JOHN LOCKE (1632 – 1704), was a philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential English thinkers. He is known as the “Father of Classical Liberalism”, and is considered one of the first British empiricists following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon.
Locke obtained a bachelor of medicine in 1674, having studied medicine extensively during his time at Oxford and worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis, Robert Hooke and Richard Lower. He became involved in politics when Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, whom he served as his personal physician, became Lord Chancellor in 1672. Around 1679, most likely at Shaftesbury’s prompting, Locke composed the bulk of the Two Treatises of Government. While it was once thought that Locke wrote the Treatises to defend the Glorious Revolution of 1688, recent scholarship has shown that the work was composed well before this date. The work is now viewed as a more general argument against absolute monarchy and for individual consent as the basis of political legitimacy.
Locke fled to the Netherlands in 1683, under strong suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot. He spent most of his time re-working the Essay and composing the Letter on Toleration. He did not return home until after the Glorious Revolution. The bulk of Locke’s publishing took place upon his return from exile—his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, the Two Treatises of Civil Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration—all appearing in quick succession.
Locke’s writings had great influence on Voltaire and Rousseau and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers. His arguments concerning liberty and the social contract later influenced the written works of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and other Founding Fathers of the United States. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence.