Description
Book SynopsisThis vital addition to the Blackwell Great Minds series offers a focused assessment of the fundamental principles of a giant of the western tradition in philosophical thought. The book covers every aspect of the thinker whose matchless mental agility fatally undermined the medieval absolutism of divine-right patriarchy.
Trade Review“Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers.” (Choice, 1 July 2015)
Table of Contentspreface ix
abbreviations xi
1 locke's life 1
2 the nature and role of ideas 13
3 the negative project: against innatism 23
4 the positive project: ideational empiricism 39
4.1 simple ideas 40
4.2 sensation and reflection 43
4.3 complex ideas 46
4.4 abstract ideas 56
4.5 challenges to ideational empiricism: the ideas of infinity and substratum 61
5 substances 70
5.1 body, matter, space, and vacuum 70
5.2 spirit 75
6 qualities 83
7 mental operations 98
7.1 actions and passions 98
7.2 will and willing 101
7.3 voluntariness and involuntariness 103
7.4 freedom, necessity, and determination of the will 104
7.5 a problem 110
8 relations 113
8.1 identity and diversity 114
8.2 moral relations 128
9 language 133
9.1 language and meaning 134
9.2 the imperfections and abuses of language 140
9.3 nominal essence, real essence, and classification 143
10 knowledge and belief 152
10.1 the official account of knowledge 152
10.2 the degrees of knowledge 156
10.3 anti-dogmatism and anti-skepticism 159
10.4 faith and religious enthusiasm 164
11 moral philosophy 169
11.1 morality and God's will 169
11.2 natural law 172
11.3 punishment and slavery 176
11.4 property 180
11.5 family 187
12 political philosophy 195
12.1 political society 196
12.2 legitimate rule 197
12.3 varieties of illegitimate rule 207
12.4 toleration 209
index 215
