John Locke was an influential 17th-century philosopher and physician who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy. Locke’s ideas about the mind and personal identity were largely influenced by his work on the philosophy of language, and his work on the philosophy of mind had a significant impact on the development of cognitive science.
John Locke is most famous for his ideas about the natural rights of man. He believed that government should be instituted to protect people’s natural rights and that people should consent to be governed by their government. Locke also believed that all people had a right to freedom of speech and thought.
His theory of personal identity is based on the idea that the self is a conscious, thinking being. According to this view, what makes you who you are isn’t your body or some set of physical characteristics; it’s your consciousness and how you think about yourself. Locke didn’t believe we have an immaterial soul that exists separate from our bodies; instead, he thought that a person is their consciousness. His theory says that each person has a soul—which he called an “active principle”—and as long as that soul is capable of thought, then that person continues to exist over time even if their body changes significantly or even dies completely.
Locke also developed theories on property rights and freedom of speech that continue to influence political thought today.
