John Locke: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

Biographies

Early works include Peter King, The Life and Letters of John Locke, new ed. (1858, reissued 1984), an amateurish work but valuable as a source for otherwise unavailable material drawn from the Lovelace Collection of Locke papers now in the Bodleian Library; and H.R. Fox Bourne, The Life of John Locke, 2 vol. (1876, reprinted 1969), a detailed study based on secondary sources. Maurice Cranston, John Locke: A Biography (1957, reissued 1985), is still the standard biography; Kenneth Dewhurst, John Locke, 1632–1704, Physician and Philosopher (1963, reprinted 1984), is the only sustained account of Locke’s life in medicine; John Lough (ed.), Locke’s Travels in France, 1675–1679 (1953, reissued 1984), contains substantial extracts from Locke’s journals; and Jean S. Yolton (ed.), A Locke Miscellany (1990), is a valuable collection of material otherwise difficult to locate on Locke from the 17th to the 20th century. R.S. Woolhouse, Locke: A Biography (2007), is a comprehensive account of Locke’s life and ideas.

Introductory and general studies

Introductions to and general studies of Locke’s thought include John W. Yolton, John Locke and the Way of Ideas (1956, reissued 1996); Richard I. Aaron, John Locke, 3rd ed. (1971); R.S. Woolhouse, Locke (1983); John Dunn, Locke (1984); John W. Yolton, Locke: An Introduction (1985); Nicholas Jolley, Locke: His Philosophical Thought (1999); E.J. Lowe, Locke (2005); and Samuel Charles Rickless, Locke (2014)..

Roy Porter, Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World (also published as The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment, 2000), is a general discussion of Locke’s influence.

Special topics

Studies of varied aspects of Locke’s philosophy include John W. Yolton, Locke and the Compass of Human Understanding: A Selective Commentary on the Essay (1970); J.L. Mackie, Problems from Locke (1976); I.C. Tipton (ed.), Locke on Human Understanding: Selected Essays (1977); Michael Ayers, Locke, 2 vol. (1991); G.A.J. Rogers (ed.), Locke’s Philosophy (1994); G.A.J. Rogers, Locke’s Enlightenment (1998); and Nicholas Jolley, Locke’s Touchy Subjects: Materialism and Immortality (2015).

Locke’s political theory is covered in Geraint Parry, John Locke (1978, reissued 2004); M. Seliger, The Liberal Politics of John Locke (1968); John Dunn, The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the “Two Treatises of Government” (1969, reissued 2004), a survey of Locke’s political thought in the context of his intellectual environment; John Colman, John Locke’s Moral Philosophy (1983); Ruth W. Grant, John Locke’s Liberalism (1987); James Tully, A Discourse on Property: John Locke and His Adversaries (1980), and An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Contexts (1993); Richard Ashcraft, Revolutionary Politics & Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (1986), which argues for a more radical Locke than is usually supposed, and Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (1987); Ian Harris, The Mind of John Locke (1994); and Jeremy Waldron, God, Locke, and Equality: Christian Foundations of Locke’s Political Thought (2002).

Locke’s religious thought is covered in Nicholas Wolterstorff, John Locke and the Ethics of Belief (1996); John Marshall, John Locke: Resistance, Religion, and Responsibility (1994); and Alan P.F. Sell, John Locke and the Eighteenth-Century Divines (1997).

Graham A.J. Rogers The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Major Works

Philosophy, religion, and education

An Essay Concerning Humane [sic] Understanding (dated 1690 but actually available from late 1689, with a further four editions to 1705); Epistola de Tolerantia (1689; “A Letter Concerning Toleration,” trans. by William Popple, 1689); A Second Letter Concerning Toleration (1690); Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693); The Reasonableness of Christianity as Delivered in the Scriptures (1695); A Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity (1697); Of the Conduct of the Understanding in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke (1706).

Political philosophy and economics

Two Treatises of Government (1689); Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money (1692); Short Observations on a Printed Paper, Intituled, for Encouraging the Coining Silver Money in England, and After for Keeping It Here (1695); Further Considerations Concerning Raising the Value of Money (1695).

Recommended editions

The Works of John Locke, new ed., 10 vol. (1823, reprinted 1963), while remaining the standard edition of Locke’s works, is gradually being replaced by The Clarendon Edition of the Works of John Locke. The first volume was a critical edition of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ed. by Peter H. Nidditch (1975, reprinted 1987); this was followed by The Correspondence of John Locke, ed. by E.S. De Beer, 8 vol. (1976–89); A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, ed. by Arthur W. Wainwright, 2 vol. (1987); Some Thoughts Concerning Education, ed. by John W. Yolton and Jean S. Yolton (1989); Drafts for the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and Other Philosophical Writings, ed. by Peter H. Nidditch and G.A.J. Rogers, vol. 1 (1990); The Reasonableness of Christianity: As Delivered in the Scriptures, ed. by John C. Higgins-Biddle (1999); Locke on Money, ed. by Patrick Hyde Kelly, 2 vol. (1991); and An Essay Concerning Toleration: And Other Writings on Law and Politics, 1667–1683, ed. by J.R. Milton and Philip Milton (2006).

Editions of other works are: Essays on the Law of Nature, ed. by W. von Leyden (1954, reissued 2002), important for Locke’s early thought; John Locke: Writings on Religion, ed. by Victor Nuovo (2002); A Letter Concerning Toleration, ed. by James H. Tully (1983); Locke: Political Essays, ed. by Mark Goldie (1997), the most comprehensive collection of Locke’s shorter writings on political theory; Two Tracts on Government, ed. by Philip Abrams (1967); and Two Treatises of Government, ed. by Peter Laslett, 2nd ed. (1967), and a somewhat shorter student ed. (1988), a groundbreaking edition.

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Anniversary information added. Aug 25, 2024
Cross-reference to the Britannica article on A Letter Concerning Toleration added. Jul 29, 2024
Add new Web site: Online Library of Liberty - John Locke (1632-1704). Jun 21, 2024
First paragraph modernization. Apr 29, 2024
Add new Web site: World History Encyclopedia - John Locke. Apr 19, 2024
Add new Web site: American Battlefield Trust - John Locke. Mar 07, 2024
Add new Web site: Great Thinkers - John Locke, 1632 - 1704. Dec 27, 2023
Anniversary information added. Oct 24, 2023
Add new Web site: Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University - John Locke. Aug 09, 2023
Links added. Jun 16, 2023
Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - John Locke. May 09, 2023
Add new Web site: Famous Philosophers - John Locke. Apr 26, 2022
Bibliography revised and updated. Jan 13, 2021
Article revised to make it clear that John Locke's Two Tracts on Government was not published until 1967. Mar 05, 2020
Media added. Aug 12, 2019
Top Questions updated. Jun 26, 2019
Add new Web site: Philosophy Pages – John Locke (1632-1704): Life and Works. Oct 20, 2017
Add new Web site: Philosophy Pages – John Locke (1632-1704): Life and Works. Oct 20, 2017
Media added. Apr 14, 2017
Changed publication date of Two Treatises of Government to 1689. Dec 14, 2015
Added video. Dec 14, 2015
Add new Web site: The Galileo Project - Biography of John Locke. Mar 31, 2014
Add new Web site: The University of Adelaide - Biography of John Locke. Mar 31, 2014
Add new Web site: The Library of Economics and Liberty - Biography of John Locke. Mar 21, 2014
Add new Web site: The Victorian Web - Biography of John Locke. May 05, 2013
Add new Web site: International World History Project - Biography of John Locke. May 05, 2013
Add new Web site: Oregon State University - Biography of John Locke. Apr 29, 2013
Add new Web site: The European Graduate School - Biography of John Locke. Apr 29, 2013
Media added. Aug 11, 2011
Article thoroughly revised and udpated. Feb 11, 2009
Major works revised and updated. Feb 11, 2009
Bibliography thoroughly revised and udpated. Feb 11, 2009
Added new Web site: Heritage History - Poseidon. Oct 31, 2007
Added new Web site: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - John Locke. Jun 27, 2006
Added new Web site: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of John Locke. Jun 14, 2006
Article revised. Jul 08, 2005
Article revised. Aug 28, 2003
Article revised. Jun 21, 2000
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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