Name: James Wood

Title: Locke's Anecdotes

Abstract: Locke’s Anecdotes are often seen as the most deceptive kind of evidence. We suspect “merely anecdotal” evidence because their provenance is often suspect and, even if taken as fact, the move from the anecdotal particular to general truth is hardly ever justified. Our distrust of anecdotes contrasts sharply with the widespread acceptance, from the classical through the early modern period, of the legitimate deployment of the exemplum, a short narrative taken from history or fiction, to exemplify or prove a thesis. This paper closely reads the chapter on “The Association of Ideas” in John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding as an exemplary case of the modern anecdote appearing from the ashes of the exemplum. The anecdotes in the Essay exemplify the modern anecdote which differs from the exemplum in five fundamental ways: (1) the modern anecdote is typically contemporary or near contemporary, (2) unknown rather than familiar or commonplace, (3) claims to be true but is nevertheless (4) always heard or read with skepticism, and (5) can only be imperfectly integrated within the discourse that includes it.