Biography of John Locke

891 Words2 Pages

John Locke was a British born philosopher, physician, and writer that played a significant role in the framework of The United States. He was born in Wrington, England on August 29th, 1632. A father, also named John, who was a country lawyer, and his mother Anges Keene, raised Locke. Both his parents were Puritans, which influenced his later work immensely ("John Locke"). Locke’s parents sent him to the famous Westminister School in London where he was led by Alexander Popham, a member of Parliament. He later did his studies in philosophy at prestigious Oxford University, while also gaining some medical background. Locke did not enjoy the curriculum at Oxford, as he was more interested in the works of modern philosophers. Locke received his bachelor of medicine in 1674, and was a physician for much of his early life after college ("John Locke"). He was put to learn medicine under Thomas Sydenham, who had a major effect on John Locke’s philosophical thinking. Locke’s medical awareness was tested when Sydenham had a liver infection and Locke undertook a life-threatening operation to remove the cyst. The operation was successful and Locke was credited with saving Sydenham’s life. After that experience, Locke decided that the medical field was not for him so Locke became more fascinated with philosophy as he joined the Whig movement ("John Locke"). He traveled across Europe gaining new ideas that would later turn be featured in two of his major publications, A Letter Concerning Toleration and Two Treatises of Government.
John Locke got A Letter Concerning Toleration published in 1689 and it was first published in Latin. What made him put pen to paper and write this was the increased fear that Catholicism could very well be taking Eng...

... middle of paper ...

...ched in the stone of American history.

Works Cited

Broers, Adalei. "John Locke On Equality, Toleration, and the Atheist Exception." Student Pulse. Student Pulse, n.d. Web. 07 May 2014. http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/75/john-locke-on-equality-toleration-and-the-atheist-exception
"John Locke." 2014. The Biography.com website. May 07 2014 http://www.biography.com/people/john-locke-9384544.
Kramnick, Isaac. "Lockean Liberalism and the American Revolution." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. History Now, n.d. Web. 07 May 2014. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/road-revolution/essays/lockean-liberalism-and-american-revolution
Tuckness, Alex, "Locke's Political Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Web. 07 May 2014 URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/locke-political/

Open Document