Locke’s ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’: A Reader’s Guide

Continuum’s Reader’s Guides are clear, concise and accessible introductions to classic works of philosophy. Each book explores the major themes, historical and philosophical context and key passages of a major philosophical text, guiding the reader toward a thorough understanding of often demanding material. Ideal for undergraduate students, the guides provide an essential resource for anyone who needs to get to grips with a philosophical text.

John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a classic text, which laid out the basic principles of the Empiricism that was to characterise British Philosophy for centuries to come.This is a hugely important and exciting, yet challenging, piece of philosophical writing.

In Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding: A Reader’s Guide, Bill Uzgalis explains the philosophical background against which the book was written and the key themes inherent in the text. The book then guides the reader to a clear understanding of the text as a whole, before exploring the reception and influence of this classic philosophical work. This is the ideal companion to study of this most influential and challenging of texts.