He took degree courses in logic, metaphysics, and classical languages, but he was dissatisfied with the peripatetic philosophy he was taught. Even so, he developed an interest in experimental philosophy which led him to the study of medicine and the foundations of empirical philosophy. Through this he met Robert Boyle, probably the strongest influence on him, and became his close friend, student, and unofficial assistant. He graduated as an MA in 1658 and was elected a Senior Student of Christ Church and then a lecturer in Greek.
After a brief excursion into diplomacy in 1665–6 he returned to Oxford to study medicine and collaborated with the great physician Thomas Sydenham. In 1667 he left Oxford to become personal physician to Lord Ashley, later first earl of Shaftesbury, whose life he was credited with saving by an operation. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1668. On the third attempt he gained a doctorate in medicine in 1674 and was appointed to a medical studentship at Christ Church. In the 1670s he spent periods in France and drafted his first Letter Concerning Toleration and Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Under the influence of Ashley and his friends, Locke's political views became more liberal and he was involved in Whig and Protestant struggles against the power of the king. The first of his Two Treatises of Government, probably written in 1681, may be seen as a justification of Shaftesbury's revolutionary movement for a Protestant succession. Shaftesbury fled to Holland in 1682 and, after the Rye House Plot to kidnap the king in which a number of his friends were implicated, Locke followed in 1683. A year later, at the command of Charles II, he was deprived of his studentship at Christ Church.
While in Holland Locke worked at his Essay, sending it for publication in 1686. He also wrote letters, later published as Thoughts Concerning Education, to his cousin Mary Clarke, wife of Edward Clarke, about the upbringing of her son. He also had contact with William Penn, of whose constitution for Pennsylvania he had criticisms. In 1688 Penn secured a pardon for Locke from James II, which Locke rejected, but he returned to London on the accession of William III in 1689. William offered him more than one ambassadorship, which he refused partly because of his inability to drink as deeply as such a post demanded. Instead he became a commissioner of appeals. His Essay was published in 1689 (dated 1690) by Thomas Bassett, who paid him £29 for the privilege. Locke met Isaac Newton in 1689 and corresponded with him for the rest of his life, mainly on theological matters.
Perhaps Locke's greatest mistake was to dismiss Leibniz's criticisms as trivial.
(Published 1987)
— Peter Alexander
- Bibliography
- Cranston, M. W. (1985). John Locke: A Biography.
