An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Laid out in four books An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is John Locke's exposition on the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. In the first and second books Locke begins by rejecting the notion of innate ideas proposed by Descartes and proposes instead that humans are born as blank slates and that all knowledge is derived from experience. The discussion is continued in books three and four with a discussion of the theory as it relates to language intuition mathematics moral philosophy natural philosophy faith and opinion. A compelling and important philosophical work An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a must read for all students of philosophy.