Identity and Difference : John Locke and the Invention of Consciousness

A new reading of Locke as a continental philosopher by a leading French thinker.

John Locke's foundational place in the history of British empiricism and liberal political thought is well established. So, in what sense can Locke be considered a modern <i>European</i> philosopher? <i>Identity and Difference</i> argues for reassessing this canonical figure. Closely examining the "treatise on identity" added to the second edition of <i>An Essay Concerning Human Understanding</i>, Etienne Balibar demonstrates Locke's role in the formation of two concepts central to the metaphysics of the subject—consciousness and <i>the self</i>—and the complex philosophical, legal, moral and political nature of his terms. <br><br>With an accompanying essay by Stella Sandford, situating Balibar's reading of Locke in the history of the reception of the <i>Essay</i> and within Balibar's other writings on "the subject," <i>Identity and Difference</i> rethinks a crucial moment in the history of Western philosophy.