ABSTRACT
The nature of death seems distant from the explicit themes of John Locke’s writings. Locke’s political philosophy is grounded on the mitigation of death and dying, as much as possible, and the extension and preservation of life. Though the thought of inevitable mortality seems distant from the arguments of Locke’s major writings, his epitaph is enough to inform people that it was present to his mind. Locke’s political views are best studied in Two Treatises of Government. Locke’s understanding of the relation of faith to knowledge is best given in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, a work that made Locke famous in his own lifetime. Locke discusses the idea of mortality in the Essay, too. According to the A Letter Concerning Toleration, those who rule in political communities ought neither to concern themselves with saving the souls of their citizens nor, indeed, attempt to regulate their spiritual lives in any way.
