This book tells for the first time the long and complex story of the involvement of Locke's suggestion that God could add to matter the power of thought in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding in the growth of French materialism. There is a discussion of the 'affaire de Prades', in which Locke's name was linked with a censored thesis at the Faculty of Theology in Paris. The similarities and differences between English "thinking matter" and the French "matiere pensante" of the philosophes are also discussed.
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This book, one of John Locke's (1632-1704) major works, is primarily about moral education--its role in creating a responsible adult and the importance of virtue as a transmitter of culture. However, Locke's most detailed and comprehensive guide also ranges over such practical topics as the effectiveness of physical punishment, how best to teach foreign languages, table manners, and varieties of crying.
This critical edition is based on the third edition (1695), with variants from the first five editions, from the Harvard University Library and the British Library drafts, and from Locke's...

This book addresses one of the fundamental topics in philosophy: the relation between appearance and reality. John Yolton draws on a rich combination of historical and contemporary material, ranging from Locke, Berkeley and Hume to Churchland and McDowell, to examine this central philosophical preoccupation, which he presents in terms of distinctions between phenomena and causes, causes and meaning, and persons and man. His important study will be of interest to a wide range of readers in the history of philosophy and in contemporary philosophy of mind, epistemology and metaphysics.

This book addresses one of the fundamental topics in philosophy: the relation between appearance and reality. John Yolton draws on a rich combination of historical and contemporary material, ranging from Locke, Berkeley and Hume to Churchland and McDowell, to examine this central philosophical preoccupation, which he presents in terms of distinctions between phenomena and causes, causes and meaning, and persons and man. His important study will be of interest to a wide range of readers in the history of philosophy and in contemporary philosophy of mind, epistemology and metaphysics.

Using his intimate knowledge of John Locke's writings, John W. Yolton shows that Locke comprehends "human understanding" as a subset of a larger understanding of other intelligent Beings angels, spirits, and an omniscient God. Locke's books on Christianity (The Reasonableness of Christianity and Paraphrases of St. Paul's Epistles) have received extensive analysis and commentary, but little attention has been given to the place of his Essay concerning Human Understanding in his religious and theological beliefs. Yolton shows that Locke's account of what it is to be human in that work is...

The Essay Concerning Human Understanding is John Locke's most important work, and through this selective commentary, first published in 1970, Professor Yolton concentrates our attention on the more interesting and controversial of the doctrines in it. His method of interpretation is to ask very specific questions of the text in order to test the propriety of the philosophical labels traditionally applied to Locke, an approach which he believes yields surprising results. He looks afresh at the various discussions of essence, perception, scientific method, ethics and meaning, and argues that...

Originally published in 1969, the impetus for this collection came from a conference on the Thought of John Locke held at York University, Toronto in 1966. Written in the co-operative spirit of the conference, the essays collected here were intended to reflect Locke's position as a polymath and recontextualise his ideas through the juxtaposition of various academic approaches. In doing so, they provide a challenging perspective on Locke which perhaps comes closer to the original character of his thought than more traditional approaches. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in...

This accessible volume comprises sections from a wide range of Locke's books, structured so that the interconnections of his thought can be seen and traced.

En 1956, l' Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences couronnait, a Bruxeiles, 1'etude de M. Yolton, intitulee The Phi- losophy o/Science 0/ Arthur S. Eddington, etude dont le present ouvrage est la reprise. Pourquoi la personne, 1'oeuvre et les idees de l'illustre physicien anglais avaient-elles ete designees a l'atten- tion des candidats a ce Prix? Quels enseignements l'Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences en attendait-eile? N'esperait-elle pas que le rapport de la recherche philosophique a la recherche scientifique pourrait en etre eclaire? M. Yolton offre a l'un...