An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Paperback, New Ed)

John Locke (1632-1704), Bertrand Russell once said, 'made a bigger difference to the whole intellectual climate of mankind than anyone had done since Aristotle'.

In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), he provides a complete account of how we acquire everyday, mathematical, natural scientific, religious and ethical knowledge. Rejecting all appeals to authority and the theory that some knowledge is innate in us, Locke argues that it derives from sense perceptions and experience, as analysed and developed by reason.

While defending these central claims with vigorous common sense, Locke offers many incidental - and highly influential - reflections on space and time, meaning, free will and personal identity. The result is a powerful, pioneering work which, together with Descartes' works, largely set the agenda for modern philosophy.