In An Essay concerning Human Understanding, John Locke sets out his theory of knowledge and how we acquire it.

Eschewing doctrines of innate principles and ideas, Locke shows how all our ideas, even the most abstract and complex, are grounded in human experience and attained by sensation of external things or reflection upon our own mental activities.

A thorough examination of the communication of ideas through language and the conventions of taking words as signs of ideas paves the way for his penetrating critique of the limitations of ideas and the extent of our knowledge of ourselves, the world, God, and morals.

Click on the links below to hear an audio guide the Locke’s Essay by Dr Pauline Phemister of the University of Edinburgh, editor of the new Oxford World’s Classics edition of the book.

Introducing John Locke

• John Locke was born in Somerset in 1632 during a particularly turbulent period of English history. Click here to hear Pauline Phemister’s introduction to Locke’s times. [1:02]
• Intellectual milieu: in Oxford, Locke discovered the new mechanical philosophy, which was critical to the development of his thought as expressed in the Essay. Click here to learn more about the materialist philosophy and its focus on the primary and secondary qualities of objects. [4:01]
• What prompted Locke to undertake his essay on the origins and extent of human understanding, a project which was to occupy him for two decades? Click here to find out about the initial stimulus for the project. [1:44]

Approaching the Essay

• Click here for an introduction to the first two Books of the Essay, which advance the main empiricist thesis that all our ideas come from our experience and that the mind at birth is like a blank slate. [1:27]
• In Book Three of the Essay Locke looks at the means by which we express our ideas: language. In doing so, he highlights the pitfalls inherent in the way we communicate our ideas with each other. Click here for more on Locke’s account of language. [1:45]
• Book Four is the culmination of Locke’s whole project. Click here for more on the conclusions that Locke arrives at. [2:32]

Publication, reception, influence

• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding was first published in 1689 and went through several editions between then and the author’s death in 1704. But what did Locke’s critics make of the book? Click here to find out. [3:33]
• Locke conceived of his own role in the Essay as that of an “under-labourer”, doing the intellectual spade-work to clear a path for scientists who would make scientific headway which would be beneficial to humanity. Click here for more. [1:25]
• Philosophy then and now: Pauline Phemister considers in conclusion the similarities between philosophy in Locke’s day and in our own and finds many parallels. She also ponders the enduring value of Locke’s work. Click here to listen. [2:29]