Quote by John Locke: “Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything.”

No authority — religious, political, or traditional — should override what your reason concludes to be true. Locke is not being arrogant; he is arguing that without reason as a final check, any institution can demand you believe anything by mere assertion. Reason protects you from manipulation.

Locke published his Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1689, the same year as England's Glorious Revolution, which replaced the Catholic James II with the Protestant William and Mary. He had spent years in exile in the Netherlands and returned to England as political circumstances changed. His philosophical work was inseparable from the political struggles of his era.

English philosopher born in 1632, one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers. His Two Treatises of Government argued that legitimate political authority requires consent of the governed, directly influencing the American and French revolutions. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding laid foundations for modern epistemology and empiricist philosophy.