An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding

Exploring the foundations of human knowledge, this influential essay by John Locke presents the mind as a blank slate filled through experience. It distinguishes between simple and complex ideas, addressing the nature of primary qualities—such as shape and motion—and secondary qualities that evoke sensations. Additionally, Locke offers a psychological criterion for personal identity and delves into the roles of language and various forms of knowledge, including intuition and moral philosophy, marking a significant contribution to modern empiricism and Enlightenment thought.