Editing John Locke (section)

=== Work ===
Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667, moved into Ashley's home at [[Cecil House|Exeter House]] in London, to serve as his personal physician. In London, Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of [[Thomas Sydenham]]. Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking—an effect that would become evident in ''[[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]].'' Locke's medical knowledge was put to the test when Ashley's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Ashley to undergo surgery (then life-threatening in itself) to remove the cyst. Ashley survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life. During this time, Locke served as Secretary of the [[Board of Trade]] and Plantations and Secretary to the [[Lords Proprietor]]s of [[Province of Carolina|Carolina]], which helped to shape his ideas on international trade and economics.<ref>{{Citation |last=Uzgalis |first=William |title=John Locke |date=2022 |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/locke/ |access-date=7 March 2024 |edition=Fall 2022 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |editor2-last=Nodelman |editor2-first=Uri}}</ref>

Ashley, as a founder of the [[British Whig Party|Whig]] movement, exerted great influence on Locke's political ideas. Locke became involved in politics when Ashley became [[Lord Chancellor]] in 1672 (Ashley being created [[Earl of Shaftesbury|1st Earl of Shaftesbury]] in 1673). Following Shaftesbury's fall from favour in 1675, Locke spent some time travelling across France as a tutor and medical attendant to [[Caleb Banks]].<ref name="Henning">{{Citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HW1_upECKUwC&q=%22Caleb+Banks%22+Aylesford&pg=PA590 |first=Basil Duke |last=Henning |title=The House of Commons, 1660–1690 |volume=1 |access-date=28 August 2012 |isbn=978-0-436-19274-6 |year=1983|publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> He returned to England in 1679 when Shaftesbury's political fortunes took a brief positive turn. Around this time, most likely at Shaftesbury's prompting, Locke composed the bulk of the ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]''. While it was once thought that Locke wrote the ''Treatises'' to defend the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688, recent scholarship has shown that the work was composed well before this date.{{Sfn|Laslett|1988|loc=III. ''Two Treatises of Government'' and the Revolution of 1688}} The work is now viewed as a more general argument against [[absolute monarchy]] (particularly as espoused by [[Robert Filmer]] and [[Thomas Hobbes]]) and for individual consent as the basis of [[political legitimacy]]. Although Locke was associated with the influential [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]], his ideas about [[natural rights]] and government are considered quite revolutionary for that period in English history.