Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Locke on Essence and Identity

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Christopher Hughes Conn

    1. The University of the South, Sewanee, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Philosophical Studies Series (PSSP, volume 98)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Christopher Hughes Conn
    Pages 1-24

  3. Locke’s Critique Of Essentialism

    • Christopher Hughes Conn
    Pages 25-54

  4. Locke’s Theory of Identity

    • Christopher Hughes Conn
    Pages 55-99

  5. Locke on the Persistence of Organisms and Persons

    • Christopher Hughes Conn
    Pages 101-145

  6. Objections and Replies

    • Christopher Hughes Conn
    Pages 147-174

  7. Relativistic Anti-Essentialism and a Four-Dimensional Lockean Ontology

    • Christopher Hughes Conn
    Pages 175-192

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 193-212
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

I first became interested in the relationship between Locke's anti­ essentialism and his theory of identity in a first-year graduate course on metaphysics taught at Syracuse University by Jose Benardete. I had until then approached Locke as a "safe", commonsense philosopher, whose metaphysical agenda-constrained as it was by his concept empiricism­ was largely geared towards upholding a scientifically enlightened, broadly Christian worldview. I am greatly indebted to Professor Benardete for disabusing me of this understanding of Locke's work. Benardete's Locke was not the Locke that I had been exposed to as an undergraduate, not the Locke that I had found in Copleston's History of Philosophy. Rather, he was a profoundly creative and audacious metaphysician, who was justly perceived to be a tremendously dangerous philosopher by his more traditional contemporarie s. And as much I had admired Copleston's Locke, I have become positively enthralled with Benardete's. The topics of identity and essentialism have become mainstays of contemporary metaphysics, and it is no understatement to say that Locke's contribution to modem debates on these matters is enormous. My early interest in Locke's work on essentialism and identity-through-time was motivated by two factors. First, although there are a number of obvious and significant conceptual connections between these topics, Locke's own theorizing about identity seems not to have been informed by his critique of essentialism or vice versa.

Authors and Affiliations

  • The University of the South, Sewanee, USA

    Christopher Hughes Conn

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Locke on Essence and Identity

  • Authors: Christopher Hughes Conn

  • Series Title: Philosophical Studies Series

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1005-4

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-1670-7Published: 31 October 2003

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-3765-5Published: 21 September 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-007-1005-4Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0921-8599

  • Series E-ISSN: 2542-8349

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 212

  • Topics: Metaphysics, Ontology, Modern Philosophy

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation