John Locke

Locke was born in Somerset in 1632, the son of a lawyer, and studied at Oxford, where he took up medicine and natural philosophy. He served as physician and adviser to the Earl of Shaftesbury, and political trouble sent him into exile in the Netherlands.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding argues that there are no innate ideas: the mind is at first a blank page, and all knowledge comes from experience and reflection. Two Treatises of Government grounds authority in a social contract and in natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and defends the right of a people to resist a government that betrays its trust.

His Letter Concerning Toleration argued for a wide freedom of conscience. He returned to England after the revolution of 1688 and died at Oates in 1704.

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