LOCKE ON MORALITY

Think ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (28) ◽  
pp. 77-87
Author(s):  
Terence Moore
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Strong Sense ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Moral Judgements ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding

In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Locke makes an extravagant claim: Morality is as capable of demonstration as Mathematics. In the sixth Conversation between the seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke and the student of language Terence Moore, Moore points out that Locke's own arguments on the nature of language demonstrate that morality in a strong sense is not demonstrable. The Conversation then turns to Locke's real concern – ways in which words used in moral judgements might be made less ‘uncertain, vague, ambivalent’.

LOCKE AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

Think ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (24) ◽  
pp. 67-71
Author(s):  
Terence Moore
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Locke ◽  
First Century ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding ◽  
Twenty First Century

The seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke, transported to the twenty-first century, has been discussing with Terence Moore, a twenty-first century student of language, questions concerning words, meanings and understanding. In this conversation Moore tackles Locke on the role he assigns to happiness in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

John Locke: Natural Law and Innate Ideas

Dialogue ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.B. Drury
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Innate Ideas ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding

In the seventeenth century, the concept of natural law was linked with that of “innate ideas”. Natural laws were said to be ideas imprinted by nature or by God on men's minds and were the very foundation of religion and morality. Locke's attack on innate ideas in the first book of his Essay Concerning Human Understanding is therefore considered to be an assault on natural law. Modern critics like Peter Laslett, W. von Leyden and Philip Abrams are of the opinion that Locke's critique of innate ideas in the Essay cannot be reconciled with the concept of natural law in the Two Treatises of Government.

JOHN LOCKE ON THE TREATMENT OF ‘CONVULSION FITS BEFORE TOOTHEING’ (1682)

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-180
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Medical Journals ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Although John Locke (1632-1704), physician and philosopher, is best known for his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), his medical journals contain a wealth of information about seventeenth-century English medical practice. Among his entries concerning diseases of infants and children is the following description of his treatment of "convulsion fits before tootheing."1 (Teething was frequently blamed for convulsions until this century.) Mond. Jul. 3. [1682] Convulsion fits before tootheing are from gripeings in the belly. Method [of treatment] 1st. Syrup of Meconium gr. 20 [diacodium or syrup of poppies], and when that has abated as it will do next fit, give sweet [oil] of [almonds] 1 oz., and when that had done purgeing as it will in 12 howers, allay the pain again with syrup of meconium, the fits ariseing only from pain. And so it is afterwards in tootheing, if they are bound purge with sweet [oil] of [almonds] and then allay with syrup of meconium. If they are loose syrup of meconium alone will do, for tis the pains along that cause convulsions in children. If the child be vigorous and a year old [bloodlet] also to prevent height of blood and feaver.

JOHN LOCKE ON THE CARE OF THE NEWBORN INFANT (1684)

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-237
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
Olive Oil ◽  
Newborn Infant ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Red Wine ◽  
Weak Condition ◽  
Newborn Baby ◽  
Almond Oil ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding ◽  
Medical Interest

John Locke (1632-1704), physician and philosopher, is best known for his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). His reputation as a philosopher has overshadowed the extent of his medical interests. Locke's journals between 1678 and 1698 contain thousands of items of medical interest. An entry in his journal for September 1684 contained the following recommendations for the care of the newborn infant.1 1. Soon after birth the baby can be given 1 or 2 spoonfuls of syrup of violets with almond oil, to loosen the bowels and keep it from convulsive colic. Or else distilled olive oil can be mixed with sugar. 2. If the newborn baby is in a weak condition you can blow on it the smell of chewed onions and cloves; smear its nostrils and lips with Cinnamon water; press warm slices of meat on its head and anus; wrap in bandages soaked in red wine and place in a bath composed of water or beer and fresh butter. If the baby is lively give a little after a mixture of 1 spoonful of distilled almond oil and syrup of Cowslip flowers and ½ spoonful of wine tempered with sugar, so that it can purge itself properly. 3. As soon as it begins to feed on pap, give it for the first few days a little powder of Marchion. 4. If it is weak apply to the region of the heart a cloth coaked with warm Embryon. The best ways to stimulate its strength are baths, putting warm wine on its head, placing hot meat on its chest, smearing its nose and lips with cinnamon water, putting onions near its nostrils, etc.

Jonathan Edwards and “The Way of Ideas”

1966 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
John Locke ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding ◽  
The Way

That Jonathan Edwards was greatly influenced by the writings of John Locke scarcely needs asserting. Edwards himself regarded his reading of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding as the major intellectual event of his youth. His major writings and private notebooks abound with comments and reflections on matters discussed by Locke. What is fascinating concerning the history of Edwardsean scholarship, however, is that the decisive significance of Locke, for Edwards, has been elucidated only very recently, in the writings of the renowned Puritan scholar, the late Perry Miller.

A Gift from John Locke to Jean Le Clerc

Locke Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 201-203
Author(s):  
Jacob Van Sluis
Keyword(s):  
John Locke ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Essay Concerning Human Understanding

I work as a subject librarian in Tresoar, the provincial library of the Dutch province of Friesland, in Leeuwarden. I would like to report a curious experience of serendipity that is related to John Locke. Recently, while giving a tour in my library, I randomly grabbed an old book from the shelves. The back of the folio promised me a work by John Locke, and indeed, the book was a rare copy of the second edition of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, printed in 1694. But what really surprised me was an inscription on the first end-leaf. The inscription is unsigned, but none the less it was immediately clear to me: this was written by Locke himself!

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