John Locke has 14 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 15 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 11 ratings. The most-rated is An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Summary
John Locke and his works - particularly An Essay Concerning Human Understanding - are regularly and rightly presented as foundations for the Age of Enlightenment. His primary epistemological message - that the mind at birth is a blank sheet waiting to be filled by the experiences of the senses - complemented his primary political message: that human beings are free and equal and have the right to envision, create and direct the governments that rule them and the societies within which they live. In these respects, one might think of Locke (1632-1704) as preparing the way for the 18th century, though An Essay Concerning Human Understanding dates from 1690. In the essay he remarks that he was ‘employed as an under-labourer in clearing the ground a little, and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way to knowledge’. Everywhere, Locke’s 18th-century readers included learned philosophers, educators, historians and political thinkers but also local community and political leaders, students and many others eager to take advantage of the expanding world of print culture that was a central part of the Enlightenment. Today, Locke remains an accessible author whose essay can still be listened to with pleasure by an engaged public around the world. Some will listen to his work to know more about the beginnings of the modern era; others will seek arguments to be used in present-day debates. This recording presents An Essay unabridged. It is prefaced by an informative introduction (written for the Wordsworth Edition) by Mark G. Spencer, who explains: ‘The starting point for much of Locke’s philosophy was his keenness to explore how it was that humans arrived at their knowledge of the world. What do humans know? How do they know what they know?’ Or, as Locke himself puts it in his opening section, ‘Epistle to the Reader’, his purpose was to 'examine our own abilities, and see what objects our understandings were, or were not, fitted to deal with.’ And it remains an approachable text, for, as Spencer points out, Locke’s ‘intended reading audience was not one of scholars and philosophers shut up in their closets’ but the ordinary man.’ The essay is divided into four books: Part 1: Of Innate Notions, Of Ideas, Of Words; and Part 2: Of Knowledge and Probability. Leighton Pugh reads with clarity and vigour. Introduction © Mark G Spencer.
Public Domain (P)2018 Ukemi Productions Ltd
Two Treatises of Government
Summary
Two Treatises of Government is a work of political philosophy that outlined a concept foreign to the American people who, at the time, were still under English monarchy. This concept is what we now call democracy and advocated for a system in which all people were afforded rights to freedom and property ownership. The book was intended to push forward the ideas on contract theory and natural rights. Thomas Jefferson borrowed many of the ideas of Two Treatises of Government while writing the Declaration of Independence. The first treatise was an attack on the contemporary religious philosopher at that time, Sir Robert Filmer. Locke argues that the theory of Adam, being ordained through God to have dominion over all people of the earth, was absurd. The theory of monarchs being direct descendants of Adam, therefore having a right to the throne, could not possibly be proven as the lineage was not able to be traced. In the second treatise, Locke engaged in a political discussion regarding power, government, and reason. He argues that the state of nature, a theory of the time that all humans were born with in a condition of absolute freedom and equality, was an idea that government systems needed to be built upon. Based on this theory, Locke develops a government that guarantees three basic rights to all people - life, liberty, and property.
©2016 A.R.N. Publications (P)2016 A.R.N. Publications
Two Treatises of Government
Summary
Often considered the foundation of political liberalism, John Locke's Two Treatises of Government was first published anonymously in 1689, in the wake of England's Glorious Revolution. In The First Treatise of Government, Locke refutes the idea of divine monarchy, while The Second Treatise of Government articulates Locke's philosophy of government, which he based upon his theories of natural rights and the social contract. In Locke's view, governments' legitimacy is based upon their performance of their proper functions---preservation of the life, liberty, and property rights of their citizens, and protection from those who seek to violate these rights. A radical doctrine at the time of its publication, Locke's theories provided a philosophical basis for many of the principles behind the American Revolution. More than 300 years after the publication of the Two Treatises of Government, Locke's ideas continue to spark debate. A must-listen for anyone interested in the foundations of contemporary political ideology, Locke's hugely influential work will retain its relevance for generations to come.
Public Domain (P)2011 Tantor
The Second Treatise on Civil Government
Summary
The English philosopher and physician John Locke (1632 - 1704) is widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. His work had a significant effect on the development of epistemology and political philosophy. The Second Treatise on Civil Government places sovereignty in the hands of the people, as Locke's fundamental argument is that people are equal and invested with natural rights in a state of nature in which they live free from outside rule. Locke's model of civil government consists of a civil state, built upon the natural rights of all people who welcome an executive power to protect their property and liberties. Locke maintains that the government exists for the people's benefit and can be replaced or overthrown if it ceases to function toward that end.
Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks
Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration
Summary
John Locke (1632-1704) was a product of his troubled times: he lived through the English Civil War, the Interregnum, the Restoration, Monmouth’s Rebellion, the Bloody Assizes and the Glorious Revolution. His empirical thinking was very much directed at finding rational solutions to the root causes of those troubles. Considered the founder of English empiricism and a precursor of the Enlightenment, his ideas on religious toleration, human rights and limitations on governmental power may seem so normal to us now as to be common sense, so well have they been assimilated by the social psyche; but this was far from being the case when Locke proposed them. The son of a Puritan family - his father fought as a captain of cavalry in the parliamentary army in the English Civil War - Locke was educated at Westminster school and then Oxford University, where he studied medicine and natural philosophy. He became the personal physician to the Earl of Shaftesbury, later the Lord Chancellor and founder of the Whig party. It was probably at Shaftesbury’s behest that he produced the Two Treatises Concerning Government. He began work on these in 1679, after travelling extensively in France. But in 1683 he fled to Holland following the failed Rye House Plot, in which he was suspected of having been involved by the authorities. The Two Treatises would not be published until 1689, after the Glorious Revolution. The first treatise is essentially an in-depth critique of Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha, a work which argued in favour of the divine right of kings and which was much referred to in the reign of Charles II, mainly by clerics preaching from the pulpit asserting the divine right in support of the monarch. Locke systematically dismantles and invalidates every one of Filmer’s assertions, dissecting his arguments one by one, invoking scriptural references in support of his counterarguments and disentangling and clarifying a host of ideas pertaining to the nature and origins of authority. In the second treatise, which is the better known, much more influential and important work, Locke suggests a different account for the origins and nature of government, referring back to the Hobbesian notion of the state of nature postulating three basic natural rights: the right to life, to liberty and to property. Section by section the philosopher examines his subject, lays out his thinking process and explains his conclusions, very different from Hobbes’ ideas, articulating a series of beliefs and concepts now germane to government by liberal democracy: the separation of church and state, and of the legislative and executive powers, the doctrine of checks and balances and the labour theory of value being among them. Locke’s contention that populations had the justifiable right to overthrow tyrannical governments clearly influenced Thomas Jefferson and played an important part in the American Revolution and the setting up of the Republic. A Letter Concerning Toleration, here translated by William Popple, was originally written in Latin and focuses on the problems of religion and government advocating a philosophy of tolerance among Christians as the solution, albeit with certain qualifications. These seminal Locke works are read with brio by Leighton Pugh.
Public Domain (P)2019 Ukemi Productions Ltd
A Warm Family Christmas
Summary
A charming, heart-felt collection of Christmas stories and poems that will delight the entire family. Includes F. Scott Fitzgerald's "A Luckless Santa Claus", "A Christmas Dinner" by Charles Dickens, O. Henry's classic Christmas story "The Gift of the Magi", the hilarious "Reginald on Christmas Presents" by Saki (H.H. Munro), and a tender scene exerpted from Little Women.
Public Domain (P)2006 PC Treasures, Inc.
Now & Then
Summary
When we last encountered Donovan Creed, former CIA assassin and freelance killer, he had successfully stolen billions of dollars from the world's most lethal criminals. Now all he wants is a romantic Florida vacation with the very sexy Rachel - no fire ants, bi-polar girlfriends, rabid squirrels, accident prone homicidal maniacs, hailstorms, hairless cats, gangs, faith healers, or pirates.
©2010 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Saving Rachel
Summary
What if the best morning of your life suddenly turned into your worst nightmare? Sam Case is about to find out. Saving Rachel is the story of what happens when killers force a man to choose between his wife and his mistress...and the one he rejects must die.
©2009 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
A Girl Like You
Summary
When Rachel Case goes to the doctor for a routine blood test, scientists are astonished to learn she possesses a gene no one else on earth seems to have - a gene that holds the key to protecting the world from the deadliest pandemic in history. When government operatives kidnap Rachel in order to develop a vaccine, her lover, Donovan Creed, realizes the only way he can find Rachel is to enlist the help of her current husband, Sam.
©2011 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
The Love You Crave
Summary
In this eighth book of the series, former CIA assassin Donovan Creed finds himself at odds with mob-connected Tony Spumoni and practically everyone else he knows, including his boss Darwin, lover Gwen, daughter Kimberly, protégé Callie, co-worker Lou, physician Doc Howard, assorted board members, terrorists, and even a zoo full of angry monkeys!
©2011 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Wish List
Summary
Be careful what you wish for! When Buddy Pancake and his drinking buddies stumble across the Wish List website, they jokingly post their "impossible" wishes. Imagine their surprise when, one by one, the wishes start coming true! But Buddy and his pals neglected to read the fine print explaining the price they must pay for the wishes they've been granted. Wish List is a compelling, nail-biting, laugh-out-loud thriller in the tradition of Saving Rachel.
©2010 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Lethal Experiment
Summary
Donovan Creed, former CIA assassin, is a smart-aleck tough guy who can't resist a noble cause. Despite a ton of baggage and a penchant for call girls, he always finds a way to beat the bad guys. In this sequel to Lethal People, Creed is forced to choose between his thriving contract-killer business, his part in the lethal experiment, and his desire to live a normal life with the beautiful Kathleen Gray and her newly-adopted daughter, Addie. Before that can happen, he has to take care of some lethal business involving a former lover. Lethal Experiment is a breezy and fun page-turner, featuring grisly humor, outrageous characters, and sexy dialogue.
©2009 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Lethal People
Summary
In international best-selling author John Locke’s Lethal People, former CIA assassin Donovan Creed is pursuing his latest love interest when he discovers a severely burned girl. Soon, Creed’s suspicions about what hurt the girl lead to a deadly confrontation.
©2009 John Locke (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
John Locke Box Set
Summary
John Locke (1632 - 1704), the English philosopher and physician, is widely regarded as one of the Enlightenment's most influential thinkers. Commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism", Locke was one of the first British empiricists in the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, and his work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. "A Letter Concerning Toleration" (1689) addresses the problem of religion and government by proposing religious toleration as the answer. In the "Second Treatise", Locke claims that civil society was created for the protection of life, liberty, and estate. Locke stated his belief that nature on its own provides little of value to society, implying that the labour expended in the creation of goods creates their value. From this premise, he developed a labour theory of property, whereby ownership of property is created by the application of labour. In addition, he argues that property precedes government and that the state cannot dispose of the estates of its subjects arbitrarily.
Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks