Reasoned freedom : John Locke and Enlightenment
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Bibliographic Information
Reasoned freedom : John Locke and Enlightenment
Cornell University Press, 1992
- : cloth
- : pbk
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Note
Bibliography: p. [233]-237
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: cloth ISBN 9780801427589
Description
Although John Locke has often been called the Enlightenment's great progenitor, his use of the concepts that characterize Enlightenment thought has rarely been examined. In this lucid and penetrating book, Peter A. Schouls considers Locke's major writings in terms of the closely related ideas of freedom, progress, mastery, reason, and education. The resulting intellectual portrait provides a historically nuanced interpretation of a thinker crucial to the development of Western political philosophy and philosophy of education.
Schouls centers his analysis on Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding, but he also reexamines the often-ignored texts on education. Stressing the originality of Locke's enterprise, Schouls first explores Locke's reliance on Descartes for a method for the pursuit of general knowledge. He then examines Locke's thinking on (self-)mastery and the importance of reason to its achievement. For Locke, a human being has a radically autonomous nature that enables him or her to attain mastery; nurture may help or hinder this achievement.
Turning to the critical role of freedom in the struggle for self-liberation from passions and prejudices, Schouls concludes that, although wrong education explains widespread failure to achieve mastery, right education cannot guarantee its achievement. It is, rather, in the interplay of education, reason, and freedom that Schouls locates the revolutionary promise of Locke's account of human self-fulfillment.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780801480379
Description
Although John Locke has often been called the Enlightenment's great progenitor, his use of the concepts that characterize Enlightenment thought has rarely been examined. In this lucid and penetrating book, Peter A. Schouls considers Locke's major writings in terms of the closely related ideas of freedom, progress, mastery, reason, and education. The resulting intellectual portrait provides a historically nuanced interpretation of a thinker crucial to the development of Western political philosophy and philosophy of education.
Schouls centers his analysis on Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding, but he also reexamines the often-ignored texts on education. Stressing the originality of Locke's enterprise, Schouls first explores Locke's reliance on Descartes for a method for the pursuit of general knowledge. He then examines Locke's thinking on (self-)mastery and the importance of reason to its achievement. For Locke, a human being has a radically autonomous nature that enables him or her to attain mastery; nurture may help or hinder this achievement.
Turning to the critical role of freedom in the struggle for self-liberation from passions and prejudices, Schouls concludes that, although wrong education explains widespread failure to achieve mastery, right education cannot guarantee its achievement. It is, rather, in the interplay of education, reason, and freedom that Schouls locates the revolutionary promise of Locke's account of human self-fulfillment.
Table of Contents
Preface
I. Locke, Descartes, and the Enlightenment
1. Locke as Intermediary
2. "Master-Builder" and "Under-Labourer"
3. Locke as a Revolutionary
4. Locke and Cartesian Methodology
A. Reason and the Nature of a Master
II. Human Nature and Reason
1. Natural Rationality
2. Potentiality and Essence
3. "Man Has No Nature at All"
III. The Dogma of Infallible Reason
1. The Infallibility of Reason
2. The Epistemic Immediacy of Reflection and Intuition
3. The Temporal and Logical Immediacy of Intuition
IV. "Infallible" Reason, Prejudice, and Passion
1. Reason, Prejudice, and Passion
2. Reason as Destroyer of Prejudice
3. Reason as Servant of Passion
B. Freedom and the Nature of a Master
V. Freedom and Unobstructed Action
1. Man Is "A Part of the Mechanism of Nature"
2. Unobstructed Action Not Determined by Reason
3. Unobstructed Action Guided by Inadequate Understanding
4. Unobstructed Action Guided by Reason
VI. Self-Determination
1. The Experience of Self-Determination
2. Self-Determination and Authorization by Reason
3. Self-Determination and the Master Passion
4. The Master Passion and Progress
C. The Education of a Potential Master
VII. Human Nature and Education
1. "Of Power" and Locke on Education
2. The Tabula Rasa
3. Original Neutrality
VIII. Education, Reason, and Freedom
1. "Principling," Reason, and Freedom
2. Education and Methodology, or Reason as the Teacher
3. Mastery and Progress
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"