Locke: A Biography

Contemporary Review, Spring, 2008

Locke: A Biography. Roger Woolhouse. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]25.00 (US$39.99). xxx 528 pages. ISBN 978-0-521-81786-8. Locke remains, arguably, the single most important political philosopher England has produced and with Newton, one of the most important English philosophers.

It was Locke who almost embodied the argument for tolerance and government by consent of the governed. Prof. Woolhouse's Locke was a man whose sociability and gift for conversation never hid his 'cautious inclination ... towards reserve, control, and even secrecy'. In this excellent biography, the author is keen to show how Locke's philosophy was based on the events through which he lived: the Civil War, parliamentary and Cromwellian dictatorships, the Restoration, the rise and fall of Shaftesbury (and with him, Locke), the advent of James II and the Glorious Revolution after which Locke's works were finally published. Prof. Woolhouse uses his wide knowledge of seventeenth century philosophy to put Locke's works into their proper context. Whilst he discusses those works with great care and clarity he is always keen to give readers a portrait of Locke the man with his strengths and weaknesses. (A.C.)