John Locke - revised

John Locke (1632-1704) wrote the first European work on human cognition. He thought that every human being is born with a blank mind, or a tabula rasa (erased board) as he calls it. He also believed that no one is born with more knowledge and that a person is the result of his or her environment. He concluded that the environment of human beings should be changed and that education should be extended to tend to this cause. This idea is still visible in American today in the form of character education and guidance counseling.

Another idea of his was that all humans are fundamentally equal by human nature. Therefore, the idea of absolutism is unnatural. He believed that if the authority of state does not abide to the people, the people have the right to overthrow the unjust government. This is yet another idea visible in America in the form of the US Constitution.

(please disregard my previous post)