John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher. Locke was born in Somerset and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford where he read philosophy and medicine. In 1666 he met the Earl of Shaftesbury who convinced Locke to travel to London to join his retinue as physician. During this time Locke wrote extensively on philosophy and political theory. He developed the theory of mind, exploring the ideas of identity and self. He contested that we are born without innate ideas, that our minds are a blank slate (tabula rasa), and that we add to this through experience and sensory perception. His ideas on politics were based on liberalism and were hugely influential to social contract theory. Locke is considered one of the leading Enlightenment thinkers. This engraving by Vertue comes from Birch's The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, published at London in 1747.