The Philosophy of Locke. In extracts from The essay concerning human understanding; arranged, with introductory notes, by John E. Russell

Educated at Christ College in London before the Scholastic curriculum reforms, John Locke was a staunch advocate of the empirical movement in England and France; and his famous Two Treatises on Government greatly influenced the American Declaration of Independence. Yet because of his friendship with a Protestant Reformer, he was accused of complicity against the government, causing him to flee England for Holland. After the death of James I, he was able to return to England, where he ultimately retired at the dwelling home of the Oates family. His philosophical works recalled the doctrine of Epicurus and rejected Descartes's theory of innate ideas: Locke saw the newborn mind as a tabla rasa or "blank state", growing in knowledge only through sense perception and reflection.