John Locke (1632-1704), an early philosopher of liberalism who lived and wrote during the period we call the Enlightenment, wrote a short treatise on the pursuit of truth and on what it means to be "enlightened," entitled Of the Conduct of the Understanding (1704). In addition to deserving a close analysis for its own sake, the Conduct provides an ideal setting for an exploration of Locke's other works. Locke is the author of important works on political philosophy, on epistemology, and on religion; the Conduct helps us to understand how these various works fit together in Locke's thought. In this dissertation I explore the Conduct and its relationship to Locke's other major works in order to examine the following questions at the heart of Locke's political philosophy: what does it mean to be "enlightened"? How are freedom of mind and intellectual independence, which are the goals of Locke's enlightenment, related to his argument for political freedom and security, which are the goals of his liberalism? And finally, can we learn anything for ourselves from Locke about the activity of pursuing the truth and of freeing our minds to receive it? These questions are the focus of this dissertation. I argue throughout that Locke supports and defends in a variety of ways a single "Lockean" proposition: ordinary minds possess the moral and intellectual capacity for the independence of mind required for self-rule and self-government. I find that Locke considered intellectual independence of ordinary individuals to be crucial to the success of his politics of limited government.
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