Making Sense of Locke’s Confession

Abstract

After having given in the "Essay" a definition of freedom which straightforwardly entails its compatibility with – among other things – God's foreknowledge, Locke surprisingly writes in a 1693 letter to Molyneux that he does not see how human liberty can coexist with divine prescience. I argue that the confession to Molyneux can be made consistent with the "Essay"'s definition by embracing the view that the problem Locke had in mind when he drafted it was not a problem concerning the reality of human freedom but, rather, its value.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

  • Only published works are available at libraries.

My notes

Similar books and articles

'Things for Actions': Locke's Mistake in 'Of Power'.Julie Walsh - 2010 - Locke Studies 10:85-94.
Locke and William Molyneux.Ruth Boeker - 2021 - In Jessica Gordon-Roth & Shelley Weinberg (eds.), The Lockean Mind. New York, NY: Routledge.
Locke on knowledge.Lex Newman - 2007 - In The Cambridge Companion to Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding". New York: Cambridge University Press.
Color, space, and figure in Locke: An interpretation of the Molyneux problem.Laura Berchielli - 2002 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 40 (1):47-65.
John Locke and personal identity: an impasse concerning justice.Flavio Fontenelle Loque - forthcoming - Filosofia Unisinos:1-13.
Locke on knowledge.Lex Newman - 2007 - In The Cambridge Companion to Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding". New York: Cambridge University Press.
Language, meaning, and mind in Locke's Essay.Michael Losonsky - 2007 - In Lex Newman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding". New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 286-312.
Locke on judgment.David Owen - 2007 - In Lex Newman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding". New York: Cambridge University Press.
Locke on substance.Edwin McCann - 2007 - In Lex Newman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding". New York: Cambridge University Press.
On the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and human freedom.Jason Wyckoff - 2010 - Sophia 49 (3):333-41.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-10-14

Downloads
163 (#118,039)

6 months
92 (#60,648)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Free Will, Agency, and Meaning in Life.Derk Pereboom - 2014 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility.Harry G. Frankfurt - 1969 - Journal of Philosophy 66 (23):829-839.
The Paradoxes of Time Travel.David K. Lewis - 1976 - American Philosophical Quarterly 13 (2):145-152.
How to speak of the colors.Mark Johnston - 1992 - Philosophical Studies 68 (3):221-263.
Freedom of the will and the concept of a person.Harry Frankfurt - 2004 - In Tim Crane & Katalin Farkas (eds.), Metaphysics: a guide and anthology. New York: Oxford University Press.

View all 31 references / Add more references