(P/B) AN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING

Παρουσίαση

John Locke (1632 - 1704) was perhaps the most influential English writer of his time. His Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) and Two Treatises of Government (1690) weighed heavily on the history of ideas in the eighteenth century, and Locke's works are often -rightly- presented as foundations of the Age of Enlightenment. Both the Essay and the Second Treatise (by far the more influential of the Two Treatises) were widely read by Locke's contemporaries and near contemporaries. His eighteenth-century readers included philosophers, historians and political theorists, but also community and political leaders, engaged laypersons, and others eager to participate in the expanding print culture of the era. His epistemological message that the mind at birth was a blank slate, waiting to be filled, complemented his political message that human beings were free and equal and had the right to create and direct the governments under which they lived. Today, Locke continues to be an accessible author. He provides food for thought to university professors and their students, but has no less to offer the general reader who is eager to enjoy the classics of world literature. (From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

INTRODUCTION
FURTHER READING
AN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
The Epistle Dedicatory
The Epistle to the Reader
BOOK 1: Of Innate Notions
Analytical Contents
Introduction
No innate principles in the mind
No innate practical principles
Other considerations concerning innate principles, both speculative and practical
BOOK 2: Of Ideas
Analytical contents
Of ideas in general, and their original
Of simple ideas
Of ideas of one sense
Of solidity
Of simple ideas of divers senses
Of simple ideas of reflection
Of simple ideas of both sensation and reflection
Some further considerations concerning our simple ideas
Of perception
Of retention
Of discerning, and other operations of the mind
Of complex ideas
Complex ideas of simple modes: and first, of the simple modes of the idea of space
Of duration and its simple modes
Of duration and expansion, considered together
Of number
Of infinity
Of other simple modes
Of the modes of thinking
Of modes of pleasure and pain
Of power
Of mixed modes
Of our complex ideas of substances
Of collective ideas of substances
Of relation
Of cause and effect, and other relations
Of identity and diversity
Of other relations
Of clear and obscure, distinct and confused ideas
Of real and fantastical ideas
Of adequate and inadequate ideas
Of true and false ideas
Of the association of ideas
BOOK 3: Of Words
Analytical Contents
Of words or language in general
Of the signification of words
Of general terms
Of the names of simple ideas
Of the names of mixed modes and relations
Of the names of substances
Of particles
Of abstract and concrete terms
Of the imperfection of words
Of the abuse of words
Of the remedies of the foregoing imperfections and abuses
BOOK 4: Of knowledge and probability
Analytical Contents
Of knowledge in general
Of the degrees of our knowledge
Of the extent of human knowledge
Of the reality of knowledge
Of truth in general
Of universal propositions: their truth and certainty
Of maxims
Of trifling propositions
Of our knowledge of existence
Of our knowledge of the existence of a God
Of our knowledge of the existence of other things
Of the improvement of our knowledge
Some further considerations concerning our knowledge
Of judgment
Of probability
Of the degrees of assent
Of reason
Of faith and reason, and their distinct provinces
Of enthusiasm
Of wrong assent, or error
Of the division of the sciences
SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT
1764 Editor's note
Preface
Of the state of nature
Of the state of war
Of slavery
Of property
Of paternal power
Of political or civil society
Of the beginning of political societies
Of the ends of political society and government
Of the forms of a commonwealth
Of the extent of the legislative power
Of the legislative, executive, and federative power of the commonwealth
Of the subordination of the powers of the commonwealth
Of prerogative
Of paternal, political, and despotical power, considered together
Of conquest
Of usurpation
Of tyranny
Of the dissolution of government