THE GROWTH OF EMPIRICISM AND THE

ENLIGHTENMENT

§ 31. Locke

The name of John Locke, the founder of the new philosophy of Empiricism, which Leibniz had attacked in the New Essays, stands for all that is most characteristic in English philosophical thought, down almost to the present day. Locke was born in Somersetshire in 1632, a period marked by the beginning of the struggles of the parliamentary party against Charles the First. He was sent to Oxford, where, however, the academic spirit was still too much dominated by Scholasticism to arouse in him any strong interest. Later he received an appointment at the University, and continued for a number of years in more or less close connection with it. In 1666 he met Lord Ashley, afterward Earl of Shaftesbury, and one of the greatest of the statesmen of Charles the Second's reign. With him Locke entered into a lasting friendship. This intimacy brought him into contact with public life, and finally compelled him, on the fall of his patron, to seek refuge in Holland. Here he stayed five years. On the accession of William of Orange, he returned to England. During the remainder of his life he stood for the most pronounced intellectual force in England, and he was in considerable degree responsible for shaping the policy of the new government. His closing years were spent in quiet, except for various controversies, mostly theological, in which his writings had involved him. He died in 1704.

Locke's attention was first directed to the field of philosophy by a chance incident. "Were it fit to trouble thee with the history of this essay, I should tell thee that five

or six friends meeting at my chamber, and discoursing on a subject very remote from this, found themselves quickly at a stand by the difficulties that rose on every side. After we had awhile puzzled ourselves, without coming any nearer a resolution of those doubts which perplexed us, it came into my thoughts that we took a wrong course, and that before we set ourselves upon inquiries of that nature, it was necessary to examine our own abilities, and see what objects our understandings were or were not fitted to deal with. This I proposed to the company, who all readily assented; and therefore it was agreed that this should be our first inquiry. Some hasty and undigested thoughts on the subject I had never before considered, which I set down against our next meeting, gave the first entrance into this discourse; which having been thus begun by chance, was continued by entreaty, written by incoherent parcels, and after long intervals of neglect resumed again, as my humor or occasion permitted; and at last, in a retirement where an attendance on my health gave me leisure, it was brought into that order thou now seest it." 1

It is characteristic of the sober thoroughness which distinguishes Locke, that it was twenty years before this design was finally completed, and the book given to the world. Indeed, until he was nearly sixty years old, he had published nothing. It was not till after his return from exile that his principal works appeared in quick succession. His writings include three Letters on Toleration, two Treatises on Government, Thoughts on Education, The Reasonableness of Christianity, and the Essay on the Human Understanding.

In all these works the same general aim is to be found. That aim is to show the futility of empty verbiage and idle acquiescence in traditional opinions and assumptions, which take the place of honest intellectual effort and inquiry. In opposition to this, it strives to make men use their own minds, not upon words but upon real facts, to 1 Essay, Epistle to the Reader, Vol. I, p. 118 (Bohn's Library).

the intent that they may be freed from the weight of the past, and attain to a rationally grounded liberty. And the method by which Locke thought to accomplish this result was by demolishing the undue pretensions which the human intellect is wont to make. However competent it may prove to be for dealing with homely matters of fact and experience, when it aspires to a dogmatic certainty about higher things, it is in reality making use of words to which no definite and verifiable ideas correspond, and so modesty is its proper attitude. The Letters on Toleration vindicate man's right to religious freedom just on this ground, that it is absurd to force all men dogmatically to adopt one particular belief, when the foundations of our knowledge of the things which theology pretends to teach are so unsubstantial. The Treatises on Government, similarly, defend the freedom of the citizen in the state on the homely and intelligible basis of expediency or utility, in opposition to the unreasoning faith which rests on mere blind tradition, and expresses itself in the theory of a divine right of kings. As opposed to this, Locke made himself the spokesman of the Revolution of 1688, by arguing that government is simply a means for serving the best interests of the people governed. Government, as with Hobbes, is based upon a contract, but this contract has nothing of the rigidity for which Hobbes had argued. To retain old forms unchanged when circumstances have altered, is to defeat the very purpose of government. And if at any time the ruler is untrue to his trust, and the advantages for the sake of which he was given power are no longer forthcoming, authority reverts to the people, and revolution is justified.

Now these practical aims, in behalf of freedom and reasonableness, and against mere tradition, irrationality, and restrictive forces, underlie the Essay also. In it Locke attempts a philosophical justification of the practical interests to which he is devoted. He comes to an examination of the powers of the human mind in order, primarily, to get a

weapon against political superstitions, traditional dogmas, empty words divorced from things, and a sentimental and unreasoning 'enthusiasm.' "The commonwealth of learning is not at this time without master-builders, whose mighty designs in advancing the sciences will leave lasting monuments to the admiration of posterity; but every one must not hope to be a Boyle or a Sydenham; and in an age that produces such masters as the great Huygenius, and the incomparable Mr. Newton, it is ambition enough to be employed as an under-laborer in clearing the ground a little, and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way to knowledge; which certainly had been very much more advanced in the world, if the endeavors of ingenious and industrious men had not been much cumbered with the learned but frivolous use of uncouth, affected, or unintelligible terms, introduced into the sciences, and there made an art of, to that degree that philosophy, which is nothing but the true knowledge of things, was thought unfit or incapable to be brought into a well-bred company and polite conversation. . . . To break in upon the sanctuary of vanity and ignorance will be, I suppose, some service to human understanding." 1

1. The Source of Knowledge

1. The Aim of the Essay.-With this general end in view, what Locke will attempt will be to "consider the discerning faculties of a man, as they are employed about the objects which they have to do with. And I shall imagine I have not wholly misemployed myself in the thoughts I shall have on this occasion, if, in this historical, plain method, I can give any account of the ways whereby our understandings come to attain those notions of the things we have, and can set down any measures of the certainty of our knowledge, or the grounds of those persuasions which are to be found amongst men, so various, different, and wholly contradicIbid., p. 121.

tory."1 "If by this inquiry into the nature of the understanding, I can discover the powers thereof, how far they reach, to what things they are in any degree proportionate, and where they fail us, I suppose it may be of use to prevail with the busy mind of man to be more cautious in meddling with things exceeding its comprehension; to stop when it is at the utmost extent of its tether; and to sit down in a quiet ignorance of those things which, upon examination, are found to be beyond the reach of our capacities. We should not then perhaps be so forward, out of an affectation of a universal knowledge, to raise questions, and perplex ourselves and others with disputes about things to which our understandings are not suited, and of which we cannot frame in our minds any clear or distinct perceptions, or whereof (as it has perhaps too often happened) we have not any notions at all." 2

Nor have we any right to complain of this limitation. "How short soever their knowledge may come of an universal or perfect comprehension of whatsoever is, it yet secures their great concernments, that they have light enough to lead them to the knowledge of their Maker, and the sight of their own duties. Men may find matter sufficient to busy their heads, and employ their hands with variety, delight, and satisfaction, if they will not boldly quarrel with their own constitution, and throw away the blessings their hands are filled with, because they are not big enough to grasp everything. We shall not have much reason to complain of the narrowness of our minds, if we will but employ them about what may be of use to us; for of that they are very capable: and it will be an unpardonable, as well as childish peevishness, if we undervalue the advantages of our knowledge, and neglect to improve it to the ends for which it was given us, because there are some things that are set out of the reach of it. It will be no excuse to an idle and untoward servant, who would not attend his business by candlelight, to plead that he had not broad 1 Bk. I, Chap. I, 2. 2 Bk. I, Chap. I, 4.