Locke

Fowler, Thomas, 1832-1904Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 362K words
Chapters: 37

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Locke by Thomas FowlerAuthor: Fowler, Thomas, 1832-1904,Language: English, Class: B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Release Date: Jun 29, 2014

Editor's review

Fowler's Locke is a nineteenth-century popular introduction, in English, to the life and thought of John Locke: an overview of the man and his doctrines rather than a specialist study. Its strength is clarity of outline. Beginning with Locke's career and historical setting, it sets out in turn his philosophy, epistemology, educational theory, religion, and political thought in plain language, making it a suitable guide for a first encounter with Locke. Its treatment of empiricism is well organized and helps readers build an overall framework, so that they are not lost when they turn back to the original works, such as An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Its limitations are equally clear: it was written early, barely touches on later criticism of Locke's thought or on modern and contemporary scholarship, and some of its judgments carry a Victorian standpoint. This is a public-domain Project Gutenberg electronic edition, convenient for searching and suited to introductory reading and review.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Lower-division philosophy students who need an introductory framework for Locke's thought
Readers about to read An Essay Concerning Human Understanding who want background first
Self-learners interested in the British empiricist tradition who want a systematic introduction
Instructors who need an overview of Locke's thought for a course or reading group

Not a good fit for

Specialist researchers seeking cutting-edge Locke scholarship or contemporary academic debate
Readers who want only Locke's own works and no secondary overviews
Beginning philosophy readers with limited English reading ability

Reading tips

Read the whole book through first to build a framework, then return with questions to the chapters on epistemology.
After each chapter, summarize Locke's core claims and lines of argument on a single page.
Read it alongside the original Essay Concerning Human Understanding to check whether the overview is accurate.
Note the book's nineteenth-century tone of evaluation and compare it with modern histories of philosophy.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable as an introduction to Locke's philosophy?

Yes. The book gives a block-by-block overview of his life and thought in plain language and a clear outline, helping beginners build an overall framework. But it was written early and does not cover modern and contemporary scholarship, so it is best used as an introductory guide rather than a final reference.

Do I need a background in the history of philosophy before reading it?

Not strictly, but some familiarity with the historical background of seventeenth-century England and with epistemological questions since Descartes will make the book's survey of Locke's empiricist positions easier to follow. Readers with no background at all can also read it through once to get an impression.

Does the book discuss Locke's political thought?

The material indicates that this book is an overview of Locke as a figure in philosophy and usually covers his epistemology, educational theory, religion, and political thought. For the specific chapter arrangement, consult the e-book's table of contents and use it to locate the parts you care about.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Fowler, Thomas, 1832-1904 Author · British · 1832–1904

Thomas Fowler (1832–1904) was a British philosopher and educator who served as President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Two of his works are included here: Locke and Progressive Morality: An Essay in Ethics. His writing spans the history of philosophy and ethics. The former centers on the British philosopher John Locke, while the latter discusses moral progress in essay form, indicating his attention to the empiricist tradition and to theoretical inquiry in moral philosophy. His style is academic, emphasizing conceptual analysis and argument, and addresses serious readers in philosophy and ethics. Public information is limited, so details of his life and specific scholarly influence are difficult to elaborate; nonetheless, these two works broadly reflect his research orientation, maintaining a dialogue between the history of philosophy and the construction of ethical theory and offering reference for understanding modern British philosophy and moral thought.