Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation

FGOU SPO "Chaplyginsky Agrarian College"

in the discipline "Fundamentals of Philosophy"

Student: Eremeev Vladimir

Group: 3-5 "M"

Lecturer: Agasieva F.S.

Chaplygin 2004

Biography................................................. ................................................. ................................... 3

Philosophical views .................................................................. ................................................. ...... 6

Locke's Works................................................... ................................................. ......................... 9

The individual and the state ............................................... ................................................. ........ 10

Questions of Religion .................................................................. ................................................. ............... eleven

The ideal of man .............................................................. ................................................. ................... 13

Conclusion................................................. ................................................. ........................ 16

List of references .............................................................................. ................................. 17

Biography

John Locke was born in 1632 in the small town of Wrington (Somersetshire). His father was a successful lawyer and an ardent supporter of the Reformation, launched by Martin Luther (1483-1546) in 1517. The Reformation was directed against the dominance of the Catholic Church, which with all its ideological power resisted natural historical progress: it defended absolutism that had exhausted itself and did not give way to the ongoing he was replaced by a more perfect form of social order - democracy. During the first democratic revolution (1640-1660), Locke's father fought against royalty in the Parliamentary army led by Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658).

The upbringing in the family was, of course, puritanical; in the spirit of freedom and rigor, with a special emphasis on health and sports, on independence and self-reliance, integrity, efficiency and ability to get along with people, impeccable morality and law-abiding.

Nature endowed the boy with outstanding abilities and therefore he was invited to study at the most prestigious London school - Westminster, which he graduated with brilliance and immediately ended up in Oxford.

At the university, Locke studied medicine, natural science (with Robert Boyle!), philosophy, languages, including Latin and ancient Greek, and classical literature. Greatest Success achieved in medicine and languages. At the same time, he became interested in the philosophy of Descartes (1596-1650), who, being an outstanding mathematician, laid the foundations of analytical geometry, introduced the concepts of variable magnitude and function, enriched the language of algebra with many notations, immortalized his name in “Cartesian coordinates”, etc. ., - as well as a major theoretical physicist and physiologist, passionately hated scholasticism and scholastics, which, first of all, conquered his great admirer. It was from Descartes that Locke adopted an aversion to abstruse idle talk and all his life he strove to express his thoughts in a clear and plain language, lively and exciting. His literary style, sense of the word still remain an unattainable model not only in pedagogy, but also in philosophy. Having brilliantly completed his studies at Oxford, Locke taught ancient languages ​​​​in it for a couple of years, but soon left this job and accepted an offer to take the place of a family doctor and educator of two boys in the family of the leader of the pro-Parliamentary Whig party, Lord, and then Earl Anthony Ashley Cooper Shefstbury (1621- 1683), one of the largest politicians in England, the future Lord Chancellor. By the way, Francis Bacon (1521-1626), who sent Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670) an invitation to London to retrain British teachers in the spirit of the Great Didactics, also held this position.

Leaving aside the diplomatic, philosophical and political side of Locke's biography (let us only mention that it was Locke who was the first to put forward and substantiate the principle of separation of powers into the legislative one, represented by the people's representatives, and the executive one, represented by the king and the judiciary, a principle that completely excludes the possibility of absolutism in any form, a classic example is state structure both England itself and its former colony of the United States), - let us briefly dwell on his brilliant pedagogical work “Thoughts on Education”, which with good reason can be regarded as a baton of scientific, natural pedagogy adopted from Comenius.

It was not by chance that Locke called his work just "thoughts". The fact is that his plans, as follows from a letter to his close friend Edward Clark, did not include the composition of any pedagogical treatise at all, similar to his grandiose philosophical works. The book took shape as if by itself from the letters that he sent to Clarke for several years in a row and in which, on many pages, he detailed his views on education. Clarke carefully studied and accumulated these letters, well aware of who sent them to him. It was he who came to the conclusion (great thanks to him for this) that these letters were more than unusual and that they were addressed not so much to him as to all mankind. Since God endowed Locke not only with the ability to think broadly and deeply, but also with an excellent literary talent, everything else was a matter of technique.

There is no doubt that in processing his letters, Locke simply could not help but take advantage of those impressions that must have sunk into his memory from the time when he himself was a child and when he himself was also brought up. He could not but take advantage of the wider experience of English folk education, as well as historical evidence of education among other peoples. He thought all this out well, brought it into the system, skillfully integrated a personal point of view into it, and as a result, not just “thoughts” were obtained, which from mediocre authors always take the form of reflections - and even more often - the form of mediocre, abstruse and empty “reflections” , - and a strict and harmonious truly scientific pedagogical masterpiece came out.

A little over a hundred years ago, and to be exact, in 1896, two publishers - F.A. Brockhaus (Leipzig) and I.A. Efron published volume XVII of their encyclopedic dictionary. In the article dedicated to Locke, in the part where it refers to "Thoughts on Education", the author, who signed with the initials "I.G." concludes: Thoughts on Education is as useful a book now as it was two hundred years ago. Today, only one amendment can be made to this estimate: instead of the word “two hundred”, write the word “three hundred”, and in another hundred years - the word “four hundred”, and so on ad infinitum. Having at hand the "treatises" of Comenius, Locke, Pestalozzi, Diesterweg, Ushinsky and Makarenko, only fools can fool us with insane reforms.

Philosophical views

If we try in the most general terms to characterize Locke as a thinker, then first of all it should be said that he is the successor of the "Francis Bacon line" in European philosophy of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. Moreover, he can rightfully be called the founder of "British empiricism", the creator of theories of natural law and the social contract, the doctrine of the separation of powers, which are the cornerstones of modern liberalism. Locke stood at the origins of the labor theory of value, which he used to apologetics for bourgeois society and to prove the inviolability of the right to private property. He was the first to proclaim that "property resulting from labor can outweigh the common ownership of land, because it is labor that creates differences in the value of all things" 17. Locke did a lot to protect and develop the principles of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. Finally, Locke created a theory of education that differed significantly from those developed by his predecessors, including Renaissance thinkers.

John Locke was born in a small town in the county of Somerset in the south-west of England in the family of a petty judicial official who, according to his political convictions, belonged to the Puritans of the extreme left (they were colloquially called Independents, i.e. independent, because they did not recognize the authority of the episcopate and appointed as priests people from among themselves). The situation at home, where work, freedom, sincere faith in God were valued above all virtues, had the most direct influence on the formation of the character of the young Locke. Locke also owes his father's instructions to his early awakened interest in issues of religion, law, politics, the study of which he devoted his life to. He entered the school at Westminster Abbey quite late (the era was turbulent - a civil war raged in England, ending with the overthrow and execution of King Charles I and the establishment of the sole rule of Oliver Cromwell, and therefore the mother did not dare to give her son to teaching for a long time), but this did not stop he will successfully complete the course and enter the college of the Christ Church at Oxford University. As the best student who scored the highest score in the entrance examinations, he was identified among the students studying at public expense, which was a great boon for the family, which was constantly experiencing financial difficulties. This happened in 1652, and from that moment on, for more than thirty years, Locke's fate was connected with Oxford. Locke graduated from the theological faculty, but refused to accept the dignity, as required by the university charter for teachers, and therefore he was not allowed to teach the entire complex of disciplines, which was usually read by “graded” doctors, but only Greek, rhetoric. Somewhat later, he was allowed to read a course in ethics (it was called in those days "moral philosophy"). As a teacher, Locke entered the medical faculty (he was attracted by the natural sciences, and he was intensively engaged in physics, chemistry, biology), but after completing the course, he was refused a doctorate in medicine. The university chronicles are very vague about the reasons for the refusal, but it can be assumed that this was due to the reputation of an atheist and an atheist, which was firmly entrenched in Locke from the time of his master's degree and the publication of his first works. But this did not stop Locke, who continued (and quite successfully) to engage in research in his chosen field. Soon his name becomes known in scientific circles. He meets the greatest physicist of the time Robert Boyle and helps him in his experiments. Locke's successes in the scientific field did not go unnoticed. In 1668 (he was then 36 years old) Locke was elected a full member of the Royal Society of London, which, in fact, was (and is still) the national academy of sciences of the United Kingdom. Soon he changes the nature of his activity and begins to engage in politics. This was connected with an acquaintance with the Earl of Shaftesbury, a well-known statesman of that time, who offered him the post of personal secretary and mentor to his children. Gradually, Locke becomes his closest adviser and gets the opportunity to influence the processes of big politics. He participates in the preparation of a number of legislative acts, in the development of tactics and strategies for the ruling cabinet, and renders delicate services in the field of secret diplomacy to his patron and friend. Political activity captures him more and more, and soon, thanks to his talent, he becomes one of the recognized leaders of the Whig party (as the party of the middle and big English bourgeoisie was called, which sought to consolidate the gains of the English bourgeois revolution and prevent the royalists from taking away the freedoms it had won). Thanks to the support of the opposition, Locke is appointed to a number of prominent government posts, where he shows remarkable abilities. statesman. But soon his successful political career was interrupted. After the fall of the Shaftesbury cabinet and the arrest of his patron, Locke fled to Holland, which in those years was a refuge for emigrants from all over Europe. The royal authorities demand his extradition for trial and execution, but a case intervenes that dramatically changes the trajectory life path Locke. He meets the stadtholder (ruler) of the Dutch Republic, William III of Orange, who, having appreciated his mind and political experience, brings him closer to himself. After the overthrow of James II Stuart by William of Orange, who had undeniable rights to the English throne, Locke returned to England, where he became one of the most prominent figures in the new government. He receives the post of commissioner for the colonies and trade, heads the committee on monetary reform. At his suggestion, the Bank of England and a number of other financial organizations were created. At the same time, he is engaged in intensive scientific activity. Economic, political, atheistic treatises come out from under his pen one after another. He also conducts active polemics on the pages of newspapers and magazines with his political opponents. Repeatedly speaks in Parliament and at meetings of the Royal Council. However, in 1700, due to illness, he left all his posts and settled outside London, on the estate of Lord Mesham, where he was raising his grandson. John Locke died in 1704, being at the pinnacle of fame, surrounded by honor * and respect of people who were well aware that with his death an entire historical era was leaving and a new one began, the onset of which John Locke substantiated and ideologically prepared.

Introduction

1 Life 2 State theory 3 Religion 4 Theory of knowledge 5 Educational pedagogical ideas 6 Economic doctrines
6.1 About price theory 6.2 Thoughts about money
7 Political views 8 Artworks 9 Interesting Facts

Sources

Introduction

John Locke(English) John Locke, 1632, Wrington, Somerset, England - 1704, Essex, England) - English philosopher, one of the main representatives of English empiricism and the Enlightenment. Born in England in the family of a lawyer. He received his primary education at home. Graduated from Westminster Grammar School, Oxford University. self learned new philosophy(Bacon, Descartes, etc.), natural science, medicine. Worked as a teacher Greek and literature at the university, later was the tutor of the son, and then the grandson of the famous politician Earl of Shefstbury, traveled a lot, lived in France for a long time, where he got acquainted with the ideas of Montaigne. During the rampant absolutist reaction (1683), John Lock emigrated with his patron, the Earl of Shaftesbury to Holland, returned to England after the revolution of 1688.

1. Life

John Locke was born 1632 in Wrington, England. 1647 sent to the prestigious Westminster School in London, having received a scholarship from the politician Alexander Popham, a member of the British Parliament. Subsequently he entered the aristocratic college of Christ Church in Oxford. Despite the fact that he was a capable student, he was disgusted with the curriculum and considered the works of contemporary philosophers such as Rene Descartes to be more interesting than the material that was taught at the university. Richard Lover, Locke's friend from his time at Westminster School, noted that Locke was familiar with medicine and experimental philosophy, which were pursued by other universities in the UK, including the Royal Society of London, of which John Locke did become a member.

John Locke received a master's degree in 1658, and in addition received a bachelor's degree in medicine in 1674. Meanwhile, in 1658 he became a teacher and professor of Greek rhetoric. He later returned to Oxford and studied medicine. At that time he collaborated with leading thinkers and scientists such as Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis and Robert Hooke. 1666 John Locke met Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shefstbury when he arrived in Oxord looking for a cure for a liver infection. Locke made a big impression on Cooper, and he invited him to enter his mail. Thus 1667 Locke moved to a house in London, working as the personal physician of the Earl of Shefstbury. He also went on to study medicine under the eminent medical practitioner Thomas Sydenham. His influence affected the natural philosophical views of Locke, the expression of which was the work Intelligence about the human mind(English) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding).

In 1672, the Earl of Shaftesbury became Lord Chancellor of England, after which Locke became involved in politics, which in turn affected his political thinking. However, in 1675 the Earl of Shaftesbury fell into disgrace. Since Locke's career was directly affected by the ups and downs of Shaftesbury, until 1679 he traveled extensively in France. 1683 Locke was forced to flee to the Netherlands.

In 1 years, the denouement came, which put an end to Locke's wanderings. The Glorious Revolution took place, William III of Orange was proclaimed King of England. Locke participated in the preparation of the coup of 1688, was in close contact with William of Orange and made a significant ideological influence on him. In early 1689 he returned to his homeland. In the 1690s, along with the government service, Locke launched a wide scientific and literary activity. 1690 published "Intelligence on Human Understanding", "Two Treatises on Government", 1693 - "Thoughts on Education", 1695 - "The Reasonableness of Christianity".

2. State theory

He considered the best form of constitutional monarchy, which requires the separation of branches of government into parliamentary, executive and federal. In his theory of the social contract comes from the natural state of humanity, in which, unlike Hobbes, for which man is a selfish creature, people have the right to life, equality, liberty and private property. Under natural conditions, someone's infringement of someone's rights can result in (exaggerated) revenge, and as a result of revenge for revenge, war can arise. To avoid this, the state is needed as an arbitrator. To do this, citizens transfer to the state part of their sovereign rights, the owner of which they remain in the future. The state must provide for them at a better level than people in the state of nature can. If people's rights are massively violated, then they have the right to overthrow power. Locke also proved for the first time the human right to the pursuit of happiness, and not just to self-preservation. Restriction of freedom in the form of slavery is possible, for example, in war. Other human rights can be taken away if the person does not deserve them, for example, through murder. Locke spoke of a liberal state, but not the very ideal of Manchester liberalism. The state has the right to intervene in private property, for example, to impose taxes on dependent labor. He had a strong influence on the declaration of independence, the US constitution and revolutionary France.

3. Religion

On religion, Locke sought to create a platform for the various Christian denominations with a minimal common base that can be explained with the help of the mind (in the spirit of the Enlightenment). At the same time, he does not deny that Christian religion there are also places that at first glance seem illogical, but they simply cannot be substantiated with the help of reason. The right to freedom of religion was not carried away by atheists and Catholics (the latter, for recognizing the Pope as the head of state). He believed that the state would cross its authority if it forced people to believe in something.

4. Theory of knowledge

Locke also wanted to create a common platform for science, without interfering with its individual branches. He partially recognizes Cartesian rationalism: for him, thinking begins from the subject, but he denies that reality consists of separate realities of subjects. He does not believe in innate knowledge. At the same time, he proceeds from the naive forms of such ideas (not like in Descartes), assuming that innate ideas should be aware of all people at any time. However, neither children nor ignorant people know the basic philosophical concepts. In addition, innate ideas make the mind unnecessary. For example, the idea of ​​God is not innate, because there are many nations where there is no belief in God. He believes that a person is born as "Tabula Rasa" (from the Latin blank slate). There is nothing in the mind that is not perceived by the senses. Locke is an empiricist. The material of knowledge is simple ideas, they all come from experience. An idea is, in the most general sense, any imagination, an element of consciousness as a conceptually rational as well as sensual type.

Simple ideas:

sensations(external): sensory impressions of material bodies, color, smell, taste, size, movement, etc. (already here he distinguishes between primary and secondary qualities; see below). reflections(internal): own actions, state, experiences, for example, ideas from the reflection of desire, aspiration, imagination, thinking, etc.. consists of two equally: joy, pain, strength, succession in time.

Complex ideas: components from simple ones through their comparison, combination, abstraction, they are primarily concepts / First qualities (nominalism), since we cannot say anything about the real essence of things.

Substances: things consisting of a constant connection between simple ideas; cannot know whether they really are, however, believes that God, an angel are substances.

Primary qualities(properties that are directly contained in things, for example, volume, hardness or shape). Minor qualities(properties that are not contained in things, but are added to the idea of ​​substance through our perception, for example, sweetness, warmth). Only about the substance, the original qualities, we can say something objectively, since it can be measured quantitatively, and not qualitatively.

Ratio(different ideas to each other; identity and non-identity, time and space), while causality becomes subjective. fashion(ideas that do not reflect reality, but are mental constructions, for example, the state, the triangle, etc.), the concept of morality refers here - the mind is needed for development.

He considers the ability to test ideas for quality as the main property of the mind. However, unlike Kant, for L. there are no a priori ideas, but only the possibility of perception, elaboration into images of complex ideas and concepts. For L., only simple ideas really exist, and complex ones do not. In addition, there is a real substance about which we can say nothing. Thus he points to the limits of knowledge. Knowledge for Locke is the perception of the conformity or inconsistency of ideas. Abstraction in L. is the rejection of certain properties in certain things for better classification.

He distinguishes three elements of cognition (confidence in knowledge is high in the former, lowest in the latter):

intuitive: A person recognizes by comparison the correspondence or opposition of ideas. Intuitive truth arises when ideas are not subjected to further analysis, the circle they are obvious; demonstrative: within the framework of the argument, each step must be confirmed by intuitive knowledge (cf. in Descartes); more sensitive: only external bodily things can be observed because we lack adequate ideas.

Since our knowledge is limited, God has endowed us with the possibility of providence. What God has revealed to us is the absolute truth. There can be no opposition between knowledge and faith, mind and providence. What is divine providence is for the mind to see.

5. Educational and pedagogical ideas

He was one of the founders of the empirical-sensualistic theory of knowledge. Locke believed that man does not have innate ideas. He is born being a "blank slate" and ready to receive the world with the help of their feelings through inner experience - reflection. "Nine-tenths of people become what they are, only through education." The most important tasks of education: development of character, development of the will, moral discipline. The purpose of education is the education of a gentleman who knows how to conduct his affairs sensibly and prudently, a business man, refined in communication. Locke's ultimate goal of education was to provide a healthy mind in a healthy body ("here is a brief but complete description of a happy state in this world"). He developed a gentleman's upbringing system built on pragmatism and rationalism. The main feature of the utilitarian system is that every item must prepare for life.

The upbringing of a gentleman includes (all components of upbringing must be interconnected):

Physical education: promotes the development of a healthy body, the development of courage and perseverance. Strengthening health, fresh air, simple food, hardening, strict regimen, exercises, games. Mental education should be subordinate to the development of character, the formation of an educated business person. Religious education should be directed not to accustoming children to rituals, but to the formation of love and respect for God as the highest being. Moral education - to cultivate the ability to deny yourself pleasures, go against your inclinations and steadily follow the advice of reason. Development of graceful manners, skills of gallant behavior. Labor education consists in mastering the craft (carpentry, turning). Labor prevents the possibility of harmful idleness.

The main didactic principle is to rely on the interest and curiosity of children in teaching. The main educational means are: example and environment. Sustainable positive habits are brought up by kind words and gentle suggestions. Physical punishment is used only in exceptional cases of daring and systematic disobedience. The development of the will occurs through the ability to endure difficulties, which is facilitated by physical exercises and hardening.

Teaching content: reading, writing, drawing, geography, ethics, history, natural philosophy, chronology, accounting, native language, French, Latin, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, fencing, horseback riding, dancing.

In fact, all this would mean the professionalization of the training of individual students. There should be professionally trained private teachers who would study individually. The main components of education is to improve the physical, moral and intellectual.

Physical education - emphasis on conditioning, hygiene, proper nutrition should wear loose clothing - denounces bodices, children should have plenty of exercise and fresh air Moral education - the importance of discipline, discipline and self-control is important example to imitate adults, condemns corporal punishment - only in some cases, contrary to, bad manners at work, laziness

Everyone, he says, needs to learn some basics of trading. Locke perceives physical labor as an addition to mental activity. He believed that boys, even from poor families, should attend a school where they would be taught religion, morality, and manual labor. Education for girls was not considered by Locke as possible in principle.

6. Economic doctrines

His theory of work is that a person has the right to take something from nature if he mixes it with his labor (land itself has values, only work on it). A person has no right to take more than she needs. You can't take something from nature and then let it go bad. However, you can change something else, it spoils a little less. However, money can be had indefinitely, because it does not deteriorate. Promoted free international trade. He also introduced the concept of the velocity of circulation of money.

6.1. About price theory

Locke's general theory of value, price, and demand was set forth in a letter to Members of Parliament in 1691 entitled "Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Decline of Interest and the Increase of the Value of Money." A number of theses followed from the work. "The price of any commodity rises or falls by a certain percentage, depending on the number of sellers and buyers." And "that which regulates the price... [of goods] is nothing but their quantity in proportion to their supply." The quantity theory of money forms is a special case of this general theory. His idea is based on the thesis that "money is the answer for all things" (Ecclesiastes) or "the rent of money is always enough, or more than enough", and "changes very little..." Regardless of the fact that the demand for money is not limited or constant, Locke concludes that the demand for money is regulated by their quantity. He also explores the determinants of supply and demand. For food, goods are generally considered valuable because they can be exchanged, consumed, and they must be limited. The product is in demand because they provide a stream of income. Locke develops the theory of early capitalization, such as land, which matters because "the production of marketable products brings a certain annual income." The demand for money is almost the same as the demand for goods or land, it depends on whether money is needed as a medium of exchange, or as credit resources. For a medium of exchange, "money is capable of exchange to buy us the necessary or convenience of life. "For credit media," it is about owning the same nature with the land, by allocating a certain annual income ... or interest. "

6.2. thoughts about money

Locke distinguishes two functions of money, as a "measure" for value, and as a "collateral" to lay claim to goods. He believes that silver and gold, unlike paper money, is a currency for international agreements. Silver and gold, he says, are of equal value to all mankind and can therefore be regarded as collateral for any commodity, while the value of paper money is valid only under the government that issues it.

Locke argues that a country should seek a favorable trade balance in order not to depend on other countries and incur losses in trade. Since the money of the world fund is constantly growing, the country must constantly strive to increase its reserves. Locke develops his theory of foreign exchanges. In addition to the commodity movement, also the movement in the country's money supply, and the movement of capital determines the exchange rate. The latter is less significant and less volatile than commodity movements. As for a country's money supply, if it is large compared to other countries, then it will cause the country's exchange to rise above par, and the export balance will do.

It also prepares estimates of monetary claims for various economic groups (landowners, workers and brokers). In each group, monetary claims are closely related to the length of the payment period. He claims brokers - intermediaries - whose activity is to increase monetary schemes and whose income is in the income of workers and landowners, have provided Negative influence for personal and National economy, although they allegedly contributed to the development of the economy.

7. Political views

The state of nature is a state of complete freedom and equality in the management of one's property and one's life. It is a state of peace and goodwill. The law of nature prescribes peace and security. Natural law - the right to private property, the right to action, to one's labor and to its results. Supporter of constitutional monarchy and social contract theory. Locke is a theorist of civil society and the rule of law democratic state (for the accountability of the king and the lords of law). He was the first to propose the principle of separation of powers: into legislative, executive and federal. The federal government deals with the declaration of war and peace, diplomatic matters and participation in alliances and coalitions. The state was created to guarantee natural rights (liberty, equality, property) and laws (peace and security), it should not encroach on these rights, it should be organized so that natural rights are reliably guaranteed. Developed the ideas of a democratic revolution. Locke considered it legitimate and necessary for the uprising of the people against tyrannical power, encroaching on the natural rights and freedom of the people.

He is best known for developing the principles of democratic revolution. "The right of the people to rebel against tyranny" is most consistently developed by Locke in the work? Reflections on the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

8. Works

Most famous works- "Two Treatises on Government", "Letters on Tolerance", and "Intelligence on Human Understanding" (Ukrainian translation by Natalia Bordukov was published by the Kharkov publishing house "Akta").

Locke became one of the founders of the contractual theory of the origin of the state. Locke was the first to formulate the principle of "separation of powers" into legislative, executive and federal. One of the key characters of the famous television series "The Lost" is named after John Locke. The surname Locke as a pseudonym was taken by one of the heroes of Orson Scott Card's cycle of fantasy novels about Ender Wiggin. In the Russian translation, the English name "Locke" is incorrectly rendered as "Loki". The surname Locke is the protagonist in Michelangelo Antonioni's film "Profession: Reporter" in 1975 One of the asteroids 7010 Locke is named after John Locke.

Sources

Ashcraft, Richard 1986. Revolutionary Politics & Locke's Two Treatises of Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Discusses the relationship between Locke's philosophy and his political activities). Ayers, Michael R., 1991. Locke. Epistemology & Ontology Routledge (The standard work on Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding). Bailyn, Bernard 1The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard Uni. Press. (Discusses the influence of Locke and other thinkers upon the American Revolution and on subsequent American political thought). GA Cohen, 1995. "Marx and Locke on Land and Labor", in his Self-Ownership, Freedom and Equality, Oxford University Press. Cox, Richard Locke on War and Peace, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960. (A discussion of Locke's theory of international relations). Chappell, Vere, ed., 19nn. The Cambridge Companion to Locke. Cambridge Uni. Press. Dunn, John 1984. Locke. Oxford Uni. Press. (A succinct introduction.), 1969. The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the "Two Treatises of Government". Cambridge Uni. Press. (Introduced the interpretation which emphasises the theological element in Locke's political thought). Macpherson. CB The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962). (Establishes the deep affinity from Hobbes to Harrington, the Levellers, and Locke through to nineteenth-century utilitarianism). Pangle, Thomas The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the American Founders and the Philosophy of Locke (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988; paperback ed., 1990), 334 pages. (Challenges Dunn's, Tully's, Yolton's, and other conventional readings.) Strauss, Leo Natural Right and History, chap. 5B (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953). (Argues from a non-Marxist point of view for a deep affinity between Hobbes and Locke). Strauss, Leo"Locke" s Doctrine of Natural law, "American Political Science Review01. (A critique of W. von Leyden" s edition of Locke "s unpublished writings on natural law). Tully, James 1980. "A Discourse on Property: John Locke and his Adversaries" Cambridge Uni. Press Waldron, Jeremy 2002. God, Locke and Equality. Cambridge Uni. Press. Yolton, JW ed., 1969. John Locke: Problems and Perspectives. Cambridge Uni. Press. Zuckert, Michael Launching Liberalism: On Lockean Political Philosophy. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. Locke Studies, appearing annually, publishes scholarly work on John Locke.

Unlike Descartes, the greatest English thinker of the 17th century John Locke, based on his philosophical and psychological system of views, put criticism of the theory of innate ideas, the doctrine of external and internal experience, the doctrine of simple and complex ideas, the doctrine of motive forces, and ideas about the levels of knowledge. In their unity, all sections of Locke's system represent a harmonious concept of man and his cognitive abilities.

Locke's basic premise was that knowledge cannot arise by itself. There are no innate ideas and principles. All ideas and concepts come from experience. By experience, Locke understood everything that fills the soul of a person throughout his entire individual life. The content of experience and its structure are made up of elementary components, designated by the general term "ideas". Locke called ideas both sensations and images of perception and memory, general concepts and affective-volitional states.

John Locke

(1632-1704)

Great English philosopher and psychologist. Born in the family of a judicial official. He studied at Oxford University and after graduating he taught there for some time. In 1667 he entered the service of Lord Ashley (Earl of Shaftesbury), a prominent political figure in England of that era, the leader of the opponents of the Stuart restoration regime. For 20 years, Locke held various political positions and was repeatedly forced to emigrate from England to France and the Netherlands. Without leaving scientific studies, Locke becomes the ideologist of the Whig party.

After the revolution of 1688, which deprived the Stuart dynasty of the English crown, Locke returned to his homeland and, leaving political activity, began to publish his works. The most important of these, An Essay on the Human Mind, on which he worked for 20 years, was published in London in 1690.

Last years his life was dedicated to continuing scientific work, as well as a scientific controversy with Bishop Stillingfleet and the famous French philosopher Malebranche, which had a great public resonance.

Initially, a person is born with a soul like a blank sheet of paper (tabula rasa), on which only during life the outside world inflicts patterns with its influences. It is the external world that is the first source of ideas.

From external experience, which delivers to the soul only the ideas of individual things (images of perception) or their properties (sensations), a person can only have what nature offers him. In reality, mental activity is not limited to the framework of simple passive contemplation. Sensual ideas acquired in external experience act as the starting material for a special internal activities soul, thanks to which ideas of a different kind are born, essentially different from sensible ideas. This special activity of the soul, called reflection by Locke, is the ability of the soul to turn its gaze to its own states, while generating new mental products in the form of ideas about ideas. Although reflection is not included in outside world, it is similar in its function to the external senses and therefore may be called "inner sense" or inner experience. According to Locke, reflection (internal experience) and external experience are interconnected. Reflection is a derivative, secondary formation that arises on the basis of external experience. But since reflexive activity generates own ideas different from the ideas of external experience, it was considered by Locke as another relatively independent source of knowledge.

An important section of Locke's empirical concept is connected with the doctrine of simple and complex ideas. Locke called simple ideas the indecomposable elements of consciousness. They can be obtained both from external experience and from reflection, and, moreover, simultaneously from both sources. The common product of outer and inner experience are simple ideas of pleasure or pain. Examples of simple ideas of external experience can be sensations coming from one of the senses (light, color, smell, sound, etc.) or from several at once (ideas of extension, form, rest, movement, etc.). Simple ideas from reflection include images of perception, memory, and imagination.

Once the soul has acquired simple ideas, it moves from passive contemplation to active transformation and processing of simple ideas into complex ones. Locke saw the formation of complex ideas as a simple mechanical combination of the initial elements of experience. The combination of simple ideas is carried out different ways. They are associations, connection, relation and isolation. Locke coined the term "association of ideas". Unlike associations, more reliable ways of forming complex ideas, for which reflection is responsible, are summation or connection, comparison or comparison, and generalization or isolation. Addition or summation is based on the direct connection of ideas on the basis of similarity or contiguity. The second way of forming complex ideas is connected with the establishment of similarities and differences through the comparison and comparison of ideas, as a result of which ideas of relations arise. An example of such ideas can be the concepts of “father”, “friend”, “motherhood”, “identity”, etc. Finally, the last and highest way of forming complex ideas is abstraction (distraction, isolation), through which the most general concepts are formed, such as , as the concepts of "soul", "god", etc. With his detailed description of the technology of thinking, Locke advanced the problem of the origin of general concepts far ahead.

The theory of cognitive activity completes the doctrine of the boundaries and levels of cognition. Locke defined cognition as establishing the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas, and the adequacy of cognition depends on the way the soul perceives its ideas. There are three of them: intuitive, demonstrative and sensual. The lowest and least reliable is, according to Locke, sense cognition in which things are known through images of perception. The highest and most reliable source is intuitive knowledge, when the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas is established through these ideas themselves. When it is not possible to reveal the similarity or difference in ideas with the help of them themselves, a person has to attract other ideas, resort to additional evidence and reasoning. This kind of knowledge, deduced by means of a series of intermediate inferences, is called demonstrative knowledge by Locke. In its character and certainty, it occupies a place between sensory and intuitive knowledge.

Cognitive forces (the power of perception and the power of reason) do not exhaust the entire richness of a person's spiritual life. Along with them in the soul there is another row mental phenomena, closely related to the cognitive forces and called by Locke the forces of desire or aspiration. Within the framework of motive forces, he singled out the will and the emotional state - pleasure and suffering. Will, as the power of desire, consists in the ability to choose and prefer the consideration of this or that idea or the implementation of any action. And where a person has the opportunity to choose, there he is free and acts as an active being.

The will is driven by the desire for goodness and perfection. In this regard, the will is associated with emotional experiences, feelings of pleasure or displeasure. Any bodily suffering caused by a meeting and collision with influences harmful to a person and his soul is experienced as displeasure. The latter gives rise to a desire to get rid of suffering and to choose actions to avoid or eliminate harmful influences. Pleasures and displeasures, according to Locke, are all that pleases or upsets a person due to external influences. It follows from this that emotional states are connected not only with the will, but also accompany all ideas, whether they come from external or internal experience, whether they are simple or complex. Thus, in general, motivating forces are the active side of all cognitive and practical human activity.

Locke left a deep mark in the history of world psychology, only after Locke did the empirical line become one of the systematically developed trends not only in England, but also abroad.

The initial impulse of rationalistic teachings was so fruitful that already in the first half of the 18th century it became necessary to evaluate and comprehend the results achieved, which slowed down for a short time the rate of emergence of new theories. But already the second half of the 18th century was marked by a new rise in theoretical thought, associated with the establishment of the idea of ​​historical progress in society and the emergence of dialectical method in philosophy. From a systemic point of view, the essence of dialectics lies in emphasizing the temporal (temporal) aspect of any system connection, the dynamics of changes in this connection from the moment it appears in the system until it disappears. The idea of ​​a dynamic connection of phenomena is characteristic of most thinkers of the second half of the 18th century, who worked in various fields Sciences.

In France, this idea is woven into the general outline of the Enlightenment and acquires a socio-psychological and political character. In Germany, it received a deeper philosophical development, at the origins of which are the works of Kant, which showed the inconsistency of building logical systems of thought and consciousness on the basis of only static, unchanging connections between their elements. Some particular cases of the formation of dynamic connections in human activity were studied by Kant's younger contemporaries - Fichte and Schelling. But dialectics received its philosophical completeness in the fundamental system of Hegel, which, like the system of Aristotle in the ancient period, became the pinnacle of the development of thought in line with rationalist philosophy.

John Locke. Born 29 August 1632 at Wrington, Somerset, England - died 28 October 1704 at Essex, England. British educator and philosopher, representative of empiricism and liberalism. He contributed to the spread of sensationalism. His ideas had a huge impact on the development of epistemology and political philosophy. He is widely recognized as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and liberal theorists. Locke's letters influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers and American revolutionaries. His influence is also reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Locke's theoretical constructions were also noted by later philosophers, such as and. Locke was the first thinker to reveal personality through the continuity of consciousness. He also postulated that the mind is a "blank slate", that is, contrary to Cartesian philosophy, Locke argued that humans are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience gained through sense perception.

Born August 29, 1632 in the small town of Wrington in the west of England, near Bristol, in the family of a provincial lawyer.

In 1646, on the recommendation of his father's commander (who during the Civil War was a captain in Cromwell's parliamentary army), he was enrolled at Westminster School. In 1652, Locke, one of the best students of the school, entered Oxford University. In 1656 he received a bachelor's degree, and in 1658 - a master's degree from this university.

In 1667, Locke accepted the offer of Lord Ashley (later Earl of Shaftesbury) to take the place of his son's family doctor and tutor, and then actively joined in political activity. Starts writing the Epistles on Toleration (published: 1st - in 1689, 2nd and 3rd - in 1692 (these three are anonymous), 4th - in 1706, already after Locke's death).

On behalf of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Locke participated in the drafting of a constitution for the province of Carolina in North America ("Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina").

1668 - Locke is elected a member of the Royal Society, and in 1669 - a member of its Council. Locke's main areas of interest were natural science, medicine, politics, economics, pedagogy, the relationship of the state to the church, the problem of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience.

1671 - decides to carry out a thorough study of the cognitive abilities of the human mind. This was the idea of ​​the main work of the scientist - "Experiment on human understanding", on which he worked for 16 years.

1672 and 1679 - Locke receives various prominent positions in the highest government institutions in England. But Locke's career was directly dependent on ups and downs. From the end of 1675 until the middle of 1679, due to deteriorating health, Locke was in France.

In 1683, Locke emigrated to Holland following Shaftesbury. In 1688-1689, a denouement came that put an end to Locke's wanderings. The Glorious Revolution took place, William III of Orange was proclaimed King of England. Locke participated in the preparation of the coup of 1688, was in close contact with William of Orange and had a great ideological influence on him; at the beginning of 1689 he returned to his homeland.

In the 1690s, along with the government service, Locke again led a wide scientific and literary activity. In 1690, "An Essay on Human Understanding", "Two Treatises on Government" were published, in 1693 - "Thoughts on Education", in 1695 - "The Reasonableness of Christianity".

Philosophy of John Locke:

The basis of our knowledge is experience, which consists of individual perceptions. Perceptions are divided into sensations (the action of an object on our sense organs) and reflections. Ideas arise in the mind as a result of the abstraction of perceptions. The principle of building the mind as "tabula rasa", which gradually reflects information from the senses. The principle of empiricism: the primacy of sensation over reason.

He had an extremely strong influence on Locke's philosophy. Descartes' doctrine of knowledge underlies all of Locke's epistemological views. Reliable knowledge, taught Descartes, consists in the discernment by reason of clear and obvious relations between clear and separate ideas; where reason, by comparing ideas, does not see such relations, there can only be opinion, and not knowledge; certain truths are obtained by the mind directly or through inference from other truths, why knowledge is intuitive and deductive; deduction is accomplished not by syllogism, but by bringing the compared ideas to a point whereby the relation between them becomes evident; deductive knowledge, which is composed of intuition, is quite reliable, but since it also depends in some respects on memory, it is less reliable than intuitive knowledge. In all this Locke fully agrees with Descartes; he accepts the Cartesian proposition that the most certain truth is the intuitive truth of our own existence.

In the doctrine of substance, Locke agrees with Descartes that the phenomenon is unthinkable without substance, that substance is found in signs, and is not known in itself; he objects only to Descartes' proposition that the soul constantly thinks, that thinking is the main feature of the soul. While agreeing with the Cartesian doctrine of the origin of truths, Locke disagrees with Descartes on the issue of the origin of ideas. According to Locke, developed in detail in the second book of the Experience, all complex ideas are gradually developed by the mind from simple ideas, and simple ones come from external or internal experience. In the first book of the Experience, Locke explains in detail and critically why no other source of ideas can be assumed than external and internal experience. Having enumerated the signs by which ideas are recognized as innate, he shows that these signs do not at all prove innateness. For example, universal recognition does not prove innateness, if one can point to another explanation for the fact of universal recognition, and even the very universal recognition of a certain principle is doubtful. Even if we admit that some principles are discovered by our mind, this does not at all prove their innateness. Locke does not at all deny, however, that our cognitive activity determined by certain laws inherent in the human spirit. He recognizes, together with Descartes, two elements of knowledge - innate beginnings and external data; the former are reason and will. Reason is the faculty by which we receive and form ideas, both simple and complex, and also the faculty of perceiving certain relations between ideas.

So, Locke disagrees with Descartes only in that he recognizes, instead of the innate potentialities of individual ideas, general laws that lead the mind to the discovery of certain truths, and then does not see a sharp difference between abstract and concrete ideas. If Descartes and Locke seem to speak of knowledge in a different language, then the reason for this lies not in the difference in their views, but in the difference in goals. Locke wanted to draw people's attention to experience, while Descartes was concerned with a more a priori element in human knowledge.

A noticeable, although less significant, influence on Locke's views was the psychology of Hobbes, from whom, for example, the order of presentation of the "Experience" was borrowed. Describing the processes of comparison, Locke follows Hobbes; with him, he asserts that relations do not belong to things, but are the result of comparison, that there are an innumerable number of relations, that more important relations are identity and difference, equality and inequality, similarity and dissimilarity, contiguity in space and time, cause and effect. In a treatise on language, that is, in the third book of the Essay, Locke develops the thoughts of Hobbes. In the doctrine of the will, Locke is in the strongest dependence on Hobbes; together with the latter, he teaches that the desire for pleasure is the only one that passes through our entire mental life and that the concept of good and evil in various people completely different. In the doctrine of free will, Locke, along with Hobbes, argues that the will inclines towards the strongest desire and that freedom is a power that belongs to the soul, and not to the will.

Finally, a third influence on Locke must also be recognized, namely Newton's. So, in Locke one cannot see an independent and original thinker; with all the great merits of his book, there is a certain duality and incompleteness in it, which comes from the fact that he was influenced by such different thinkers; That is why the criticism of Locke in many cases (for example, the criticism of the idea of ​​substance and causality) stops halfway.

The general principles of Locke's worldview boiled down to the following. The eternal, infinite, wise and good God created the world limited in space and time; the world reflects in itself the infinite properties of God and is an infinite variety. In the nature of separate objects and individuals, the greatest gradualness is noticed; from the most imperfect they pass imperceptibly to the most perfect being. All these beings are in interaction; the world is a harmonious cosmos in which each being acts according to its own nature and has its own definite purpose. The purpose of man is the knowledge and glorification of God, and thanks to this - bliss in this and in the other world.

Much of the Essay now has only historical significance, although Locke's influence on later psychology is undeniable. Although Locke, as a political writer, often had to deal with questions of morality, he does not have a special treatise on this branch of philosophy. His thoughts about morality are distinguished by the same properties as his psychological and epistemological reflections: there is a lot of common sense, but there is no true originality and height. In a letter to Molinet (1696), Locke calls the Gospel such an excellent treatise on morality that one can excuse the human mind if it does not engage in research of this kind. "Virtue," says Locke, "considered as a duty, is nothing but the will of God as found by natural reason; therefore it has the force of law; as for its content, it consists exclusively in the requirement to do good to oneself and others; vice, on the other hand, is nothing but the desire to harm oneself and others. The greatest vice is that which entails the most pernicious consequences; therefore, all crimes against society are much more important than crimes against a private individual. Many actions that would be quite innocent in a state of loneliness naturally turn out to be vicious in social order". Elsewhere, Locke says that "It is human nature to seek happiness and avoid suffering." Happiness consists in everything that pleases and satisfies the spirit, suffering - in everything that disturbs, upsets and torments the spirit. To prefer transient pleasure to lasting, permanent pleasure is to be an enemy of your own happiness.

Pedagogical ideas of John Locke:

He was one of the founders of the empirical-sensualistic theory of knowledge. Locke believed that a person does not have innate ideas. He is born being a "blank slate" and ready to perceive the world around him through his feelings through inner experience - reflection.

"Nine-tenths of people become what they are, only through education." The most important tasks of education: development of character, development of the will, moral discipline. The purpose of education is the education of a gentleman who knows how to conduct his affairs sensibly and prudently, an enterprising person, refined in handling. Locke's ultimate goal of education was to provide a healthy mind in a healthy body ("here is a brief but complete description of a happy state in this world").

He developed a gentleman's upbringing system built on pragmatism and rationalism. The main feature of the system is utilitarianism: every item must prepare for life. Locke does not separate learning from moral and physical education. Education should consist in the formation of physical and moral habits, habits of reason and will in the educated person. The goal of physical education is to form the body into an instrument as obedient as possible to the spirit; the goal of spiritual education and training is to create a straight spirit that would act in all cases in accordance with dignity sentient being. Locke insists that children teach themselves self-observation, self-restraint, and self-conquest.

The education of a gentleman includes (all components of education must be interconnected):

Physical education: promotes the development of a healthy body, the development of courage and perseverance. Strengthening health, fresh air, simple food, hardening, strict regimen, exercises, games.
Mental education should be subordinated to the development of character, the formation of an educated business person.
Religious education should be directed not to accustoming children to rituals, but to the formation of love and respect for God as the highest being.
Moral education - to cultivate the ability to deny yourself pleasures, go against your inclinations and steadily follow the advice of reason. Development of graceful manners, skills of gallant behavior.
Labor education consists in mastering the craft (carpentry, turning). Labor prevents the possibility of harmful idleness.

The main didactic principle is to rely on the interest and curiosity of children in teaching. The main educational means are the example and the environment. Stable positive habits are brought up by affectionate words and gentle suggestions. Physical punishment is used only in exceptional cases of daring and systematic disobedience. The development of the will occurs through the ability to endure difficulties, which is facilitated by physical exercises and hardening.

Learning content: reading, writing, drawing, geography, ethics, history, chronology, accounting, native language, French, Latin, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, fencing, horseback riding, dancing, morality, the main parts of civil law, rhetoric, logic, natural philosophy, physics - that's what an educated person should know. To this must be added knowledge of some craft.

Philosophical, socio-political and pedagogical ideas of John Locke made up a whole era in the formation pedagogical science. His thoughts were developed and enriched by the leading thinkers of France in the 18th century, and continued in pedagogical activity Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and Russian educators of the 18th century, who called him by mouth among the "wisest teachers of mankind."

Locke pointed out the shortcomings of his contemporary pedagogical system: for example, he rebelled against the Latin speeches and poems that students were supposed to compose. Teaching should be visual, real, clear, without school terminology. But Locke is not an enemy of classical languages; he is only opposed to the system of their teaching practiced in his time. Due to some dryness inherent in Locke in general, he does not give poetry a large place in the system of education he recommends.

He borrowed some of Locke's views from Thoughts on Education and brought them to extreme conclusions in his Emile.

Political ideas of John Locke:

The state of nature is a state of complete freedom and equality in the management of one's property and one's life. It is a state of peace and goodwill. The law of nature prescribes peace and security.

The right to property is a natural right; at the same time, Locke understood property as life, liberty, and property, including intellectual property. Liberty, according to Locke, is the freedom of a person to dispose and dispose, as he pleases, of his person, his actions ... and all his property. By freedom, he understood, in particular, the right to freedom of movement, to free labor and its results.

Freedom, Locke explains, exists where everyone is recognized as "the owner of his own personality." The right to freedom, therefore, means that which was only implied in the right to life, was present as its deepest content. The right of freedom denies any relation of personal dependence (the relation of a slave and a slave owner, a serf and a landowner, a serf and a master, a patron and a client). If Locke's right to life forbade slavery as economic attitude, even he interpreted biblical slavery only as the right of the owner to entrust hard work to the slave, and not the right to life and freedom, then the right of freedom, ultimately, means the denial of political slavery, or despotism. The point is that in a reasonable society, no person can be a slave, vassal or servant not only of the head of state, but also of the state itself or private, state, even own property (that is, property in the modern sense, which differs from the understanding of Locke ). Man can serve only law and justice.

Supporter of constitutional monarchy and social contract theory.

Locke is a theorist of civil society and the rule of law democratic state (for the accountability of the king and lords to the law).

He was the first to propose the principle of separation of powers: into legislative, executive and federal. The federal government deals with the declaration of war and peace, diplomatic matters and participation in alliances and coalitions.

The state was created to guarantee natural law (life, liberty, property) and laws (peace and security), it should not encroach on natural law and law, it must be organized so that natural law is reliably guaranteed.

Developed the ideas of a democratic revolution. Locke considered it legitimate and necessary for the people to revolt against the tyrannical power that encroaches on the natural rights and freedom of the people.

He is best known for developing the principles of democratic revolution. "The right of the people to revolt against tyranny" is most consistently developed by Locke in Reflections on the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which is written with the open intention "to establish the throne of the great restorer of English liberty, King William, to withdraw his rights from the will of the people, and to defend before the light the English people for their new revolution."

Fundamentals of the rule of law according to John Locke:

As a political writer, Locke is the founder of a school that seeks to build a state on the basis of individual freedom. Robert Filmer in his "Patriarch" preached the unlimitedness of royal power, deriving it from the patriarchal principle; Locke rebels against this view and bases the origin of the state on the assumption of a mutual agreement concluded with the consent of all citizens, and they, waiving the right to personally protect their property and punish violators of the law, leave it to the state. The government consists of men elected by common consent to oversee the exact observance of the laws established for the preservation of the general liberty and welfare. Upon entering the state, a person submits only to these laws, and not to the arbitrariness and whim of unlimited power. The state of despotism is worse than the state of nature, because in the latter everyone can defend his right, while before a despot he does not have this freedom. The breach of contract empowers the people to claim back their sovereign right. From these basic provisions, the internal form of the state structure is consistently derived.

The state gets power

1. To issue laws that determine the amount of punishments for various crimes, that is, the legislative power;
2. Punish crimes committed by members of the union, that is, executive power;
3. Punish insults inflicted on the union by external enemies, that is, the right of war and peace.

All this, however, is given to the state solely for the protection of the property of citizens.

legislature Locke considers the supreme, for she commands the rest. It is sacred and inviolable in the hands of those persons to whom it is handed over by society, but it is not unlimited:

1. It does not have absolute, arbitrary power over the life and property of citizens. This follows from the fact that it is vested only with those rights which are transferred to it by each member of society, and in the state of nature no one has arbitrary power either over his own life or over the life and property of others. The rights inherent in man are limited to what is necessary for the protection of oneself and others; no one can give more to the state power.

2. The legislator cannot act by private and arbitrary decisions; he must govern solely on the basis of permanent laws, for all the same. Arbitrary power is completely incompatible with the essence of civil society, not only in a monarchy, but also under any other form of government.

3. The supreme power has no right to take from anyone a part of his property without his consent, since people unite in societies to protect property, and the latter would be in a worse condition than before if the government could dispose of it arbitrarily. Therefore, the government has no right to collect taxes without the consent of the majority of the people or their representatives.

4. The legislator cannot transfer his power into the wrong hands; this right belongs to the people alone. Since legislation does not require constant activity, in well-organized states it is entrusted to an assembly of persons who, converging, legislate and then, dispersing, obey their own decrees.

Execution, on the other hand, cannot stop; therefore it is awarded to the permanent bodies. The latter, for the most part, also grants allied power (“federative power”, that is, the right of war and peace); although it essentially differs from the executive, but since both act through the same social forces, it would be inconvenient to establish different organs for them. The king is the head of the executive and union authorities. He has certain prerogatives only in order to contribute to the good of society in cases unforeseen by law.

Locke is considered the founder of the theory of constitutionalism, insofar as it is determined by the difference and separation of legislative and executive powers.

State and religion according to John Locke:

In "Letters on toleration" and in "Reasonableness of Christianity, as delivered in the scriptures" Locke ardently preaches the idea of ​​tolerance. He believes that the essence of Christianity lies in faith in the Messiah, which the apostles put in the forefront, demanding it with equal zeal from Christians from Jews and from Gentiles. From this, Locke concludes that one should not give exclusive preference to any one church, because all Christian confessions converge in faith in the Messiah. Muslims, Jews, pagans can be impeccably moral people, although this morality must cost them more work than believing Christians. In the strongest terms, Locke insists on the separation of church and state. The state, according to Locke, only then has the right to judge the conscience and faith of its subjects when the religious community leads to immoral and criminal acts.

In a draft written in 1688, Locke presented his ideal of a true Christian community, unhampered by any worldly relations and disputes over confessions. And here, too, he takes revelation as the foundation of religion, but makes it an indispensable duty to be tolerant of any receding opinion. The way of worship is given to the choice of everyone. Locke makes an exception from the stated views for Catholics and atheists. He did not tolerate Catholics because they have their head in Rome and therefore, as a state within a state, they are dangerous for public peace and freedom. He could not reconcile with atheists because he firmly held to the concept of revelation, which is denied by those who deny God.

Bibliography of John Locke:

Thoughts on education. 1691... What a gentleman should study. 1703.
The same "Thoughts on Education" with correction. noticed typos and working footnotes
Study of Father Malebranche's Opinion... 1694. Notes on Norris's Books... 1693.
Letters. 1697-1699.
The dying speech of the censor. 1664.
Experiments on the law of nature. 1664.
The experience of tolerance. 1667.
The message of tolerance. 1686.
Two Treatises on Government. 1689.
Experience of human understanding. (1689)
Elements of natural philosophy. 1698.
Discourse on miracles. 1701.

The most important writings of John Locke:

Letters on religious tolerance (A Letter Concerning Toleration) (1689).
Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690).
The Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690).
Some Thoughts on Education (Some Thoughts Concerning Education) (1693).

Interesting facts about John Locke:

Locke became one of the founders of the "Contractual" theory of the origin of the state.

One of the key characters of the cult television series "Lost" is named after John Locke.

The surname Locke as a pseudonym was taken by one of the heroes of the series of fantasy novels by Orson Scott Card "Ender's Game". In the Russian translation, the English name "Locke" is incorrectly rendered as "Loki".

The surname Locke is the protagonist in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1975 film Profession: Reporter.

Locke's pedagogical ideas influenced the spiritual life of Russia in the middle of the 18th century.

John Locke is the father not only of modern empiricism, but also of materialism. His philosophy of the theory of knowledge consists in the development of two main thoughts, of which the first is the denial of innate ideas in man, and the second is the assertion that experience is the source of all our knowledge.

Many, says Locke, are of the opinion that there are innate ideas that arise in the soul at the very moment of its inception. She (the soul) brings these ideas with her into the world. The innateness of ideas is proved by the fact that they are something common, unconditional for everyone without exception. If the latter really took place, then the generality of ideas would not serve as proof of their innateness. But we do not even see an unconditional generality, any ideas whatsoever, either in theory or in practice. We will not find a single rule of morality that would exist among all peoples, at all times. Children and idiots often have no idea about the simplest axioms. All this speaks against the innateness of ideas. We come to the knowledge of the simplest truths by reasoning, but they by no means precede reasoning. Our initial knowledge does not consist of general propositions, but of individual impressions of a particular nature. The child distinguishes bitter from sweet, dark from light, and so on. The mind or soul, when it comes into the world, represents a white sheet of paper, empty space, and so on. After all this, the question is inevitable: where do our ideas come from? Undoubtedly, we receive them from experience, by which, therefore, all our knowledge and all its most general laws are determined. Our experience is of twofold origin: we cognize the external world either through our sense organs (that is, sensations), or through the consciousness of the internal activity of our soul, that is, by reasoning (reflection). Sensation and reasoning give our mind all ideas.

Locke set himself the task of ascertaining the origin of ideas from these two sources. He distinguishes between ideas (representations) simple and complex. By simple ideas he calls the reflections of reality in our soul, as in a mirror. For the most part, we get simple ideas or representations through one sense, for example, the idea of ​​color is given to us by sight, the idea of ​​solidity by touch, but these also include ideas that are the result of the activity of several senses: such are the ideas of extension and movement, obtained through touch and sight. Among the simple ideas or representations we also find activities that owe their origin exclusively to the understanding - such is the idea of ​​the will. Finally, ideas can also be created by the joint activity of the senses and reflection - such are the concepts of force, unity, sequence.

All these simple ideas taken together form the ABC of our knowledge. Various combinations of sounds and words create a language. In the same way, our mind, connecting ideas together in various ways, creates complex ideas.

Locke divides complex ideas into three classes: ideas of change (modes), ideas of entities (substances) and ideas of relations. By the first, Locke means a change in space (distance, dimension, immeasurability, the surface of a figure, etc.), time (duration, eternity), the process of thinking (impression, perception, memory, ability to distract, etc.).

Locke focuses on the concept of essence. He explains the origin of this concept as follows: our senses and our mind convince us of the existence of certain combinations of the simplest ideas that are most often encountered. We cannot allow these simple ideas to come together by themselves. We attribute this combination to some basis and call it essence. Essence is something unknown in itself, and we know only its individual properties.

From considering the concept of essence, Locke proceeds to the idea of ​​relation. A relation arises when the mind compares two things or compares them. Such a comparison is possible for all things, so it is difficult to enumerate all possible relationships between objects. As a result, Locke dwells on the most important of them - on the concept of identity and difference and on the relationship of cause and effect. The idea of ​​a cause arises when we see that one phenomenon invariably precedes another. In general, the combination of ideas gives us knowledge. It relates to simple and complex ideas in the same way that a sentence relates to words, syllables, and letters. From all this it follows that our knowledge does not go beyond the limits of experience, since we are dealing only with ideas, which, according to Locke, arise in us exclusively with the help of internal and external experience. Here is the main idea of ​​Locke.

He expressed these views with great distinctness and clarity in all his writings, devoting them mainly to his "Experience in the study of the human mind."

An Experience in the Study of the Human Mind consists of four books:

1) "On Innate Ideas";

2) "On representations";

3) "About words";

4) "On knowledge and opinion".

The second book deals with representations by themselves, regardless of their truth. In the fourth book, Locke gives a critical assessment of knowledge, that is, he speaks of ideas that give true knowledge of reality, and considers opinion and faith as intermediate steps to true knowledge. It can be said that the content of the second and fourth books exhausts the most essential in this work. The third book considers language as a means for communicating and asserting knowledge.

As for the first book, it serves as a preparation for the reader to understand the views of Locke. Locke himself says in his conclusion that he intends his first book to clear the way for his own research, so its content is, in a way, negative. Locke goes to great lengths to destroy the belief in the existence of innate ideas. In Locke's time, innate ideas played a large part in philosophy. Descartes considered the concept of God to be innate. His followers significantly expanded this concept and based the doctrine of morality and law solely on the basic provisions that they recognized as innate. Such a belief in innate ideas threatened the further development of science, so Locke considered it his first duty to fight against innate ideas. For this struggle, it was necessary to put the reader on a new point of view, which is clarified in the second book of the "Experience".

The first book does not contain any rigorous proofs. Despite this, the reader is convinced from the very first pages that the truth is on Locke's side, and there are no innate ideas in the sense in which they were understood at that time. Locke began his study of philosophy by studying Descartes. The direction of Descartes was at that time dominant in France and partly in England. Spinoza was also of the opinion that the concept of God is innate. In ancient times, Cicero recognized this and used it to prove that God really exists. Locke, although he denied the innateness of the concept of God, was not inferior to his predecessors in piety and, of course, did not doubt the existence of a higher principle, but argued that we get an idea of ​​God through experience, considering his creations. Empiricism did not prevent Locke from remaining a religious man. This religiosity is clearly manifested in the philosophy of Locke. He undoubtedly belonged to the number of those rare people in whom philosophy happily coexists with religion and goes with it, as it were, hand in hand.

Particular attention deserves the third book of the "Experience", devoted to the study of the properties of the language. There are many observations here, directly snatched from life, which, with their veracity, can make any person think. Of course, the science of language has made a huge step forward since the time of Locke. At that time, the opinion still reigned that the formation of a language was not subject to any specific laws. A long time later, they began to look for a natural relationship between the consonance of a word and the object that it designates. Views and explanations of phenomena sooner or later become obsolete, but correctly grasped facts, as the fruit of observations, never lose their significance. Leibniz says: language is the best mirror of our mind and soul, and therefore the study of the origin of words is able to lead us to an understanding of the activity of our mind and the processes of our thinking. Locke was obviously of the same opinion as Leibniz in this respect and devoted much of his time to studying the connection between language and thought.

The imperfection of the language, according to Locke, depends on four main reasons.

It manifests itself:

1) when the ideas expressed in words are too complex and consist of many simple ideas put together;

2) when the ideas are not in any natural connection with each other;

3) when they refer to an object inaccessible to us;

4) when the meaning of the word does not correspond to the essence of the subject.

Abuse of language also depends on various causes:

1) from the use of words with which no clear idea is associated;

2) from assimilation of a word before its meaning is understood; from the use of the same word in different meanings;

3) from the application of words to ideas other than those which they usually designate;

4) from applying them to objects that do not exist or are inaccessible.

These remarks of Locke, while having no scientific value, are very important in practice, where the use of language is usually not given due importance and is often abused.

Let us now turn to the exposition of other parts of Locke's philosophy, which are also very important for everyone and everyone. The theory of morality created by this philosopher had, as we shall see, a great influence.

Locke denied the existence of innate laws of morality. Under the latter, he understood the basic provisions of law and morality, with which mutual relations between individuals and nations must be consistent - in a word, all the rules of the community. But what is to be understood by the name of innate ideas of morality? What the Stoics recognized as true reason, Spinoza called the spiritual love of God, and Grotius called the nature of things. All this denoted something unknown, guiding our actions. Later, this unknown was called "innate ideas of morality." By challenging the existence of such ideas, Locke unwittingly undermined the foundation of every moral doctrine that ever existed. He argued that there are no general laws of morality, and sought to prove that every single rule of morality changes over time. Moreover, Locke cited as proof of the validity of his opinion that even at the present time in various countries we meet directly opposite rules of morality, which could not be the case if there were one innate idea of ​​morality to which all the others could be reduced. . Locke also does not recognize the immutability of the so-called inner voice or the voice of conscience, saying that the conscience itself is not the same for different people and peoples, because it is also the result of education and living conditions. We are accustomed from childhood to consider good what our parents and other people whom we believe call good. We often have neither the desire nor the time to talk about what was taken for granted in childhood, and we readily admit that we were born into the world with such concepts, not knowing how and where they came from. This, according to Locke, is the true history of innate ideas. In addition, this is explained by the fact that no doctrine of morality and law is possible without the assumption of the existence of a general law. But the law can only come from a legislator, whose infallibility we cannot doubt, and who alone has the power to punish and pardon. Only the omniscient God can be such a legislator, and therefore law and morality find their foundation not in innate ideas, but in Divine revelation. It is further seen that Locke, as easily as possible, derives the general foundation of morality, but encounters great difficulties in reconciling with this Divine revelation all the various rules of community life and morality, the diversity of which in the eyes of the observer is infinite. He barely finds an opportunity to install the three most general provisions morality:

1) faith in God and in his omnipotence; recognition of the power of the sovereign and the people;

2) the fear of punishment and the desire for reward guides our actions;

3) recognition of Christian morality and no other.

It must be confessed that all this is little understood, but we cannot strictly blame Locke for the fact that his theory of morality is not as clear as the theory of knowledge. And to this day, no one has yet succeeded in discovering the basic law of our moral nature, although such people as, for example, Comte, have undertaken this task. In England, immediately after Locke, Shaftesbury and Hume were engaged in the theory of morality, who took the feeling of love for one's neighbor as the basic law. Wolf, in Germany, the same law puts on a different form and bases the theory of morality on the constant striving of man for spiritual perfection. Leibniz, in contrast to Locke, recognized the existence of innate ideas of morality, to which he attributed an instinctive character. He said: we are not aware of the rules of morality, but we feel it instinctively. All this, of course, also does not at all clarify the origin of the moral principle.

Questions about morality are closely connected with the question of free will, so it is appropriate here to quote Locke's opinion on this as well. Locke recognizes that our will is governed solely by the pursuit of happiness. Such a view was involuntarily established under the influence of observation of reality. But the philosopher, obviously, did not like this engine of all our actions, and he tried to give the word "happiness" the broadest meaning, but he did not succeed in stretching this concept to such an extent as to explain to them, for example, the actions of voluntary martyrs ...

Locke argues that thinking is able to suppress all passion and give a rational direction to the will. It is in this power of reason, in his opinion, that the freedom of man consists. If we accept such a definition of free will, then we will have to admit that not all people have the same degree of free will, while others are completely deprived of it, because for some reason there is a German proverb: "I see and justify the best, but I follow the worst." Locke recognizes as moral only those actions that come from reason, he is convinced that if a person weighs his actions well and foresees their consequences, then he always acts fairly.

Thus, Locke agrees with Socrates in this regard, recognizing that an enlightened mind invariably leads to good morality. It is remarkable that this opinion of both Locke and Socrates was the result of a direct study of reality. But the similarity of Locke with Socrates is not limited to this - both of them expressed their thoughts without further ado. In order to give an idea of ​​Locke's presentation, his definitions of pleasure, love, anger, and so on, which are taken from the "Experience", should be given.

Pleasure and pain are mere representations. Between the representations received through the senses, the sensations of pleasure and pain are the most important, every impression is accompanied by a feeling of pleasure or a feeling of pain or does not cause any feeling. The same applies to the thinking and mood of our soul. The feeling of pain and pleasure, like any simple representation, can neither be described nor defined. These feelings can be known, like all impressions, only through one's own experience.

From these elementary feelings, Locke moves on to more complex ones. "What are called good and evil? All things are good or bad, depending on whether they cause pleasure or cause pain. We call good everything that causes a feeling of pleasure in us or raises it and eliminates pain or reduces it. On the contrary, we we call evil everything that excites pain, increases it, or deprives us of good. By the name of pleasure and pain, I mean as many bodily as mental states. Usually they are distinguished from each other, while both are in essence only different states of the soul. caused by changes taking place in the body or in the soul itself.

Pleasure and pain and their causes - good and evil - are the centers around which our passions revolve. The idea of ​​them arises through self-observation and the study of their various influences on the change in the states and moods of the soul.

"Love. If one fixes his attention on the idea of ​​pleasure associated with an object present or absent, he will get the concept of love. If someone says in autumn, when he is eating grapes, or in spring, when he is not there, that he loves grapes, this only means that the taste of grapes gives him pleasure. If, however, disordered health or a change in taste destroys this pleasure, then it will not be possible for him to say that he loves grapes.

"Hatred. On the contrary, the thought of pain caused by an absent or present object is what we call hatred. The ideas of love and hate are nothing more than states of the soul in relation to pleasure and pain in general, without distinction of causes from which they arise.

Wish. “Desire is a more or less living feeling, arising from the absence of that which is connected with the idea of ​​​​pleasure; it rises and falls with the increase and decrease of the last feeling.

Joy. "Joy is a satisfied state of mind under the influence of the consciousness that the possession of good has been achieved or will be achieved in a short time."

Locke defines sadness as the opposite feeling. The definitions of hope, fear, doubt, anger, envy and other passions characteristic of all people are of the same character.

There is general agreement that the character of a writer should be studied in his writings. This opinion is absolutely true in relation to Locke. We do not notice high inspiration in it, but we find touching attention to the needs of ordinary people.

He keeps himself at ease with his reader, although he is aware that because of this he loses, perhaps in the opinion of many. "I know," he says, "that my frankness hurts my fame," and continues to be frank.

In support of what has been said, I will cite Locke's idea of ​​the limitations of the human mind.

"Our ability to know is commensurate with our needs. No matter how limited the mind of a person, we must thank the Creator for it, because he leaves far behind the mental abilities of all other inhabitants of our Earth. Our mind gives us the opportunity to form the necessary concept of virtue and arrange earthly life in such a way that it leads to a better life. We are not able to comprehend the innermost secrets of nature, but what we can understand is quite enough to form an idea of ​​the goodness of the Creator and of our own duties. We will not complain to the limits of our knowledge, if we do what is really useful to us. In the absence of sunlight, we will work by candlelight; our candle burns brightly enough for the work that we need to do. If we do not have wings, then we In case we can walk, we don't need to know everything, but only what is directly related to life. he must not cross the circle separating the light from the dark, accessible to our mind from the inaccessible. It is also unreasonable to doubt everything, if we know much for sure. Doubt undermines our strength, deprives us of vigor, makes us give up."

The reconciliation of philosophy with religion was the main task in Locke's life, and it is not difficult to imagine that this task was not an easy one. Locke's mind, humbled by religion, nevertheless often leaves the vicious circle that he himself has outlined, strives for bold conclusions, which then had to be justified and somehow connected with religion.

Recognizing experience as the only source of our knowledge, Locke stopped there and could not deduce those consequences from this situation, which were later deduced by Condillac and served to destroy many foundations of morality and religion.

None of the followers of Locke in England went to such extremes, inconsistent with the piety and conservatism of the English.

In conclusion, we will touch on the classification of sciences, which was followed by Locke. He, like the ancient Greeks, divides the sciences into physics, logic and ethics. What Locke calls logic may rather be called the philosophy of knowledge. The science opposite to it is the philosophy of being, it breaks up into the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of the soul, the latter includes the theory of morality, law and aesthetics, or the doctrine of the arts. The old Aristotelian logic belongs to the philosophy of knowledge; it also includes the science of language. We do not find theology between the sciences, since, according to Locke, it is not a science, because it is based on revelation. Locke also includes the philosophy of history as a philosophy.