DOCUMENT: CLS-REBUILD · CLASSIFICATION: PUBLIC METHODOLOGY: SYMMETRIC · STATUS: ACTIVE
Who Sits at the Seat · Thinker

John Locke

1632-1704 Thinker Live

English philosopher of consent, natural rights and the right of revolution (Two Treatises, 1689).

Ask John Locke a question

Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.

Who he was

John Locke was an English philosopher. His Two Treatises of Government (1689) argue that legitimate government rests on the consent of the governed, and set out when a government is dissolved and a people may appeal to heaven.

His Letter concerning Toleration argued for religious toleration.

The collected Works we hold print the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which the edition's editor says Lord Ashley drew up for the colony's proprietors with Locke's assistance, from a copy bearing amendments in Locke's hand. One article gives "every freeman of Carolina" "absolute power and authority over his negro slaves."

Why he is at the Seat

Locke is on the Lutz-based roster. He is the Seat's voice on consent, natural rights and the right of a people to replace a government.

What we hold

Editions
  • The Works of John Locke (9 vols., London: Rivington, 1824, 12th ed.)
Size
About 1.7 million words. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
Translation
Written in English, except the first Letter concerning Toleration, which is William Popple's English translation (1689).

Known limits

  • His correspondence (de Beer edition) is under copyright, and some manuscript essays are missing.
  • In testing, his whole-record answer did not cite the contrary passages it retrieved; watch for this.

Questions he answers well

The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.

  • Does legitimate government rest on consent, and when may a people resist or replace its government?

Published answers

More in Prior Questions.