John Locke and the Ethics of Belief Paperback: 2 (Cambridge Studies in Religion and Critical Thought, Series Number 2) - Tapa blanda

"Clearly written, the book makes a valiant effort to understand Locke on his own terms with regard to the rational regulation of belief. It is an important contribution to scholarship on Locke's ethics of belief. Recommended for any library supporting work on philosophy." Choice

"...this is an excellent study to the extent it focuses on Locke. It is thorough, pays careful attention to the text, and is rich in critical engagement with both the most recent work on Locke and recent work relevant to some of Locke's central concerns....the kind of work which out to receive wide readership among historians of philosophy in particular and, in general, among those interested in our intellectual roots." Peter A. Schouls, Philosophy in Review

"This book offers much more than one might expect and hope. True to its title, its lengthy first chapter consists of a tightly disciplined, sharply focused, and textually detailed study of Book IV of the Essay....Wolterstorff then treats us to two beautifully nuanced studies....The immensely careful textual concern of particularly the first three chapters is accompanied by a surprising amount of Pure philosophizing..." R.S. Woolhouse, International Philosophy Quarterly

In this important study Nicholas Wolterstorff interprets and discusses the ethics of belief which Locke developed in the latter part of Book IV of his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding." After lengthy discussion on the origin of ideas, the nature of language, and the nature of knowledge, Locke got around to arguing what he indicated in the opening Epistle to the Reader to be his overarching aim: how we ought to govern our belief, especially (though by no means only) on matters of religion and morality. Professor Wolterstorff shows that what above all placed this topic on Locke's agenda was the collapse, in his day, of a once-unified moral and religious tradition in Europe into warring factions. Locke's epistemology was thus a culturally and socially engaged one; it was his response to the cultural crisis of his day. Convinced also that of genuine knowledge we human beings have very little, Locke argued that instead of following tradition we ought to turn "to the things themselves" and let "Reason be your guide." This view of Locke, in which centrality is given to the last book of the "Essay," invites an interpretation of the origins of modern philosophy different from most of the current ones. Accordingly, after discussing Hume's powerful attack on Locke's recommended practice, Wolterstorff argues for Locke's originality and discusses his contribution to the modernity of post-sixteenth-century philosophy.