Education to Virtue and the Politics of Liberty

Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Locke\u27s treatise on education, has yet to be fully integrated with his more familiar political and philosophical works. This is true in spite of the fact that his philosophy of education is central to an understanding of his political theory. On the surface, there seems to be some tension between Locke\u27s advice on how best to educate the young, and his prescriptions for political legitimacy. The emphasis on consent in the Second Treatise of Government seems to require a parallel emphasis on freedom of thought; but it is the possibility of precisely this sort of freedom that Locke calls into question with a theory of education grounded in the external inculcation of mental habits that control behavior throughout life. This surface tension, however, is dispelled by Locke\u27s theory of knowledge, as it is expressed in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. The Essay\u27s skepticism with regard to an objective and public knowledge makes clear first, that education is reducible to indoctrination; and second, that liberty therefore requires the rejection or fundamental reconstitution of what has been learned. In this light, the Two Treatises are central elements in Locke\u27s education to “virtue,” which is nothing more than the indoctrination of liberal belief