deduction from theoretical principles, but requires a method of treatment peculiarly its own. The foundation of ethics likewise receives independent treatment more frequently than hitherto.
1. John Locke (1632-1704) devotes his chief work, the Essay Concerning the Human Understanding (1690) to the investigation of the nature and validity of human knowledge. The first draft of this pioneer work was brought about by a discussion of moral and religious subjects. When it became evident how difficult it is to arrive at definite conclusions, the thought occurred to Locke that they must first of all examine the faculty of knowledge, in order to see what subjects it is capable of treating, and moreover what things are beyond its powers. In the first book Locke criticizes the doctrine of innate ideas, especially in the form in which it was held by Herbert of Cherbury; in the second book he shows that all ideas come from experience, and reduces compound ideas to their simple elements; in the third book he investigates the influence of language on thought; and in the fourth he examines the different kinds of knowledge and defines its limits.
John Locke received a splendid education from his father. He pays a beautiful tribute to his father in his splendid essay On Education (1692). But the formal grammatical discipline and the scholastic instruction received at school and the university were repulsive to him.. His philosophical development was influenced chiefly by the study of Descartes, Gassendi and Hobbes. Being unable to subscribe to the 39 Articles, he had to relinquish his original plan of becoming a clergyman. He afterwards studied medicine, but soon entered the service of the Earl of Shaftsbury, with whose family he remained
