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An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett Classics) Abridged Edition

by John Locke (Author), Kenneth P. Winkler (Editor)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 146 ratings
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Includes generous selections from the Essay, topically arranged passages from the replies to Stillingfleet, a chronology, a bibliography, a glossary, and an index based on the entries that Locke himself devised.

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Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    087220216X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0872202160
  3. Edition
    Abridged
  4. Publisher
    Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
  5. Publication date
    September 15, 1996
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  8. Print length
    416 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This abridgment by Kenneth Winkler is the best that has ever been done. Winkler's judgment as to what must be kept and what may be dropped is unerring, and his literary skill has enabled him to fashion a text that reads smoothly. An illuminating Introduction and comprehensive glossary enhance the value of this volume for students. --Vere Chappell, University of Massachusetts, Amherst



Locke's Essay is a massive, scarcely organized work that is easy for students to get lost in and difficult for teachers to lend coherence to. But Winkler's abridgment succeeds remarkably at bringing out the underlying structure of Locke's masterpiece without sacrificing any of the long and important passages that put the meat on that structure. I didn't think this could be done until I came across Winkler's abridgment. It certainly makes teaching Locke much easier, since it makes the structure of the Essay more apparent, and leaves the teacher thus freer to concentrate on the details of the text. I know of no passages from the Essay left out of this abridgment that I would prefer to use in a lower-level class. If anything, I would have made the abridgment shorter still. But to my knowledge, nobody has yet done a better job than Winkler. --Michael Rolf, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author

John Locke (1632-1704) was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and held various academic posts at that university, lecturing on Greek and rhetoric. However, his interests lay in medicine and the new experimental sciences and in 1667 he became personal physician to the Earl of Shaftesbury. Under the influence of Shaftesbury, Locke developed his ideas on politics, property, trade, monarchy and the mind. Shaftesbury became a bitter opponent of Charles II and was involved in the plot of 1683. This forced Locke to flee in exile to Holland, but he returned after 1688 and began to publish his most famous works. He wrote also on tehology, education, and in defence of religous tolerance, while founding the analytic philosophy of the mind. Roger Woolhouse is Professor of Philosophy at the University of York. He has also edited George Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous for Penguin Classics.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.; Abridged edition (September 15, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 087220216X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0872202160
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 146 ratings

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John Locke

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
146 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars this is a great book and an interesting read
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2016
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This book is where John Locke laid down his "Tabula Rasa" and this ideology has carried on through centuries (and even up to today for those who aren't educated enough to know he's actually been proven wrong. In fact most modern philosophers have been proven wrong on most of the things they wrote). Nonetheless, this is a great book and an interesting read. There are four "books" within this book and each chapter has a lot of rich information. It's a very dense text with Locke covering a lot throughout. This is (arguably) one of the top influential philosophical texts that has been written and it's studied in modern philosophy courses at my university. I would recommend this book to anyone that's a novice to philosophy.
12 people found this helpful
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Richard Robbins
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2017
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I had already read it, Just wanted my own copy.
2 people found this helpful
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simon
5.0 out of 5 stars Really good
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2012
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The book looks like new and has good notes. And it is very cheap. I think it is better than the new one.
One person found this helpful
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Leslie Colón
4.0 out of 5 stars A bit difficult
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023
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This reading text was a bit difficult to follow but once you gay background knowledge it’s becomes easier.
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Figueras
5.0 out of 5 stars great product
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2014
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great for my college course and fast shipping
3 people found this helpful
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Alex Ho
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2016
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It was fine
One person found this helpful
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Chris
3.0 out of 5 stars Heavy-handed Abridgment...At Best
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2022
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I read this by listening to it on Audible. When something really caught my attention, I referenced the book to highlight it so that I might return to it later. MANY times throughout this book what I wanted to highlight was not present. Locke enumerates his ideas often. This abridgement will skip 9 to 13 to 17 to 19 (for example on pages 174-175). For this reason, I was disappointed.

Also, Winkler has abridged OUT every instance (Such as on p.184 and 185) where Locke talks about "what a man is and is not." I began noticing this early on, but it is quite conspicuous if this is compared to Chapter 50 of the unabridged audio book... which would seem that he is not only abridging but censoring to promote an agenda.

For example this was removed: Locke says, "... wherein does his idea of man differ from that of Peter and Paul, or his idea of horse from that of Bucephalus, but in the leaving out something that is peculiar to each individual, and retaining so much of those particular complex ideas of several particular existences as they are found to agree in? Of the complex ideas signified by the names man and horse, leaving out but those particulars wherein they differ, and retaining only those wherein they agree, and of those making a new distinct complex idea, and giving the name animal to it, one has a more general term, that comprehends with man several other creatures."

Without beleaguering the point, this is one of many examples, and you can compare for yourself.
4 people found this helpful
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curmudgeon
4.0 out of 5 stars The old man and his essay
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2010
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Mr locke lived a very long time ago and is dead. Thomas Jefferson used to be president of the United States said Mr Locke was a very smart man. I think this is a very long essay. I'm bettin' Mr. Jefferson didn't read the whole thing in one sittin'.. the end... I am an old electrician and not a philosopher; I am in no way qualified to review or offer worthy commentary on Mr. Locke's work.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Petros S.
2.0 out of 5 stars Important typographical issues (in the Hackett edition)
Reviewed in Germany on February 12, 2022
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This review concerns the Hackett edition (abridged and edited by Kenneth P. Winkler). Unfortunately, this edition has some major typographical issues.

One issue concerns the use of commas. Take this sentence for example (as it appears in this edition):

“What censure, doubting thus of innate principles, may deserve from men, who will be apt to call it, pulling up the old foundations of knowledge and certainty, I cannot tell:”

...and contrast it with how it appears both on Wikisource and on johnlocke.net:

“What censure doubting thus of innate principles may deserve from men, who will be apt to call it pulling up the old foundations of knowledge and certainty, I cannot tell;”

I think it is evident that the former version is much harder to parse. This is not an isolated case; it happens constantly throughout the book.

Also, apart from punctuation issues, this edition also has some straightforward typographical errors. For example, I just came across this sentence:

“Whatsoever positive ideas we have in our minds of any space, duration, or number, let them be never so great, they are still finite;”

I had to spend some time/effort trying to understand the meaning of this sentence, but, in the context, the word “never” just made no sense to me. Once again, here is how that same sentence appears on Wikisource:

“Whatsoever positive ideas we have in our minds of any space, duration, or number, let them be ever so great, they are still finite;”

This is on page 87 (out of 357) and I’ve already encountered several errors of this kind.

Unfortunately, this being a philosophical text (where linguistic precision is very important), these types of issues can make it much harder to follow (when you are having trouble understanding a sentence there is always a bit of doubt whether it’s on you or on the edition) and significantly detracts from the overall reading experience.
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Jose G.
5.0 out of 5 stars John Locke
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
I love this book. It will last for many, many years for what is written inside, what it is all about, is timeless.
One person found this helpful
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Wendy Pardy
5.0 out of 5 stars Book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 10, 2014
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Bought as a gift
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ST
3.0 out of 5 stars It's in modern english, but it is _abridged_
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
I cannot say much more than my title says, because I need to return this book - I bought the ebook - for a refund, toute suite. For, I need an unabriged version. There is a modern and scholarly edition of the same book - that edition being by Clarenden Press.
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