even more so his successor James II, turned to the traditional concept of monarchical government to justify their policy of tolerating Catholicism and even its imposition in England. After an unsuccessful attempt at an uprising against the restoration regime, Shaftesbury eventually fled to Amsterdam, after being imprisoned in the Tower and subsequently acquitted by a London court, where he soon died. Having made an attempt to continue his teaching career at Oxford, Locke in 1683 followed his patron to Holland, where he lived in 1683-1689; in 1685, in the list of other refugees, he was called a traitor (participant in the Monmouth conspiracy) and was subject to extradition to the British government. Locke did not return to England until the successful landing of William of Orange on the coast of England in 1688 and the flight of James II. Returning to his homeland on the same ship with the future Queen Mary II, Locke published the work Two Treatises of Government (1689, the year of publication 1690 is indicated in the book), outlining the theory of revolutionary liberalism. A classic in the history of political thought, the book also played an important role, in the words of its author, in "justifying King William's right to be our ruler." In this book, Locke advanced the concept of the social contract, according to which the only true basis of the power of the sovereign is the consent of the people. If the ruler does not justify trust, people have the right and even the obligation to stop obeying him. In other words, people have the right to revolt. But how to decide when exactly the ruler ceases to serve the people? According to Locke, such a moment occurs when a ruler passes from a government based on fixed principle to a "changeable, indefinite and arbitrary" government. Most of the English were convinced that such a moment came when James II began to pursue a pro-Catholic policy in 1688. Locke himself, along with Shaftesbury and his entourage, were convinced that this moment had already come under Charles II in 1682; it was then that the manuscript of the Two Treatises was created.
Locke marked his return to England in 1689 with the publication of another work close in content to the Treatises, namely the first Letter for Toleration (written mainly in 1685). He was writing a text in Latin (Epistola de Tolerantia) to be published in Holland, and by chance the English text included a preface (written by the Unitarian translator William Pople) proclaiming that "absolute freedom... is what we need." Locke himself was not a supporter of absolute freedom. From his point of view, Catholics deserved to be persecuted because they swore allegiance to a foreign sovereign, the pope; atheists - because their oaths cannot be trusted. As far as everyone else is concerned, the state must leave to everyone the right to salvation in their own way. In the Letter of Toleration, Locke opposed the traditional view that secular power has the right to enforce the true faith and true morality. He wrote that by force one can force people only to pretend, but not to believe in any way. And the strengthening of morality (in that which does not affect the security of the country and the preservation of peace) is not the duty of the state, but of the church.
Locke himself was a Christian and an Anglican. But his personal creed was surprisingly short and consisted of a single proposition: Christ is the Messiah. In ethics, he was a hedonist and believed that the natural goal of man in life is happiness, and also that the New Testament showed people the way to happiness in this life and eternal life. Locke saw his task as a warning to people who seek happiness in short-term pleasures, for which they later have to pay with suffering.
Returning to England during the "glorious" revolution, Locke initially intended to take up his post at Oxford University, from which he was dismissed at the direction of Charles II in 1684 after leaving for Holland. However, when he discovered that the place had already been given to a certain young man, he abandoned this idea and devoted the remaining 15 years of his life to scientific research and public service. Locke soon discovered that he was famous, not because of his political writings, published anonymously, but as the author of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, first published in 1690, but begun in 1671 and completed in the main. in 1686. The experience went through a number of editions during the life of the author, the last fifth edition, containing corrections and additions, was published in 1706, after the death of the philosopher.
It can be said without exaggeration that Locke was the first modern thinker. His way of reasoning differed sharply from the thinking of medieval philosophers. The consciousness of medieval man was filled with thoughts about the unearthly world. Locke's mind was distinguished by practicality, empiricism, it is the mind of an enterprising person, even a layman: "What is the use," he asked, "poetry?" He lacked the patience to understand the intricacies of the Christian religion. He did not believe in miracles and was disgusted with mysticism. He did not believe the people to whom the saints appeared, as well as those who constantly thought about heaven and hell. Locke believed that a person should fulfill his duties in the world where he lives. “Our share,” he wrote, “is here, in this small place on Earth, and neither we nor our concerns are destined to leave its limits.”
Locke was far from despising London society, in which he moved due to the success of his writings, but he was unable to endure the city stuffiness. For most of his life he suffered from asthma, and after sixty he suspected that he was ill with consumption. In 1691, he accepted an offer to settle in a country house in Ots (Essex) - an invitation from Lady Mesham, the wife of an MP and daughter of the Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cadworth. However, Locke did not allow himself to completely relax in a cozy homely atmosphere; in 1696 he became commissioner for commerce and the colonies, which made him appear regularly in the capital. By that time he was the intellectual leader of the Whigs, and many parliamentarians and statesmen often turned to him for advice and requests. Locke participated in the currency reform and helped to repeal the law that hindered the freedom of the press. He was one of the founders of the Bank of England. At Ots, Locke educated Lady Mesham's son and corresponded with Leibniz. I. Newton also visited him there, with whom they discussed the epistles of the Apostle Paul. However, his main occupation in this last period of his life was the preparation for the publication of numerous works, the ideas of which he had previously nurtured. Among the works of Locke - Second Letter Concerning Toleration (A Second Letter Concerning Toleration, 1690); Third Letter on Toleration (A Third Letter for Toleration, 1692); Some Thoughts on Education (Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693); The Reasonableness of Christianity, as Delivered in the Scriptures, 1695, and many others.
In 1700, Locke resigned all positions and retired to Ots. Locke died at Lady Mesham's house on October 28, 1704.
Material of the Encyclopedia "Round the World"
Biography
Born: 1632, Wrington, Somerset, England.
Died: 1704, Oates, Essex, England.
Major works: The First Letter on Toleration (1689), The Second and Third Letter on Toleration (1690 and 1692), An Essay on Human Understanding (1690), Treatises on Government (1689).
Main Ideas
There are no innate ideas.
- Human knowledge stems either from sensory experience or from introspection (reflection).
- Ideas are signs representing physical and spiritual objects.
- Objects have primary qualities (density, length, figure, movement or rest, number) and secondary qualities (all other properties, including color, sounds, smells, taste, etc.).
- Bodies actually have primary qualities, while secondary qualities are only the impressions of those who perceive them.
- Good is everything that brings pleasure, and evil is everything that causes pain.
- The goal of freedom is the pursuit of happiness.
- The natural state, primary in relation to the state, is subject to natural or divine laws, discovered through the use of reason.
- The main purpose of the formation of the state is the preservation of private property.
- The state arises as a result of a social contract.
Although a number of philosophers have been called the founders of modern philosophy, in many ways John Locke deserves this title more than anyone else. His political theories had a profound impact on the entire - Western and non-Western - world through his influence on the British, French and Americans. The Founding Fathers of the United States directly addressed his ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution - especially in the sections on the separation of powers, separation of church and state, religious freedom, and in other provisions of the Bill of Rights. The British constitution also drew on his ideas. Through the medium of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, his theories spread throughout French educated society.
Locke's theory of knowledge, his doctrine of the nature of matter marked a radical break with Aristotelianism, which prevailed in the philosophy of the Middle Ages. More importantly, they set before empiricism the tasks that dominated philosophical and scientific thought from the seventeenth century to the twentieth, at least in the English-speaking world. We do not err on the side of truth in saying that the philosophy of North America, Great Britain and the British Commonwealth is in most cases a commentary on Locke and the development of his theories.
Locke studied medicine and helped Robert Boyle, the discoverer of some of the most important physical laws, in laboratory experiments. Through this experience he was directly acquainted with the method of natural science, which later became of decisive importance, when Locke developed his theories about the nature of matter and the sources of human knowledge.
Locke was convinced that one of the main reasons for the failures of the philosophers of the past was their inattention to the real sources of human knowledge. Many of their delusions arise from the "junk" that contributes to the emergence of many of the dogmas they take for granted.
Locke divided human knowledge into three major sections: natural philosophy (logic, mathematics, and natural science); the practical arts, including morality, politics, and what we today call the social sciences; finally, "the doctrine of signs," including the ideas and words we use to communicate them.
Many of Locke's predecessors - including such prominent authorities as Plato in antiquity and Descartes shortly before him - believed that people were endowed with some innate ideas. These ideas were presumably planted in the mind at or before birth and need only be actualized. The whole philosophical system of Plato was based on this theory. He thought that education was essentially about helping people become aware of the ideas already in their minds, just as an experienced ornithologist helps beginners to recognize sounds that they have heard before during a walk in the forest, but did not tell them anything. Locke went to great lengths to prove that we cannot provide reliable evidence for the existence of such innate ideas. There is no evidence that there is universal agreement about the so-called self-evident ideas. In the field of morality, this is so striking that it does not need any justification. Advocates of the theory of innate ideas usually explain sharp disagreements about the principles of morality by the fact that people who do not share their opinions are morally blind, but such statements are completely unfounded.
As for logical and mathematical truths, Locke pointed out the obvious fact that most people do not even have the most vague idea of them. These ideas require a long and methodical training to teach them, and children and the feeble-minded are certainly incapable of comprehending them, while if these ideas were "innate", the situation would be quite the opposite.
Consciousness as "tabula rasa"
Human consciousness is, according to Locke, a tabula rasa, a blank slate or sheet of paper, ready from the moment of its creation to receive sensations from the outer world and inner impressions. These are the materials from which the only knowledge available to us is formed. Consciousness, armed with the data of sensory experience and reflection, is capable of their analysis and ordering. Through this process, it constructs ever more complex ideas and discovers relationships between them that are not evident in the raw data.
Locke concluded that things are the causes of our having certain ideas. Ideas thus generated, he said, are qualities of things. So, he said, “the snowball has the ability to generate in us the ideas of white, cold and round; the abilities inherent in the snowball to generate these ideas in us I call qualities; and since they are impressions or perceptions in our minds, I call them ideas.”
Primary and secondary qualities
Locke distinguished three kinds of qualities. Primary qualities are, he says, those qualities that are "absolutely inseparable" from a thing. These include figure, number, density, and motion or rest. Locke thought that they are inherent in the objects themselves, and our perception is in some way similar to these objects. Secondary qualities are the "capacity" of things to evoke certain sensations in us. Parts of things invisible under a microscope interact with our bodies in such a way that they produce in them the sensation of color, sound, taste, smell and touch. These "qualities" are not inherent in the objects themselves, but arise in our minds under their influence. Finally, tertiary qualities are the ability of things to cause physical changes in other things. For example, the ability of fire to turn lead from solid to liquid is a tertiary quality.
Philosophers of the past assumed that things are substances. The paper I write on is yellow, has a certain size and shape, and has a slightly moldy feel to it. I described the paper, but what? is there a paper I described? They thought it was a kind of substratum, a base that supported, or had, various qualities - yellowness, moldiness and squareness. However, careful analysis led Locke to the conclusion that empirical (sense) evidence in favor of the existence of the substratum is impossible to find, because all the data that we have relate to the qualities of things. He concludes that neither material nor spiritual substances are unknowable and that the very idea is so obscure as to be beyond intelligent analysis. Unlike some of his followers, Locke did not go all the way, that is, he did not completely abandon the idea of substance. He simply concluded that substance is "an unknown something that supports those ideas which we call accidents" (qualities discussed above).
It was even more difficult for Locke to abandon the idea of purely spiritual substances, such as the human soul or God, because much of Christian theology was based on it. His writings do not bring clarity to this issue, since he hesitated, now recognizing with Hobbes that there is nothing but matter, then supporting traditional religious ideas.
Locke was firmly convinced that only happiness, which he called "the highest pleasure available to us," can induce us to desire anything. We call things good, he said, if they contribute to the achievement of pleasure, and evil if they cause pain. Pleasure and pain, by the way, are not limited to physical or bodily sensations; pleasure or pain can be any "pleasure" or "anxiety" we feel. As examples of pain, Locke cites sadness, anger, envy, and shame, which are not always accompanied by physical manifestations or are caused by physical influences.
Like many of his predecessors, Locke believed that, theoretically at least, speculation about the state of nature—the state that human beings might have been in before the establishment of organized societies with laws and governments—is by no means meaningless. However, unlike Thomas Hobbes, who believed that in the state of nature there is no other law than the law of the jungle, or the law of self-preservation, Locke concluded that human behavior is subject to certain laws at all times, regardless of whether there is a state power capable of enforcing them into life. In the state of nature, each individual has equal rights with respect to any other individual. People tend to use reason, and being rational beings, they simply would not allow themselves to sink into the natural state depicted by Hobbes, in which everyone is at war with everyone.
The state of nature was envisioned by Locke as something like the Garden of Eden, in which people lived in strict accordance with reason, without needing lawyers, police, or courts, because they got along so well with each other. In this state, people enjoyed "perfect freedom to act and dispose of their property and person as they saw fit, within the limits of natural law, without asking permission or depending on the will of any other person."
With such complete freedom, people living in the state of nature are absolutely equal, since none of them has more than the rest. However, their freedom is not permissiveness or the right to harm others. Natural law requires that no one harm the "life, health, liberty, or property" of another. On the same basis, a person does not have the right to arbitrarily, without a good justification, destroy himself or his property. According to Locke, this is based on natural law, which, in turn, seems to be based on certain religious tenets, including the notion that everything, including every human being, is ultimately the property of God, not allowing the destruction of their property.
Doctrine of property
Locke believed that labor is justification: the institution of property. In the state of nature, anyone who transforms a thing from one state to another acquires the right to own it. The person who has planted a garden and cultivates it has a right to the harvest that will be brought to them. Until then, the Yoka shell lies in the sands on the seashore, it is a draw; but as soon as someone picks it up and uses it as an ornament, it becomes his property. Thus, unlike Hobbes, who argued that property arises only after the introduction of laws that define its boundaries, Locke believed that property is a natural right that does not depend on the state. Indeed, according to Locke, the primary purpose of the state is the "protection of property."
Locke believed that theoretically no one should have more property than he is able to use. This is especially true for short-lived things, such as fruits. It is not befitting for a man who has collected a huge amount of plums to claim possession of them, for he cannot eat them before they rot, and waste is evil. However, the invention of money, and especially the discovery that certain metals are particularly durable, has enabled some to acquire disproportionate wealth on earth. While theoretically undesirable, Locke concluded that property is so sacred that unequal distribution must be tolerated.
The people as the bearer of supreme power
Once reason has convinced people to establish a state by concluding a social contract (which is inevitable), it will be completely different from the state of Hobbes, in which the people as their subjects are ruled by a sole sovereign, or bearer of supreme power. On the contrary, since the people will conclude a social contract and agree to the introduction of the power of laws, so far the sovereignty belongs to the people, and not to the king. From the fact that this is the case, it follows that the people who have placed a prince on the throne retain the right to depose him if the prince is unable to rule in accordance with their will.
Locke's teachings had an enormous influence on the founding fathers of the United States of America and to a great extent set the stage for the American and French revolutions. According to the revolutionary-democratic theory of Locke, the highest in the state should be not the executive, but the legislative power, since it is more directly accountable to the sovereign people. Moreover, the executive and legislative powers must be separated from each other so that they can serve as a mutual counterbalance, preventing the predominance of one of them and the usurpation of the rights and prerogatives that belong to the people by right of nature.
According to Locke, people form society to preserve their property and are subject to the authority of government and laws, which serve to preserve what is rightfully theirs. Hence, says Locke, “whenever the legislators attempt to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to subject them to their tyrannical power, they enter into a state of war with the people, who by virtue of this are freed from further obedience and are entitled to turn to the common refuge provided by God. for those facing violence." So, if the government undermines the confidence that the people have given it, it loses the power entrusted to it by the people, after which it "passes to the people, who have the right to restore their original freedom and take care of their safety and security, establishing a new legislative power, which he deem appropriate."
Responding to accusations that, by defending the right to rebellion, we doom ourselves to constant instability and frequent political upheavals, Locke observed that "not every disorder in public life leads to revolution." Generally speaking, nations are quite patient with their rulers. In order to provoke the people into appropriating legislative power, abuses must overwhelm their patience. Moreover, Locke argued, the knowledge that the people might rebel is the best guarantee against self-serving rule: knowing that their position is precarious, officials will be less prone to abuse.
If the goal of the state is the welfare of mankind, then what is better, Locke asked: that the people should remain forever in the power of unlimited tyranny, or that the rulers should be deposed if they use their power to destroy, rather than preserve the property of the people? Be that as it may, he said, whether a certain person is a ruler or a simple citizen, but if he encroaches on the rights of the people and plans to overthrow the legitimate government, then this person “justly should be considered an enemy of society and a plague of the human race, and act should be dealt with accordingly.
If serious disagreements arise between the people and the ruler, then who can judge them? Locke's answer is direct and unequivocal: "The whole people must act as a plenipotentiary arbiter in such a dispute," for it is he who is the source of trust with which the ruler was invested. If the ruler refuses to obey the verdict of the people, then “there remains only one appeal to heaven”: the ruler unleashes a war against his people, who have the right to withdraw the power entrusted to him and transfer it to another, who, in the opinion of the citizens, is capable of being a more faithful servant of the people.
Bibliography
Locke, D., Works in three volumes, M, 1985-1988. Serebrennikov, V., Locke's doctrine of the innate principles of knowledge and activity, St. Petersburg, 1892.
Rahman, D., John Locke, [Kharkov], 1924.
Subbotin, A.L., Locke's principles of epistemology. // Questions of Philosophy, 1955, No. 2. Narsky, I.S., Philosophy of John Locke, M., 1960.
Zaichenko, G.A., John Locke, M., 1973.
Locke, J., An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Collated and Annotated, with Bibliographical, Crititcal, and Historical Prolegomena, ed. by A.C. Frazer, New York: Dover Publications, 1959.
Locke, J., Two Treatises of Civil Government, ed. by P. Laslett, New York: Mentor Books, 1965.
Locke, J., The Second Treatise of Civil Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration, ed. by J.W. Gough, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1948.
Jenkins, J.J., Understanding Locke: An Introduction to Philosophy through John Locke's Essay, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1983.
Martin, S.W., Armstrong, D.M., Locke and Berkeley: A Collection of Critical Essays, Notre Dame London: Notre Dame University Press, 1968.
O "Connor, D.J., John Locke, London, 1952.
Yolton, J.W., Locke and Compass of Human Understanding: A Selective Commentary on the "Essay", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
Original © Burton Leijer, 1992
Translation © V. Fedorin, 1997
Great Thinkers of the West. - M.: Kron-Press, 1999
Culturological views of John Locke.
If we try in the most general terms to characterize Locke as a thinker, then first of all it should be said that he is the successor of the "Francis Bacon line" in European philosophy of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. Moreover, he can rightfully be called the founder of "British empiricism", the creator of theories of natural law and the social contract, the doctrine of the separation of powers, which are the cornerstones of modern liberalism. Locke stood at the origins of the labor theory of value, which he used to apologetics for bourgeois society and to prove the inviolability of the right to private property. He was the first to proclaim that "property resulting from labor can outweigh the common ownership of land, because it is labor that creates differences in the value of all things" 17. Locke did a lot to protect and develop the principles of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. Finally, Locke created a theory of education that differed significantly from those developed by his predecessors, including Renaissance thinkers.
Locke had an enormous influence on later generations of European thinkers. ... The ideologists of the Northern States of America relied on his work, including George Washington and the author of the "Declaration of Independence" Thomas Jefferson. Thus, in Locke we have a philosopher whose work became a turning point in the development of economic, political, and ethical ideas in Europe and America. He also made a certain contribution to the development of cultural theory, which, in fact, makes him turn to his theoretical heritage.
John Locke was born in a small town in the county of Somerset in the south-west of England in the family of a petty judicial official who, according to his political convictions, belonged to the Puritans of the extreme left (they were colloquially called Independents, i.e. independent, because they did not recognize the authority of the episcopate and appointed as priests people from among themselves). The situation at home, where work, freedom, sincere faith in God were valued above all virtues, had the most direct influence on the formation of the character of the young Locke. Locke also owes his father's instructions to his early awakened interest in issues of religion, law, politics, the study of which he devoted his life to. He entered the school at Westminster Abbey quite late (the era was turbulent - a civil war raged in England, ending with the overthrow and execution of King Charles I and the establishment of the sole rule of Oliver Cromwell, and therefore the mother did not dare to give her son to teaching for a long time), but this did not stop he will successfully complete the course and enter the college of the Christ Church at Oxford University. As the best student who scored the highest score in the entrance examinations, he was identified among the students studying at public expense, which was a great boon for the family, which was constantly experiencing financial difficulties. This happened in 1652, and from that moment on, for more than thirty years, Locke's fate was connected with Oxford. Locke graduated from the theological faculty, but refused to accept the dignity, as required by the university charter for teachers, and therefore he was not allowed to teach the entire range of disciplines that were usually read by “graded” doctors, but only Greek, rhetoric. Somewhat later, he was allowed to read a course in ethics (it was called in those days "moral philosophy"). As a teacher, Locke entered the medical faculty (he was attracted by the natural sciences, and he was intensively engaged in physics, chemistry, biology), but after completing the course, he was refused a doctorate in medicine. The university chronicles are very vague about the reasons for the refusal, but it can be assumed that this was due to the reputation of an atheist and atheist, which was firmly entrenched in Locke from the time of his master's degree and the publication of his first works. But this did not stop Locke, who continued (and quite successfully) to engage in research in his chosen field. Soon his name becomes known in scientific circles. He meets the greatest physicist of the time Robert Boyle and helps him in his experiments. Locke's successes in the scientific field did not go unnoticed. In 1668 (he was then 36 years old) Locke was elected a full member of the Royal Society of London, which, in fact, was (and is still) the national academy of sciences of the United Kingdom. Soon he changes the nature of his activity and begins to engage in politics. This was connected with an acquaintance with the Earl of Shaftesbury, a well-known statesman of that time, who offered him the post of personal secretary and mentor to his children. Gradually, Locke becomes his closest adviser and gets the opportunity to influence the processes of big politics. He participates in the preparation of a number of legislative acts, in the development of tactics and strategies for the ruling cabinet, and renders delicate services in the field of secret diplomacy to his patron and friend. Political activity captures him more and more, and soon, thanks to his talent, he becomes one of the recognized leaders of the Whig party (as the party of the middle and big English bourgeoisie was called, which sought to consolidate the gains of the English bourgeois revolution and prevent the royalists from taking away the freedoms it had won). Thanks to the support of the opposition, Locke is appointed to a number of prominent government posts, where he shows remarkable abilities as a statesman. But soon his successful political career was interrupted. After the fall of the Shaftesbury cabinet and the arrest of his patron, Locke fled to Holland, which in those years was a refuge for emigrants from all over Europe. The royal authorities demand his extradition for trial and execution, but a case intervenes that dramatically changes the trajectory of Locke's life path. He meets the stadtholder (ruler) of the Dutch Republic, William III of Orange, who, having appreciated his mind and political experience, brings him closer to himself. After the overthrow of James II Stuart by William of Orange, who had undeniable rights to the English throne, Locke returned to England, where he became one of the most prominent figures in the new government. He receives the post of commissioner for the colonies and trade, heads the committee on monetary reform. At his suggestion, the Bank of England and a number of other financial organizations were created. At the same time, he is engaged in intensive scientific activity. Economic, political ... treatises come out from under his pen one after another. He also conducts active polemics on the pages of newspapers and magazines with his political opponents. Repeatedly speaks in Parliament and at meetings of the Royal Council. However, in 1700, due to illness, he left all his posts and settled outside London, on the estate of Lord Mesham, where he was raising his grandson. John Locke died in 1704, being at the pinnacle of fame, surrounded by honor * and respect of people who were well aware that with his death an entire historical era was leaving and a new one began, the onset of which John Locke substantiated and ideologically prepared.
Locke's spiritual heritage is quite impressive. Among the works written by him are: "Elements of Natural Philosophy", "An Essay on Religious Tolerance", "Two Treatises on Government", "Some Thoughts on Education", and finally, the famous treatise "An Essay on Human Understanding". He also published many articles, letters, notes, where issues of economics, politics, ethics, religion, and pedagogy are considered. A number of works were published by Locke under false names (he always feared that he might suffer the fate of the Whig Algernon Sidney, who was hanged in the time of Charles II for having found in his papers the manuscript of "Discourse on Government", where the theory of the social contract was defended), and today it is not possible to identify them.
Among the works of Locke there is no book specifically devoted to the consideration of issues of cultural studies, but this does not mean that he did not touch them. An analysis of Locke's texts shows that he did not bypass any of the main problems of theoretical cultural studies. He talks in great detail about how human society and culture arose, what laws determine the existence of society, what functions art, science, religion and law perform, what is the role of language in the development of a person as a social being.
It must be said right away that the founder of English sensationalism offers a different conception of society and the state than Hobbes, although the starting points for both are the same. Locke proceeds from the fact that the state of nature in which people lived at the dawn of their history does not at all represent a "war of all against all", as Hobbes wrote about it. From his point of view, initially goodwill and mutual support reigned in human society, because there were few people and everyone owned a piece of land that he and his relatives were able to cultivate. The individual owned the property that he himself created and did not encroach on the property of his own kind. In other words, Locke believes that private property exists initially, and does not arise at a certain stage in the development of human society. Thus, the starting point for Locke is one of the basic provisions of the philosophy of history, formulated by the ideologists of the English bourgeois revolution as early as the middle of the 17th century. ...
So, according to Locke, society in the state of nature looks like a society organized on the basis of the principles of equality, justice, independence of people from each other. In this society, relations between individuals are governed by the norms of morality and religion, but not by law, about which people in the state of nature know nothing. But, as individual members of society accumulate property, they have a desire to subjugate their own kind, who naturally oppose this. The second prerequisite for discord in society and the destruction of the harmony of relations is the rapid increase in the population. With a shortage of land, each sees in the other not a comrade, but an enemy who dreams of taking possession of a share of property that does not belong to him. Thus, a state of “war of all against all” arises, which lasts until people realize the abnormality of the current state of affairs. In the process of finding a way out of this situation, they ultimately come to the idea of the need to establish a state, to which is delegated the authority to establish peace by force, to protect the property and life of owners. This agreement is the "social contract" on which the entire pyramid of power, economic and legal relations of modern society is based.
Thus, the state, according to Locke, is an artificial, i.e., cultural formation, created by the will and deeds of people.
From this it follows that the genesis of the state repeats the genesis of culture itself, and the forms of the state correspond to one or another form of culture. The latter, according to the views of Locke, does not exist initially, it is not given from above, but is created by people. ...
It is not difficult to see that such an interpretation of culture has much in common with the understanding of culture present in the works of Hobbes, for whom culture is also a world created by the hands and minds of people in accordance with their needs and interests.
Close to Hobbesian is Locke's solution to the problem of religion. Locke recognizes it as an integral part of the state machine and believes that it performs important social functions that other social institutions, in particular morality and law, are unable to perform. But he, unlike Hobbes, does not consider religion to be a cultural phenomenon.
Faith, in his understanding, is a manifestation of the creative power of the Lord. ... and no epistemological human needs can explain its appearance. It should be noted that Locke put forward his own version of the cosmological proof of the existence of God, however, repeating in many respects the reasoning scheme of Newton, who believed that apart from God it is impossible to find any source of activity of matter and consciousness. Locke had a sharply negative attitude towards atheists and even suggested depriving them of their civil rights, because from his point of view, atheists, being born skeptics, lose their ability to obey, do not put the state in anything and, ultimately, degrade morally, becoming dangerous to others. , law-abiding and God-fearing individuals.
In fairness, it must be said that, being a deist in his religious convictions, Locke did not believe that faith has the Right of priority over scientific thought. Moreover, he insisted that everything incomprehensible to the mind should be rejected. ...
Locke also touched upon the problem of language. ...
From the point of view of the founder of English sensationalism, language is primarily the result of human creation, although God also had a hand in its creation.
However, the role of the Lord was only that he endowed man with the ability to articulate speech. Yet the words were created by man himself. He also established connections between them, as well as between the objects that they designate. Thus, already in his interpretation of the origin of language, as we see, Locke quite fundamentally disagrees with Hobbes, who assigned God a much more significant role in the creation of speech.
Locke believes that if a person did not have the ability to make sounds signs of ideas that are born in his brain, and if people were not endowed with the ability to make sounds general signs accessible to the understanding of others, then speech would never have arisen and people until today could communicate with each other. But they have these rare abilities, which primarily distinguish them from those animals and birds, for example, parrots, that are capable of making articulate sounds. In other words, according to Locke, human speech arises as a result of the existence in people of an innate ability for abstraction and generalization, given initially by providence, the ability to connect an object together with its nature thanks to the word.
Words, according to Locke, are directly connected with sensible ideas. So, for example, the word "spirit" in its primary meaning is "breath", "angel", "messenger. In the same way, other words denote certain ideas that arise in a person as a result of the sensory assimilation of the world or as a result of the internal actions of our spirit. Thus, the basis for the emergence of language is experience, direct sensory contact with objects of the real or ideal world.
Locke describes in detail how general concepts are born/how language develops. He also explains the fact of the existence of many languages, which was a stumbling block for many of his predecessors who dealt with this issue. He also proposes a solution to a number of other complex problems that have been at the center of attention of linguists and linguists to this day. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Locke developed an original theory of language, which occupies a worthy place among other concepts created in much later years.
Concluding the consideration of Locke's cultural views, it is necessary to at least briefly dwell on his concept of education. Without going into details, we will immediately say that Locke rethought the concept of the “ideal of man”. The ultimate goal of upbringing, “culturing” of an individual, from his point of view, should not be a comprehensively and harmoniously developed personality, but a person with impeccable manners, practical in character, able to dominate his passions and emotions. In other words, the human ideal is an English gentleman with all his personal characteristics. Locke, in two of his treatises on education, tells in the most detailed way what a child should eat and drink, what clothes it is preferable to dress him in, how to develop his talents and abilities and prevent the manifestation of evil inclinations, how to protect him from the corrupting influence of servants, in what games should he play and what books should he read, etc. It is worth noting that Locke's pedagogical views are clearly ahead of his time. For example, he sharply objects to the constant use of corporal punishment, believing that "this method of maintaining discipline, which is widely used by educators and accessible to their understanding, is the least suitable of all conceivable" 19. The use of flogging as a means of persuasion, in his opinion, " engenders in the child an aversion to the fact that the educator should make him fall in love” 20, gradually turns him into a secretive, malicious, insincere creature, whose soul is, in the final analysis, inaccessible to a kind word and a positive example. Locke also objects to the practice of petty regulation of the child's behavior, which was widespread in those days. He believes that a young being is simply not able to remember the numerous rules that etiquette prescribes, and therefore to get them to remember them with the help of corporal punishment is simply unreasonable and reprehensible from an ethical point of view. Locke is convinced that a child should be natural in his manifestations, that he does not need to copy adults in his behavior, for whom the observance of etiquette is a necessity, and knowledge of the norms of behavior in a given situation is a kind of indicator that distinguishes an educated person from an ill-mannered one. “While the children are small,” writes Locke, “the lack of secular courtesy in their treatment, if only they are characterized by inner delicacy, ... parents should worry least of all” 21. The main thing that the educator should strive for, Locke argues, is to form the child has an idea of honor and shame. “If you succeeded,” he writes, “to teach children to value a good reputation and fear shame and disgrace, then you have invested in them the right beginning, which will always show its effect and incline them to good ... In this I see a great secret education" 22.
Considering the question of the methods of education, Locke gives a special place to dancing. They, from his point of view, “provide children with decent confidence and poise and, thus, prepare them for the company of elders.” result. Speaking of methods, Locke emphasizes that the efforts of the educator then bring success if there is trust and respect for each other between him and the educated person. He writes: “Whoever wants his son to treat him and his instructions with respect, he himself must treat his son with great respect.”24 Locke is that with his reasoning he destroys traditions and undermines the authority of teachers.
A gentleman, from Locke's point of view, must be able not only to behave impeccably, but also to speak exquisitely and write unmistakably. Among other things, he must speak foreign languages, including those in which the treatises of previous centuries were written - Greek and Latin, and from the "living" languages for study, one should choose the one that is useful to the gentleman for communication and business contacts. A gentleman, from Locke's point of view, must be an excellent rider and swordsman. The possession of other types of weapons is not superfluous, because he needs to be able to defend his honor and the honor of his loved ones, but learning versification and music is not at all, according to Locke, mandatory. The author of Thoughts on Education admits that these skills are highly valued in aristocratic society, but so much time must be spent on them that this expenditure is not rewarded with the result obtained. In addition, as Pschiet Locke, “I have so rarely heard that any of the capable and businesslike people were praised and appreciated for outstanding achievements in music, which, I think, among the things that have ever been included in the list of secular talents, she last place could be taken. 25. Finally, an English gentleman should be God-fearing, well aware and respectful of the laws of his country.
Such, in the most general terms, is the ideal of the individual according to Locke. It is not difficult to see that it is fundamentally different from the ideal of man, which is contained in the works of the thinkers of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Locke proposes that society's efforts be focused on creating a new social type based on the purely utilitarian needs of the ruling stratum that was formed in England as a result of the "glorious revolution" and the "class compromise of 1688". This is a look at the problem of a true representative of his time, a time of consolidation of various political forces and major transformations in all spheres of public life, which initiated the transformation of England into the most developed capitalist power of modern times.
Notes
17. Locke J. Op.: In 2 vols. - T. 2. - M., 1960. - P.26.
19. Locke J. Thoughts on education // Works: In 3 volumes - T.Z. - M., 1988. - P. 442.
20. Ibid. P.443.
21. Ibid. P.456.
22. Ibid. P.446.
23. Ibid. P.456.
24. Ibid. P.465.
25. Ibid. P.594.
Shendrik A.I. Theory of culture: Proc. allowance for universities. - M.: UNITI-DANA, Unity, 2002.
In the 17th century, the first signs of freedom appeared in England. When theology and reasoning were taught in universities, medieval philosophy was forgotten, and the natural sciences came to replace it. Also, the 17th century for England is a civil war, marked by a gradual transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one. At this time, the great English philosopher John Locke was born, whose works became the basis of universal philosophical practice.
Childhood and youth
The future philosopher was born in 1632 in the small village of Wrington, located near the county of Bristol.
The boy's father, John Locke, was one of the best lawyers in the area, who lived in abundance.
John the elder is a freedom-loving, at that time, when Charles I ruled England, he served as an army captain in parliament. During the revolution, Locke Sr., due to unprecedented generosity, lost all his savings, giving money to those in need. Thus, the father taught his son that one should try to live for society.
From the biography of the mother of the scientist, it is only known that her maiden name is King. More information about the woman who raised the philosopher did not reach contemporaries.
The boy grew up in an oppositional family, neither father nor mother supported the absolute monarchy, and also did not support the regime of the dominant Anglican Church.
John's parents raised their son, each of them made his own contribution to the development of the boy. So from his father, Locke Jr. inherited a love of freedom and contempt for petty everyday things, and from his mother, the philosopher inherited piety.
The woman was afraid of losing her children, because John's brother died in infancy due to poor health. Therefore, Locke's mother lived in eternal fear of God and constantly prayed.
The boy was brought up religiously and strictly, according to puritanical rules. For the most part, the father was engaged in the boy, having developed his own methodology, which John Jr. later praised.
John senior kept his son at a great distance from him and in complete obedience. Then he slowly allowed the boy to approach, and the formidable tone and orders turned into worldly advice. Gradually, the "boss" and "subordinate" became equal to each other and they were bound by strong friendship.
Locke grew up as a gifted and well-read boy. A friend of his father, Colonel Alexander Popham, advised that John Jr. be sent to Westminster School.
Biographers of the philosopher say without exaggeration that Locke was the best student at school: the boy treated all subjects diligently and diligently.
In 1652, Lock entered the University of Oxford, where he studied medicine, Greek and Latin languages, literature, etc. The young student was taught natural science by Robert Boyle himself. During his university years, Locke began to get involved in the philosophy of the mathematician Rene Descartes, who became the beginning of the worldview that developed in the student.
The awakening of the interest of John Locke was facilitated by his teacher and mentor Robert Boyle.
Descartes taught Locke an aversion to empty abstruse words that do not carry any meaning; throughout his life, John believed that brevity is the sister of talent.
Also, the future philosopher began to adhere to the teachings of John Wilkins, who was passionate about science, and the scientist Richard Lowe instilled in the young man a love of medicine.
Theory of knowledge
John Locke wrote his key book, An Essay on Human Understanding, in 1690. Locke's teachings were furthered by scientific works on "innate ideas", which take their origins in the philosophy of the ancient Greek scientist, and then consider this theory in the 17th century, whose works were studied by John Locke.
"Innate ideas" are human knowledge that cannot be acquired because they are not based on feelings. That is, those principles that lead to universal human agreement by virtue of "instincts".
But John Locke did not support this theory, but, on the contrary, spoke in his essay on sensationalism with the opposite point of view. According to the philosopher, people choose certain ideas (for example, the discoveries of medicine) not because of "innateness", but because of their usefulness. The scientist believed that the basis of human knowledge is life experience, which is based on sensory perceptions.
Complex ideas are developed by the mind and consist of simple ideas. And simple ideas arise as a result of the life experience of the individual: a person is a “blank sheet of paper”, which is filled with life reflection.
Thus, John Locke disagrees with, who wrote that the soul constantly thinks, and thinking is a constant sign of the soul.
According to the English philosopher, knowledge is experience, and according to Descartes, thinking is an a priori state of a person.
John Locke is the greatest English thinker of the 19th century, but all the conclusions of the scientist were not developed independently, but thanks to other figures. Therefore, despite the interesting interpretation of thought, John Locke is not at all an original author of a philosophical concept.
In An Essay on Human Understanding, the influence of the psychologist Thomas Hobbes and the physicist can be traced.
Locke's concept is that the world, limited in time and space, is subject to a higher mind - God. Each being interacts with others and has its own purpose. The purpose of man is the knowledge and veneration of God, because of which bliss comes on Earth and in the other world.
Pedagogy
After a brilliant graduation from Oxford University, Locke taught ancient languages for a couple of years, but soon resigned from this position, accepting the offer of Count Anthony Ashley Cooper Shafstbury. When Anthony was seriously ill, John Locke made the correct diagnosis. The grateful earl suggested that John work as a family doctor and raise two boys.
At that time, Locke writes letters to his friend Clarke and expresses his opinion on education. Edward diligently collected the philosopher's letters, which served as the basis for the pedagogical work Thoughts on Education.
John was sure that a person's actions do not depend on his own perception, but on education, which develops the character, will and moral discipline of a person. Moreover, according to Locke, physical education should develop simultaneously with the spiritual. The physical consists in the development of hygiene and health, and the spiritual in the development of morality and dignity.
The thoughts expressed in the letters to Clarke reflect how Locke was raised by his father:
- The development of the body, the observance of strict discipline, the daily routine and the intake of simple food;
- Developmental exercises and games;
- The child must go against desire and do what the mind tells and what does not contradict morality;
- From an early age children should be taught graceful manners;
- Physical punishment of a child takes place only with systematic disobedience and impudent behavior.
political ideas
The political worldview of John Locke is formed in childhood because of his parents.
Of the political worldviews of Locke, the most famous idea of a democratic revolution, expressed in the works of the philosopher: "The right of the people to revolt against tyranny" and "Reflections on the glorious revolution of 1688".
According to the philosopher about the state, it should guarantee personal freedom and natural human rights. About government, Locke says that representatives of power should be elected by the people, a person should obey the generally accepted law, and not spontaneous and despotism of superiors.
John was also the first to put forward the idea of the separation of powers and was an adherent of the social contract theory.
The state is obliged to guarantee the protection of every person and his property, as well as to solve cases of a criminal nature. Thus, Locke formed the concept of a legal constitutional state and legislative power.
Personal life
In seclusion and loneliness, John Locke even surpassed. It would seem that the great philosopher is an everyday person who loves life. However, if by the end of his life Kant acquired a house and a servant, then Locke had neither. John was a homeless man who spent his whole life in other people's homes as an educator, an example is the story of Anthony.
John did not set himself the goal of acquiring a central activity, all his actions are fragmentary. He practiced medicine when anyone asked him to, studied politics when possible, and so on.
John Locke was lonely Pious John Locke did not betray the material world, but prepared for the future life, which, judging by the scripture, awaits a person in the afterlife. This can be explained both by Locke's piety and by his poor health. Sometimes sickly people live long, but are constantly preparing for death, evaluating themselves as guests in this world.
The scientist did not have a wife and children. Locke tried to combine two opposing concepts - religion and science.
Death
Locke spent the last years of his life in the country house of an acquaintance, Dameris Masham, who replaced his daughter. The woman admired the philosopher, so Locke's moralizing dominated her family.
At an advanced age, Locke lost his hearing, which made him very sad, because he did not hear his interlocutors.
The philosopher died of asthma on October 28, 1704 at the age of 72. The scientist was buried near the last place of residence.
Quotes
- "All passion originates in pleasure or pain."
- “There is hardly anything more necessary for knowledge, for a quiet life and for the success of any business, than the ability of a person to control his thoughts.”
- "True courage is expressed in calm self-control and in the imperturbable performance of one's duty, in spite of any disasters and dangers."
- "Twenty deeds can be forgiven rather than one violation of the truth."
- “In a person who is poorly brought up, courage becomes rudeness ...”
