John Locke

  Locke was born to Agnes and John Locke, an attorney, in Wrington, Somerset, England. In 1647, Locke enrolled at Westminster School, one of the oldest public schools in London, and in 1652, he enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford, a college of the University of Oxford in England. Locke earned a bachelor’s degree in 1656 and a master’s degree in 1658. He developed an interest in medicine while at Oxford, and after studying independently for some time, he returned to Oxford and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1675. In 1666, Locke met Anthony Ashley Cooper, a prominent English politician, when Ashley went to Oxford to seek treatment for a liver infection. Ashley was impressed with Locke and hired him as his personal physician. In 1683, likely due to his association with Ashley, Locke was implicated in the Rye House Plot, a plot to assassinate King Charles II of England. Charles II was a Roman Catholic and Ashley was an outspoken opponent of Roman Catholics serving as king. It is unclear whether or not Locke was actually involved in the plot, but he fled to the Netherlands anyway, where he stayed until Charles II was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution and replaced by James II, a Protestant, putting an official end to Roman Catholics ruling as kings. Locke wrote prolifically during his exile, and upon his return to London in 1688, he published several works, including An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and A Letter Concerning Toleration. Locke wrote Two Treatise of Government in 1689 at Ashley’s insistence. Locke never married or had children, and in 1691, he moved in with his friend Lady Masham, a fellow writer and philosopher. In the following years, Locke grew sick with worsening asthma and died at Lady Masham’s home in 1704 at the age of 72. Locke’s contribution to the literary canon and Western thought is immense. He is often considered the Father of Liberalism, and his philosophical works are some of the most influential.