HISTORIANS

John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau & Charles Darwin



Authors their inspirations and targeted readers

John Locke

John Locke was a British educator and philosopher, the representative of empiricism and liberalism. He contributed to spread the sensationalism. His ideas greatly influenced the development of epistemology and political philosophy. It is widely recognized as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and theorists of liberalism (Cranston, 2007).

Influence of Personality, Life and Profession

The characteristics traits of John Locke were enigmatic, quiet, sensible, educated, introverted, with spiritual beliefs and, above all, mysterious. John Locke always believed he was destined to do something important and should find a way to take him to his fate. All these traits are reflected in his personality. Locke was the first philosopher to express identity through the continuity of consciousness. He also postulated that the mind is a clean slate this shows the sensibility of John Locke. Locke argued that people are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience from sensory perception (Cranston, 2007).

Locke's fame was more like a philosopher than as teacher. Almost all later thought of Locke were influenced by empiricism. His philosophical attitude urged him to write on various aspects of philosophy. Locke was elected to the Royal Society in 1669 as a member of its board. This experience of Locke made him to write about politics. The main areas of interest have been Locke's natural history, medicine, politics, economics, education, and the state's attitude toward the church, the issue of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience. Locke had written almost on all of the topics. In 1671, he performed a thorough study of cognitive abilities of the human mind. This made him write essay concerning human understanding on which he worked for 16 years (Cranston, 2007).

Targeted Audience for whom He wrote

All the writings of John Locke were used by students of politics to a greater extent. Besides the students, John Locke's work was targeted towards the politicians of that era (Cranston, 2007).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau was a French writer and philosopher. He was born in Geneva in a Calvinist family. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who lost his mother, is abandoned by his father at the age of 10 years and raised by his uncle (Damrosch, 2005).

Influence of Personality, Life and Profession

Absence of mother in his life made him feel the importance of love. In his writings the concept of love is prevalent. His ...