A Philosopher and his Notebooks: John Locke (1632-1704) on Memory and Information

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Yeo, Richard
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2004
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Three hundred years after his death Locke’s major contributions to the disciplines of philosophy and psychology are generally accepted. Some of his specific doctrines and arguments in political, religious and educational thought continue to inspire debate. In contrast, the scholarly methods and disciplined habits on which such a wide-ranging intellectual effort was founded, are less well known. The extensive array of personal notebooks, not intended for eyes other than his own, must surely be a crucial part of Locke’s legacy. Admittedly, the scale and rigour of his practice is unrepresentative, since it is the work of a genius; however the imperative to collect, abbreviate, and order information, to base arguments on clearly referenced sources, to relieve memory of factual information, but to rely on it for our sense of self — all these features of Locke’s work tell us much about the preoccupations and values of his time and, by both comparison and contrast, about our own. The person who left us this archive from the seventeenth century deserves enormous respect.

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School of Arts, Media and Culture

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© 2004 Griffith University

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