An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. In Four Books. ...

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill 1706. Folio bound in later full panelled calf with blind-stamping to front and rear boards. Spine with raised bands and morocco title-label. (xxxiv 604 10pp.). Title-page laid down; and some old worm-holing mostly confined to the inner margins and not affecting the text; otherwise a fine copy clean and complete. British empiricist John Locke's (1632-1704) most important work in which he seeks to define the limits of human knowledge. Locke argues against the rationalists' theory of innate ideas i.e. that we are born with certain innate ideas about the world quite independent of our experience (e.g. God). Locke contends that the human mind is a blank slate at birth and that all our knowledge of the world is acquired through sensory experience and reflection upon that experience. Locke's Essay first appeared in December 1689 though he continued to revise it until his death. A further three editions appeared in his lifetime and the fifth edition here offered was published posthumously in 1706 prepared from Locke's notes.