Notes and Annotations on Locke on the Human Understanding

These "Notes and Annotations" were written at the request of Queen Caroline, but remained in manuscript form among Morell's papers until his death in 1784. Interest in Locke was stimulated by a new edition of the "Essay" in 1793, and the demand for a critical commentary prompted the speedy publication of Morell's "Notes". Included in the book are explanations of Lockean terminology, starting with "idea" and "innate", accounts of central themes and arguments of the "Essay" and substantial criticisms. Morell is particularly concerned with the implications of Locke's philosophy for the nature of the soul. How, he asks, does Locke claim to know that his soul is not always thinking? Perhaps it thinks continuously, even during deep sleep, but forgets these night thoughts in the morning? Morell also rejects both Locke's account of liberty (insisting on a genuine "self-moving power of the mind") and of personal identity: "it is much more agreeable to reason that thinking substance and person should be one and the same thing". Locke is also rebuked for flirting with materialist theories of the soul. If matter could be given the power of thinking, Morell insists, it would simply cease to be matter.