Customer Reviews

Some Thoughts Concerning Education and of the Conduct of the Understanding

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This is an excellent edition of two works by John Locke that are necessary to understand his philosophy. Of the Conduct of the Understanding is one of the most important works by Locke, and is often overlooked by Locke scholars. In it, he succinctly explains his worldview that is behind his other writings (esp. The Essay, but also works such as the Two Treatises, etc.). This is a must read for anyone wanting to understand Locke's philosophy.

Some Thoughts Concerning Education is also an important work to understand what kind of citizen he envisioned should make up civil societies. These are a collection of letters he wrote to a friend about raising children. In it, we can see what kind of training children require to participate in civil society, according to Locke.

Also, by reading both works, the reader can see how Christian ideas are an important foundation of Locke's worldview.

I highly recommend this edition of these works by Locke!

The question is whether this is an adequate alternative to James Axtell's now out of print and rather expensive if purchased used volume. The answer is yes, it's a Hackett good value, and needs to be available for serious students and scholars. Any good library has Axtell where the introduction can be read or copied.

This edition containing two of Locke's shorter, non-political treatises would be invaluable to anyone who is studying his massive "Essay Concerning Human Understanding", as it expands and examines the themes in here. Pages have modest margins that are easy to write in and the introductin is good.

Of course John Locke's tabula rasa has been more or less debunked by the cognitive revolution of the 20th century, but this work still remains one of the most important works of political education in all of political philosophy. Locke believes that "the minds of children" are turned as easily as the direction of water. His goal is to direct the minds of children in such a way as to lead England in the modern world. Locke's vision of education is one of obedience and control, which in turn, is followed by trust and release. It is the modern form of parenting. He writes: "The first thing they should learn to know should be that they were not to have anything because it pleased them, but because it was fit for them" (29). Locke's educational philosophy echoes the instructions for living virtuously by Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics. The goal is to enable the child to strive as a reasonable creature, although it is the parent that instills this reason, not the individual itself that crafts his own mind and behavior. This is the dominant perspective on education in the west; it is rivaled only by Rousseau and Dewey.