Book Description

Excerpt from The Relation of John Locke to English Deism Probably all students of English thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries recognize some sort of relation between John Locke and English Deism, but they differ as to how they are related. Some writers make him a part of the movement, others consider him its father, and several of the leading historians of philosophy merely note the fact that there is some relation without defining it. This monograph undertakes to show that these statements are wrong or inadequate, and that Locke and English Deism are related as co-ordinate parts of the larger progressive movement of the age. When widely accepted historical opinions are challenged, proof of the thesis to be established should be made accessible to the reader and should be as complete as possible. Accordingly the book is to a great extent a tediously detailed marshaling of evidence. The discussion of the belief in Providence arid the statement of the attitude of the progressive leaders toward toleration in the fifth chapter do not contribute to the solution of the problem. The former is introduced here because it is generally believed that the "absentee God" was a characteristic of Deism, which it was not; and the presentation of the latter is necessary because some writers use it to prove that Locke was a Deist, which it does not prove. The quotations from Locke are from Fraser's edition of the Essay and from the tenth edition of his works. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.