"All others have a right to be followed as far as I, i.e. as far as the evidence of what they say convinces; and of that my own understanding alone must be judge for me, and nothing else."
— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Author
Work Title
Date
May 16, 1699
Metaphor
"All others have a right to be followed as far as I, i.e. as far as the evidence of what they say convinces; and of that my own understanding alone must be judge for me, and nothing else."
Metaphor in Context
The first requisite to the profiting by books, is not to judge of opinions by the authority of the writers; none have the right of dictating but God himself, and that because he is truth itself. All others have a right to be followed as far as I, i.e. as far as the evidence of what they say convinces; and of that my own understanding alone must be judge for me, and nothing else. If we made our own eyes our guides, and admitted or rejected opinions only by the evidence of reason, we should neither embrace or refuse any tenet, because we find it published by another, of what name or character soever he was.
Categories
Provenance
Reading Edmund Leites, "Conscience, Leisure, and Learning: Locke and the Levellers." Sociological Analysis, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Spring, 1978), p. 51.
Citation
The London Magazine. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. I:6 (June, 1820): 661-664. <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
02/02/2010
