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John Locke: Of
the Conduct of the Understanding
Edited by F. W. Garforth
Bibliographical Note by Francis W. GarforthFor reasons which a comparison of content and style makes obvious, Conduct never achieved the popularity of Thoughts; nor has it the importance of the Essay or of Locke's political writings. Consequently, there have been fewer editions. The following separate editions are recorded in the British Museum Catalogue and the Library of Congress Catalog: Some Thoughts on the Conduct of the Understanding in the Search of Truth. London, 1762; also Glasgow, 1763 and 1768. Some Thoughts on the Conduct of the Understanding in the Search of Truth. A new edition divided under heads. London, 1800; also 1802. The Conduct of the Understanding in the Search of Truth. A new edition. Edinburgh, 1807. a Treatise on the Conduct of the Understanding. To which is now added a sketch of his life. A newsy edition. Boston, 1833; also (apparently the same book), Hartford, Conn., 1851. Locke's Leitung des Verstandes. Uebersetzt und mit Einleitung herausgegeben, von J. P. Mel, er, 1883. Locke's Conduct of the Understanding, ed. T. Fowler. Oxford, 1881; 8th ed., 1901. Of the Conduct of the Understanding, ed. A. Louise M. Gilbert, with biography, critical opinions and explanatory notes. New York, l901. In a number of editions Conduct is combined with Thoughts, as, for instance, in J. W. Adamson, The Educational Writings of John Locke (Cambridge, 1912, 2nd ed. 1922), and in one pith an abstract of the Essay (Cambridge, 1781). In some editions it appears with selected writings of Francis Bacon; for example: Some Thoughts on the Conduct of the Understanding. To which is added Essays moral, economical and political by Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam.... With sketches of the lilies of Locke and Bacon. London, 1813. Students who wish to acquaint themselves with the details of Locke's life should turn to the biography by H. R. Fox Bourne, The Life of John Locke (2 vols.; London and New York, 1876) or to that of Maurice Cranston, John Locke (London and New York, 1957). The former was long the standard life of Locke and remains a valuable and readable book;, although it has now been largely superseded by Cranston's work. This latter incorporates important new material, including much from the Lovelace collection of Locke's papers, as which was acquired by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in 1948. For the Lovelace papers themselves, see P. Long, A Summary Catalogue of the Lovelace Collection of the Papers of John Locke in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1909). Mention should also be made of J. Harrison and P. Laslett, The Library of John Locke (Oxford, 1965). For a general introduction to Locke's philosophical thought perhaps the best book is R. I. Aaron, John Locke (2nd ed.; Oxford, 1965); but D. J. O'Connor's John Locke (Harmondsworth, England, 1952) offers a clear and readable account of his basic thought. An excellent summary mart be found in Chapters 4 through 7 of F. Copleston, A History of Philosophy, Volume V (London, 1959). An interesting account of the development of Locke's empiricism is given by K. Dewhurst in John Locke, Physician and Philosopher (London, 1963) The most recent editions of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding are the abridged texts, edited and introduced by A. D. Woozley (London, 1964) and by WI. Cranston (Ness Stork, 1965); another abridged edition is that of A. S. Pringle-Pattison (Oxford, 1924). The full text is given in the editions of A. C. Fraser (Oxford, 1894) and J. W. Yolton (2 vols.; London and New York, 1961) . Locke's political thought is presented in J. W. Gough, John Locke's Political Philosophy (Oxford, 1950) and, more recently, in S. P. Lamprecht, The Moral and Political Philosophy of John Locke (New York, 1962). Peter Laslett's edition of the Two Treatises of Government (Cambridge, England, 1960) is valuable both for its introduction and its critical notes. H. R. Penniman, John Locke on Education and Politics (New York, 1947) has the text of the Second Treatise of Government and of the Letter Concerning Toleration; it also contains the only complete text of Some Thoughts Concerning Education that is currently in print. Two abridged editions of Thoughts are available: Peter Gay, John Locke on Education (New York, 1964) and F. W. Garforth, Locke's Thoughts Concerning Education (London and New York, 1964). Earlier editions, nods long out of print, are those of R. H. Quick (rev. ed.; Cambridge, England, 1884) and J. W. Adamson, The Educational Writings of John Locke (2nd ed.; Cambridge, England, 1922). The latter also includes of the Conduct of the Understanding. Surprisingly little has been written about Locke's educational thought; so far as the present writer is aware, no full critical account of it has yet been published in any English-speaking country Nina Reicyn's La pedagogie de John Locke was published in Paris in 1941. Two major studies are especially needed, one into the sources of Locke's educational thought, the other into its influence in Britain, Europe, and America in the eighteenth century Numerous articles and essays have appeared; for these the student should consult The Education Index (H. W. Wilson, New York;) and The British Education Index (The Library Association, London.) Separate mention should perhaps be made of R. R. Rusk, Doctrines of the Great Educators (3rd ed.; London and New York, 1965), Chapter 7, which contains a number of useful bibliographical references; and P. Nash, A. M. Kazamias, and H. J. Perkinson, The Educated Man (London and Ness York, 1965), Chapter 8.
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