Excerpt from Locke a Constructive Relativist
In presenting Locke as a Constructive Relativist I claim to present him in his central and most inclusive doctrine. It is not the view I held of Locke a short time ago. Nor is it likely that my older conception of him would have undergone its radical change, if it had not been for the fact that conditions led me to give Book III of his Essay more serious reading than our traditional opinion of it seemed to invite.
Locke tells his friend Molyneux that Book III gave him more labor in the writing than the rest of the Essay. This fact does not of necessity insure merit. Yet I mention it as a fact not without its significance, and, in addition, venture the further statement, that, until Book III was written, Locke never came into full possession of his "new way of ideas" - a way that not only yields what is most distinctive in modern pragmatism, but its much-lacking, or relevant, metaphysics as well. I admit Book III does not at first appear to have its specific doctrines writ in italics. Locke himself confesses in respect to this Book: "I should not much wonder if there be in some places of it obscurity and doubtfulness... though the thoughts were easy and clear enough, yet (it) cost me more pains to express them than all the rest of my Essay." The fact is that Locke"s "new way of ideas" here took its last "new" turn, and its consummate character once clearly grasped, one ceases over night to view Locke traditionally.
In affirming Locke to be essentially the constructive relativist and not essentially the reputed sensationalist, I expose myself to misunderstanding. He is the sensationalist, as reputed, for those who will not consider Locke beyond the evident sensationalistic implications of his doctrine, and who, in support of their claim, may turn to the British movement in philosophy that rose out of it.
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