An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke is one of the foundational texts of Western philosophy — the work in which the father of British empiricism argued that the human mind begins as a blank slate, and that all knowledge derives from experience. Published in 1689, Locke’s essay was a radical challenge to the rationalist tradition, arguing against innate ideas and laying the philosophical groundwork for the Enlightenment, liberal political theory, and modern psychology. This Wordsworth Classics edition presents Locke’s arguments in the original text, making this landmark of intellectual history available at an accessible price. Essential for students of philosophy, political theory, and the history of ideas, and rewarding for any reader interested in the foundations of how we understand knowledge, experience, and the human mind.