John Locke's Philosophy

John Locke had some published books about his knowledge in philosophy. They include Some thoughts concerning education (July 1693) and Essay concerning human understanding (1690). Locke was aware that the differing personalities and dental and physical capabilities of individuals were to some extend a product of nature rather than of nurture. He stated in his book (Essay, 2. 1. 2) that knowledge is acquired from experience. For Locke, experience embrace both sensation and reflection, and there are differences between simple sensation of infants and the complex and abstract reflections of the mature adult mind.

There are advices to parents given in the Thoughts — good habits at an early age, paying attention to the child’s real needs, the use of esteem and disgrace rather than of corporal punishment to discipline children, the importance of a good parental example.

His hierarchy of value in education was contained in four elements: virtue, wisdom, breeding and learning. Virtue was placed first by Locke as ’absolutely requisite to make him valued and beloved by others, acceptable or tolerable to himself’ (Thoughts, s.

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135). Wisdom was to be of a practical kind. It did not mean being crafty but rather be open, fair and wise. True wisdom involved the application of both reason and experience. For good breeding, Locke sought to avoid a ’sheepish bashfulness’ on the one hand and ’misbecoming negligence and disrespect’ on the other (Thoughts, s.141). Lastly, Locke came to learning.

He wanted children to acquire the basics of learning — to read, to write, to express themselves clearly and to count.

Locke gave priority to those concerns (virtue, wisdom, breeding) which continue throughout life, rather than to that type of ’learning’ which is frequently associated with the formal schooling of the young. In conclusion, Locke’s educational theory includes: (a) the vital importance of individual temperament; (b) the need to make education more attractive, or at least not so repressive; © the stress on reasoning and practice; and (d) the role of habit in the non-intellectual aspects of education (Mason, 1961, p. 290)