Lockean...

John Locke was a physician, and one of the most important philosophers in the history of Western political thought. It behooves all of us to take any time we can to study Locke to any extent, however brief. He wrote a great deal in English that was a bit different from the language we speak and read in the 21st Century, so the study might seem a daunting project at first glance. Locke is probably remembered most frequently for a fundamental principle of religious tolerance, at least for religious beliefs that do not disturb the civil peace. (I can't help noting, the title of this blog reflects that same limitation: Don't piss off the neighbors!)

In 1693, Locke published (anonymously) Some Thoughts Concerning Education, which included this fascinating advice: 

"The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it, into which a young gentleman should be entered by degrees as he can bear it, and the earlier the better."

Ironically, I was alerted to this quote today by War on the Rocks, an on-line newsletter about currently evolving military strategy and tactics. A fence against a world which a young gentleman must bear by degrees, is an amazing picture. I might love to describe it at enormous lengths, or to paint it, if I only knew how to paint. But here I'll try not to waste time and space.

Locke was advising aristocratic friends about raising their child when he wrote the letters that became the anonymous 1693 book. A fence to keep the world away was what most members of that class wanted for their children. Locke evidently believed to the contrary, that children should become adults as quickly as possible; parents should acquaint them actively and early with the world despite dangers and unpleasantness.

My mother frequently admonished my sisters and me, "You have no idea how lucky you are!" She meant that we should get a college degree and be eternally grateful to have been born into an educated, privileged class similar to John Locke's friends. She wasn't racist, but she was certainly prejudiced against people whom she considered were less educated. Education into high human rationality was the solution to all evil. Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, 50 million casualties in WWII, communism... never would have happened if only enough smart people had asserted themselves to correct the bad guys' policies at the right historical moment.

I take John Locke's quote on a more tactical level. A gradually increasing ability to bear the world in its ugliness and insanity, and a steadfast quest for knowledge with the intention to understand and improve things, are the logical prerequisites to creation of a better world. This is classical liberalism: the West, the United States of America before and after the Civil War, enduring even through the darkest moment of 1945. 

Locke was persecuted and forced into exile from England for his "radical" political and religious views. He learned to live most of his life very carefully in turbulent times. His philosophy is replete with carefulness. I think the discipline to live carefully is very valuable and very boring. 

Anyone's fence against the world must have controlled gates to be opened for fast forays out to obtain knowledge. A love of action, constantly testing the limits of what one can bear, is necessary.

Is a lawyer the opposite of a spy? I sure would like to speak to Wild Bill Donovan over good whiskey about John Locke!