Project

"Whereby I Am My Self to My Self": A New Reading of Consciousness in Locke

Program

ACLS Fellowship Program

Department

Philosophy

Abstract

This study develops and employs a novel interpretation of consciousness that is called for by the historical and philosophical conditions of Locke’s time and resolves what have been considered irreconcilable problems in important areas in Locke’s philosophy: his philosophical psychology and his theories of knowledge, personal identity, and moral motivation. Although virtually every Locke scholar writes on at least some of these topics, this model of consciousness enables the analysis to address all of these issues as bound together by a common thread.