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What Does Locke Expect Us to Know?

Authors :
Steven Forde
Source :
The Review of Politics. 68:232-258
Publication Year :
2006
Publisher :
Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2006.

Abstract

Locke claims that his moral and political teaching is capable of a fully rational demonstration. It would seem then that Lockean citizens are expected to grasp the rational bases of their regime. But Locke was notoriously vague or incomplete on what the rational demonstration entailed, in matters of theology especially, but in other matters as well. I examine this question in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, the Two Treatises of Government, and Some Thoughts Concerning Education, and conclude that Locke did not expect most citizens to grasp the full philosophical demonstration of liberalism, but they would understand a simplified version of it. This, however, risks leaving liberal culture in an unsettled state.

Details

ISSN :
17486858 and 00346705
Volume :
68
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
The Review of Politics
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........8ddd49dfb8ecba59646adc6b04f7b7b8
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0034670506000106