John Locke

Introduction & Top Questions
Early years
Oxford
Association with Shaftesbury
Exile in France
Two Treatises of Government
- The first treatise
- The second treatise
  - The state of nature and the social contract
  - Property
  - Organization of government
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- Theory of ideas
- Primary and secondary qualities
- Personal identity
- Association of ideas
- Language
- Knowledge
Other works
Last years and influence

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Understanding John Locke's A Letter Concerning Toleration

Oval portrait painting of John Locke, wearing a long dark wig and formal 17th-century attire, with a white cravat, set against a dark background.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of Shaftesbury

At a Glance

John Locke, oil painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. In Christ Church, Oxford.

John Locke summary

John Locke Timeline

William III, dressed in period attire, steps ashore at Torbay as men greet him with a banner reading The Protestant Liberty and present a document at his feet.

John Locke’s Important Works

Quizzes

Agathon (centre) greeting guests in "Plato's Symposium" oil on canvas by Anselm Feuerbach, 1869; in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Philosophy 101

Related Questions

How did John Locke distinguish between the roles of church and state?
How did John Locke distinguish simple ideas from complex ideas?
How did John Locke explain the association of ideas?
How did John Locke explain the social contract between people and government?
How did John Locke explain the tabula rasa view of the mind?
How did John Locke influence Thomas Jefferson’s arguments for religious freedom?
How did John Locke’s early Two Tracts on Government differ from his later political ideas?
How did John Locke’s father support the parliamentary side in the English Civil Wars?
How did John Locke’s ideas about property connect labor with ownership?
How did John Locke’s principles influence the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen?
How did Robert Boyle influence John Locke’s interest in science and medicine?
How did sensation and reflection provide the materials for knowledge in John Locke’s philosophy?
What did John Locke argue in A Letter Concerning Toleration?
What ideas did John Locke develop in Essays on the Law of Nature?
What limits did John Locke place on the power to tax citizens?
What natural rights did John Locke say that people possess?
What subjects did John Locke study at Westminster School?
What were John Locke’s most important books?
When and where was John Locke born?
Where did John Locke die and when did he die?
Where did John Locke study at the University of Oxford?
Which new scientific thinkers did John Locke read while studying at Oxford?
Which religious groups did John Locke exclude from toleration in A Letter Concerning Toleration?
Why did John Locke believe that government needs the consent of the governed?
Why did John Locke consider much scientific knowledge probable rather than certain?
Why did John Locke decline a senior diplomatic post offered by William III?
Why did John Locke find the Oxford curriculum uninteresting?
Why did John Locke make exceptions to religious toleration for Catholics and atheists?
Why did John Locke reject the idea that humans are born with innate ideas?
Why did John Locke spend time in exile in Holland?
Why did John Locke think laws should apply equally to all citizens?
Why did John Locke write Two Treatises of Government?
What are John Locke’s most famous works?
What contributions did John Locke make to epistemology?
What contributions did John Locke make to political theory?
How did John Locke influence the design of U.S. government?
What was St. Albertus Magnus’s relationship with Thomas Aquinas?
Who was Jeremy Bentham?
Why is Jeremy Bentham important?
What is Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon?
What is Jeremy Bentham’s auto-icon?
Where was Jeremy Bentham educated?

Philosophy & Religion Philosophers

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External Websites

Humanities LibreTexts - John Locke
Foundation for Economic Education - John Locke: Natural rights to life, liberty, and property
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - John Locke
Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons - John Locke's Theory of Property, and the Dispossession of Indigenous Peoples in the Settler-Colony (PDF)
American Battlefield Trust - John Locke
The Library of Economics and Liberty - Biography of John Locke
World History Encyclopedia - John Locke
Great Thinkers - John Locke, 1632 - 1704
The History of Economic Thought - John Locke, 1632-1704.
The Victorian Web - John Locke
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of John Locke
LOUIS Pressbooks - Readings in Western Philosophy for Louisiana Learners - Biography of John Locke

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John Locke - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

John Locke

English philosopher

Written by

Graham A.J. Rogers

Professor Emeritus of the History of Philosophy, Keele University. Editor of Locke's Philosophy: Content and Context and others; author of Locke's Enlightenment: Aspects of the Origin, Nature,...

Graham A.J. Rogers

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 24, 2026 •History

John Locke (born August 29, 1632, Wrington, Somerset, England—died October 28, 1704, High Laver, Essex) was an English philosopher whose works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism, classical liberalism in particular. He was an inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States. His philosophical thinking was close to that of the founders of modern science, especially Robert Boyle, Sir Isaac Newton, and other members of...

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