John Locke was a British philosopher who lived from 1632 to 1704. He is best known for his work on human nature, which he believed was born with a tabula rasa (a clean slate), or the ability to reason. This means that he believed that when we are born, we do not have any knowledge or understanding of the world around us. We must then use our senses to acquire knowledge of the world around us.
Locke believed that humans are born with the ability to reason, and this is what separates us from animals. John Locke felt that animals cannot reason because they cannot use words or language to communicate.
He also believed in empiricism or the idea that knowledge comes from our experiences and observations. He did not believe in any prior knowledge or ideas that were given to us by God or society when we were born. Instead, Locke believed that all knowledge comes from our experiences in life and our observations about how things work in the world around us.
Locke felt that we acquire ideas through our senses, and then combine and compare these ideas in our minds as we grow older.
He is best known for his work on human understanding and his political philosophy that influenced the founding fathers of American democracy. The philosopher was a proponent of religious toleration and separation of church and state.
