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Empiricism & Political Theory
John Locke
1632 – 1704
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
Father of liberalism. Locke argued that the mind begins as a blank slate and knowledge comes entirely from experience, grounding legitimate government in consent and natural rights.
Biography
John Locke (1632–1704) was an English philosopher and physician. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding mounted a systematic alternative to Cartesian rationalism: the mind at birth is a tabula rasa, and all its ideas ultimately derive from sensory experience or reflection.
In political philosophy, his Two Treatises of Government argued that political authority derives from the consent of the governed. Individuals enter society from a state of nature in which they already possess natural rights to life, liberty, and estate.
This argument formed the philosophical backbone of both the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the American Declaration of Independence (1776).
Important Works
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
1689Empiricism's founding text: the mind begins empty; knowledge derives from experience.
Two Treatises of Government
1689The social contract, natural rights, and the right of revolution.
Key Takeaways
- The mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) — all knowledge comes from experience.
- Natural rights to life, liberty, and property are pre-political and inalienable.
- Legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed.
- The right of revolution: a government that violates natural rights may be overthrown.
- Primary vs. secondary qualities: shape is real; colour is mind-dependent.