Abstract

This book is a critical examination of a part of Locke’s contribution to the culture of modern society. Following Hegel, Wolterstorff identifies “freedom of subjectivity” as the principle of the modern world. He adds to this characterization of the spirit of modernity Habermas’s gloss on Hegel’s use of the term subjectivity. It has four connotations: individualism, the right to criticism, autonomy of action, and idealistic philosophy. Wolterstorff’s thesis is that Locke made an original and significant contribution to the making of a modern philosophy for a modern society. The story which Wolterstorff tells is the genesis of modern philosophy out of a cultural crisis provoked by extension of freedom of subjectivity to questions of religion and morality. He focuses on Book 4 of Locke’s Essay concerning Human Understanding to make the point that Locke’s epistemology, the core of his philosophy, is the “epistemology of a culturally engaged philosopher”.