This book tells for the first time the long and complex story of the involvement of Locke's suggestion that God could add to matter the power of thought in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding in the growth of French materialism. There is a discussion of the 'affaire de Prades', in which Locke's name was linked with a censored thesis at the Faculty of Theology in Paris. The similarities and differences between English "thinking matter" and the French "matière pensante" of the philosophes are also discussed.

Locke and French Materialism

Literature & Fiction

Yolton, John W.

History & Criticism

Clarendon Press

John Locke & education (Studies in the Western educational tradition)

Random House]

The Essay Concerning Human Understanding is John Locke's most important work, and through this selective commentary, first published in 1970, Professor Yolton concentrates our attention on the more interesting and controversial of the doctrines in it. His method of interpretation is to ask very specific questions of the text in order to test the propriety of the philosophical labels traditionally applied to Locke, an approach which he believes yields surprising results. He looks afresh at the various discussions of essence, perception, scientific method, ethics and meaning, and argues that throughout his epistemology Locke is more concerned with problems of description and analysis than with those of justification. This historical perspective is extended by the discussion of issues in the Essay, which retain an independent and philosophical interest.

Locke and the Compass of Human Understanding: A Selective Commentary on the 'Essay'

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Cambridge University Press

John Yolton seeks to allow readers of Locke to have accessible in one volume sections from a wide range of Locke's books, structured so that some of the interconnections of his thought can be seen and traced. Although Locke did not write from a system of philosophy, he did have in mind an overall division of human knowledge. The readings begin with Locke's essay on Hermeneutics and the portions of his Essay Concerning Human Understanding on how to read a text. The reset of the selections are organized around Locke's division of human knowledge into natural science, ethics, and the theory of signs. Yolton's introduction and commentary explicate Locke's doctrines and provide the reader with the general background knowledge of other seventeenth-century writers and their works necessary to an understanding of Locke and his time.

The Locke Reader: Selections from the Works of John Locke with a General Introduction and Commentary

The Locke Reader

This book addresses one of the fundamental topics in philosophy: the relation between appearance and reality. John Yolton draws on a rich combination of historical and contemporary material, ranging from Locke, Berkeley and Hume to Churchland and McDowell, to examine this central philosophical preoccupation, which he presents in terms of distinctions between phenomena and causes, causes and meaning, and persons and man. His important study will be of interest to a wide range of readers in the history of philosophy and in contemporary philosophy of mind, epistemology and metaphysics.

Realism and Appearances: An Essay in Ontology

Originally published in 1969, the impetus for this collection came from a conference on the Thought of John Locke held at York University, Toronto in 1966. Written in the co-operative spirit of the conference, the essays collected here were intended to reflect Locke's position as a polymath and recontextualise his ideas through the juxtaposition of various academic approaches. In doing so, they provide a challenging perspective on Locke which perhaps comes closer to the original character of his thought than more traditional approaches. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Locke's ideas on philosophy, politics, science or religion.

Locke, an introduction

B. Blackwell

Locke: An Introduction

Basil Blackwell Publishers

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Books by Yolton, John W.