Online Seminar Series

Locke’s Essay

Sunday, March 5, 2023

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What assumptions, perhaps unexamined, underlie our opinions on such subjects as individual rights, tolerance and the role of government? Can an exploration of basic philosophical questions, such as How do we know what we know? and What are the limits of our understanding? inform our thinking on political issues and foster mutual understanding?

John Locke, whose words are echoed in the Declaration of Independence and whose ideas informed the framers of the U.S. Constitution thought the study of philosophy had that power. He embarked on An Essay Concerning Human Understanding following an impasse among friends in a discussion of subjects of morality and religion. He writes, “After we had a while 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.”

Join us as we discuss Locke’s study of human understanding, his examination of those philosophical questions which underpin his political insights.

This series continues a broader series on epistemology. All are welcome. Please join us even if this will be your first seminar in the series.

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March 5 Reading: 

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke

Abridged and Edited by Kenneth P. Winkler

End of Book II, pp. 133 – 175
ISBN 978-0-87220-216-0

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Series Schedule:

​Sunday, April 2 – Book III Of Words (pages 176-223)

Sunday, May 7 – Begin Book IV Of Knowledge and Opinion (pages 224-273)

Sunday, June 4 – continue Book IV Of Knowledge and Opinion (pages 274-322)

July [TBD] – end of the Essay, excerpts from The Stillingfleet Correspondence (pages 323-357)

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Schedule:

12:00-2:00PM PST

Tutor: 

Carol Seferi

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Location: 

Online. Register to receive the link.