An Abridgment of Mr. Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

viii, 250 pp. 12mo. Contemporary calf. First published in 1689, this is a foundational work in the influential British school of empiricism, of which Locke was among the leading proponents. Empirical philosophy argued that knowledge stemmed from subjective experience (a posteriori) rather than the operation of objective reason (a priori). As such, this work contains commentary on how the formation of ideas relates to sensation and perception. This abridgment is the only 18th century American edition of Locke's work, which was not published in a complete U.S. edition until 1803.