ABSTRACT

Locke’s discussion of freedom began as a digression. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding (hereafter ECHU ) is an attempt to determine the scope and limits of the human cognitive faculties. Providing a general theory of how we acquire our ideas is one important part of this. Another important part is Locke’s attempt to explain how we acquire some particularly complicated-and philosophically interesting-ideas such as the ideas of persons, identity, and freedom. As he attempted to do this, Locke somehow found himself also trying to explain what identity, persons, and freedom are . Many of Locke’s readers over the years have found these metaphysical digressions more memorable than the theory of cognition which is his of cial subject.