Locke, John

Cultural  

1. A seventeenth-century English philosopher. Locke argued against the belief that human beings are born with certain ideas already in their minds. He claimed that, on the contrary, the mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) until experience begins to “write” on it. In his political writings, Locke attacked the doctrine of the divine right of kings and argued that governments depend on the consent of the governed.

---

Discover More

Locke's political ideas were taken up by the American Founding Fathers; his influence is especially apparent in the Declaration of Independence.

Example Sentences

Here is where Magna Carta is invoked, along with the works of writers like John Locke, John Stuart Mill, George Orwell and others.

From New York Times • Jan. 29, 2022

Among his first recordings were collaborations with the countertenor Alfred Deller on music by Bach, Purcell, Matthew Locke, John Jenkins and Elizabethans.

From New York Times • Jan. 18, 2012

Such men as John Milton, John Locke, John Bunyan, and Shakespeare turned the thinking world toward better things in government and life.

From History of Human Society by Blackmar, Frank W. (Frank Wilson)

Locke, John, his view of moral good and moral evil, i.

From History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne (Vol. 2 of 2) by Lecky, William Edward Hartpole

Locke, John, prepares a constitution for the Carolinas, 208.

From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Bolton, Herbert Eugene