Abstract

John Locke’s Thoughts on Education appeared in 1693, having been written in the form of letters to his friend Edward Clarke about nine years previously. Locke was modest about the book: ‘I would not have it thought that I look on it as a just treatise on this subject. There are a thousand other things that may need consideration’. But the fact is that Locke’s ideas on education were considerably in advance of his time and very influential then and since. Professor Jeffreys presents those ideas against the background of Locke’s life and times.