John Locke
John Locke, born in 1632 in Wrington, England, was a pivotal Enlightenment philosopher and founder of British empiricism. Rejecting innate ideas, he argued knowledge arises from experience, articulated in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689). Politically, Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (1690) defended natural rights—life, liberty, property—and government by consent, opposing divine monarchy. He asserted rulers must protect rights or face removal. Locke also advanced religious toleration, separating church and state. His “tabula rasa” theory emphasized the mind as blank at birth, shaped by experience. Locke’s liberal philosophy profoundly influenced constitutional democracy, inspiring Jefferson and the American Revolution.
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