John Locke Act. 1

JOHN LOCKE JUMBLED BIOGRAPHY ---------READ AND REORDER THE PARAGRAPHS TO COMPLETE THE BIOGRAPHY
------------------After the first Civil War ended in 1646, Locke’s father was able to obtain for his son,
who had evidently shown academic ability, a place at Westminster School in distant London. It was to
this already famous institution that Locke went in 1647, at age 14. In January 1649, just half a mile
away from Westminster School, Charles was beheaded on the order of Cromwell. The boys were not
allowed to attend the execution, though they were undoubtedly well aware of the events taking place
nearby. The curriculum of Westminster centred on Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, mathematics, and
geography. In 1650 Locke was elected a King’s Scholar, an academic honour and financial benefit that
enabled him to buy several books, primarily classic texts in Greek and Latin. Although Locke was
evidently a good student, he did not enjoy his schooling; in later life he attacked boarding schools for
their overemphasis on corporal punishment and for the uncivil behaviour of pupils.
-------------------Back in England, Shaftesbury had been imprisoned for a year in the Tower of
London but was released in February 1678. By the time Locke returned to England in 1679,
Shaftesbury had been restored to favour as lord president of the Privy Council., but, when Shaftesbury
failed to reconcile the interests of the king and Parliament, he was dismissed; in 1681 he was arrested,
tried, and finally acquitted of treason by a London jury. A year later he fled to Holland, where in 1683
he died. None of Shaftesbury’s known friends was now safe in England. Locke himself, who was being
closely watched, crossed to Holland in September 1683. Out of this context emerged Locke’s major
work in political philosophy, Two Treatises of Government (1689). In this respect the Two
Treatises was a response to the political situation as it existed in England at the time of the exclusion
controversy, though its message was of much more lasting significance.
----------------------By 1668 Locke had become a fellow of the Royal Society and was conducting
medical research with his friend Thomas Sydenham, the most distinguished physician of the period.
Although Locke was undoubtedly the junior partner in their collaboration, they worked together to
produce important research based on careful observation and a minimum of speculation. The method
that Locke acquired and helped to develop in this work reinforced his commitment to
philosophical empiricism. But it was not only medicine that kept Locke busy, for he was appointed by
Ashley as secretary to the lords proprietors of Carolina, whose function was to promote the
establishment of the North American colony. In that role Locke helped to draft The Fundamental
Constitutions for the Government of Carolina (1669), which, among other provisions, guaranteed
freedom of religion for all save atheists.
-----------------------In 1666 Locke was introduced to Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, later 1st earl of
Shaftesbury, by a mutual acquaintance. As a member and eventually the leader of a group of
opposition politicians known as the Whigs, Ashley was one of the most powerful figures in England in
the first two decades after the Restoration. Ashley was so impressed with Locke at their first meeting
that in the following year he asked him to join his London household in Exeter House in the Strand as
his aide and personal physician, though Locke did not then have a degree in medicine. Politically,
Ashley stood for constitutional monarchy, a Protestant succession, civil liberty, toleration in religion,
the rule of Parliament, and the economic expansion of England. Locke either shared or soon came to
share all these objectives with him, and it was not long before a deep—and for each an important—
mutual understanding existed between them. Locke drafted papers on toleration, possibly for Ashley to
use in parliamentary speeches.
--------------------------------In 1672 Ashley was raised to the peerage as the 1st earl of Shaftesbury,
and at the end of that year he was appointed lord chancellor of England. He was soon dismissed,
however, having lost favour with Charles II. For a time Shaftesbury and Locke were in real danger, and
it was partly for this reason that Locke traveled to France in 1675. By this time he had received his
degree of bachelor of medicine from Oxford and been appointed to a medical studentship
at Christ Church. Locke remained in France for nearly four years (1675–79), spending much time in
Paris and Montpelier; the latter possessed a large Protestant minority and the most important medical
school in Europe, both of which were strong attractions for Locke.
--------------------------------------In the autumn of 1652 Locke, at the comparatively late age of 20,
entered Christ Church, the largest of the colleges of the University of Oxford and the seat of the court
of Charles I during the Civil Wars. Locke later reported that he found the undergraduate curriculum at
Oxford dull and unstimulating. It was still largely that of the medieval university, focusing
on Aristotle (especially his logic) and largely ignoring important new ideas about the nature and origins
of knowledge that had been developed in writings by Francis Bacon (1561–1626), René
Descartes (1596–1650), and other natural philosophers. Locke attended classes in iatrochemistry (the
early application of chemistry to medicine), and before long he was collaborating with Boyle on
important medical research on human blood. Medicine from now on was to play a central role in his
life.
------------------------------------------John Locke, (born August 29, 1632, Wrington, Somerset,

England—died October 28, 1704, High Laver, Essex), English philosopher whose works lie at the
foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism. He was an inspirer of both the
European Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States. Raised in Pensford, near Bristol,
Locke was 10 years old at the start of
the CivilWars betweenthe monarchy of CharlesI and parliamentary forces under the leadership of Oliver
Cromwell. Locke’s father, a lawyer, served as a captain in the cavalry of the parliamentarians. From an
early age, one may thus assume, Locke rejected any claim by the king to have a divine right to rule.
-------------------------------------------The significance of Locke’s vision of political society can scarcely

be exaggerated. His integration of individualism within the framework of the law of nature and his
account of the origins and limits of legitimate government authority inspired the U.S. Declaration of
Independence (1776) and the broad outlines of the system of government adopted in the U.S.
Constitution. George Washington, the first president of the United States, once described Locke as “the
greatest man who had ever lived.” In France too, Lockean principles found clear expression in
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and other justifications of the French
Revolution of 1789.
---------------------------------------The restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 was a mixed

blessing for Locke. It led many of his scientific collaborators to return to London, where they soon
founded the Royal Society, which provided the stimulus for much scientific research. But in Oxford the
new freedom from Puritan control encouraged unruly behaviour and religious enthusiasms among the
undergraduates. These excesses led Locke to be wary of rapid social change, an attitude that
no doubt partly reflected his own childhood during the Civil Wars.
1. Give a number, 1 to 9 to each paragraph for a correct text.
2. Re-read the text in the correct order.
3. Find out in a dictionary any important words you don´t know.
4. Write 8 questions that can be answered by reading the text carefully. Use a variety of
types of questions: yes/no and wh questions. You don’t have to provide the answer.
Examples:
yes/no questions: Did Locke study in England? Was Ashley a philosopher?
Wh questions: Where did Locke study? Who was Ashley?

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JOHN LOCKE JUMBLED BIOGRAPHY ---------READ AND REORDER THE PARAGRAPHS TO COMPLETE THE BIOGRAPHY

------------------------------------------John Locke, (born August 29, 1632, Wrington, Somerset,

-------------------------------------------The significance of Locke’s vision of political society can scarcely

---------------------------------------The restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 was a mixed

1. Give a number, 1 to 9 to each paragraph for a correct text.

2. Re-read the text in the correct order.

3. Find out in a dictionary any important words you don´t know.

yes/no questions: Did Locke study in England? Was Ashley a philosopher?

Wh questions: Where did Locke study? Who was Ashley?

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