Born: 8/29/1632   Died: 10/28/1704

John Locke was a preeminent English philosopher and Enlightenment figure. Though he wrote on a wide range of topics, Locke is best known for his contributions to epistemology and political philosophy, his most influential works being his Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his Treatises of Government. In the Treatises, Locke criticizes absolute monarchy and the theory of the divine right of kings and develops a social contract theory according to which government legitimacy is based on the consent of the governed. Locke's notion of natural rights and the limits of government heavily influenced the drafters of the American Declaration of Independence. In his Essay, Locke undertakes to determine the limits of human understanding, concluding that all the materials of the understanding are derived from experience. Among the most famous parts of this work are his attack on innate ideas, his accounts of simple and complex ideas, substance, and personal identity.