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How Did John Locke Influence American Philosophy

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John Locke is a famous British philosopher of the 17th century. He was born in August 29, 1632 in the small town of Wrington, he later passed away on October 28, 1704. He received his early education at Westminster School and then at Christ Church, Oxford (a college). Much like Hobbes that came before him, he found little use for the Aristotelian philosophy taught. Having great success as a student, he later went on to hold several teaching roles the college. Often heralded as one of the founder of the Empiricism and a major contributor to many of the contemporary theories about governments, he was influenced greatly by earlier philosophers like Rene Descartes, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon.
A larger chunk of his work was completed whilst living at Lord Ashley’s residence, Exeter house. While living there he continued to partake in philosophical discussions and it is from these discussions that he claims the motivation for writing his most famous piece, completed while in exile, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” stems from. He states that: …show more content…
After we had awhile puzzled ourselves, without coming any nearer a resolution of those doubts which perplexed us, it came into my thoughts that we took a wrong course; and that before we set ourselves upon inquiries of that nature, it was necessary to examine our own abilities, and see what objects our understandings were, or were not, fitted to deal with. This I proposed to the company, who all readily assented; and thereupon it was agreed that this should be our first

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