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Although Locke was born into a family of modest means, he was able to obtain an excellent education by way of his father's connections. In 1647, at the age of fifteen, he began studies at Westminster School, considered London's best. At twenty, he began studies at Christ Church College, Oxford. His studies focused on logic, metaphysics, and languages taught within the framework of '''Aristotelian scholasticism'''. [[CiteRef::Uzgalis (2016)| pp. 3-4]] This was more than a century after Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) had posited his '''heliocentric cosmology''' in 1543, and forty years after Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) published his observations with the telescope in 1610. Both were strong challenges to Aristotelianism. [[CiteRef::Westfall (1980)|p. 6]] Like many ambitious students of the time, Locke doubted Aristotelian scholasticism and sought alternative resources outside the formal curriculum. Such resources were abundant at Oxford. He became involved with a discussion group organized by John Wilkins (1614-1672. In the Wilkins group, Locke was exposed to the '''experimental philosophy''' and the ideas of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) who argued for an '''inductive methodology''' for science. The Wilkins group was the nucleus of what would later become the '''Royal Society''' of England, which became a formal institution in the 1660's. The society would set itself in opposition to the Aristotelian scholasticism of the universities, advocating the study of nature rather than of ancient texts. [[CiteRef::Uzgalis (2016)|p. 4]] Natural philosophy and medicine were considered closely related, and Bacon's call for a 'great instauration' of knowledge included medicine. Locke's notebooks indicate a strong interest in medicine and chemistry. He attended the lectures of the great anatomist Thomas Willis (1621-1675) and took careful notes.[[CiteRef::Rogers (1982)|p. 217]][[CiteRef::Anstey (2011)|p. ]]

Many members of the study group were interested in medicine and pursuing medicine by observation rather than by reading classic texts. The Wilkins group was the nucleus of what would later become the '''Royal Society''' of England, which became a formal institution in the 1660's. The society set itself in opposition to the Aristotelian scholasticism of the universities, advocating the study of nature rather than of ancient texts. [[CiteRef::Uzgalis (2016)|p. 4]] Locke received his bachelor's degree in 1656. He was elected a senior student of Christ Church College and decided to study medicine and chemistry. When John Wilkins left Oxford, the new leader of the scientific group became Robert Boyle (1627-1691). Boyle ascribed to the '''corpuscular mechanistic philosophy''' associated with [[Rene Descartes]] (1596-1650), which held that the visible properties of the natural world were due to interactions between invisibly small particles or corpuscles. He is noted for his physical experiments. Boyle became Locke's scientific tutor. Locke read Boyle's works and those of Descartes, though he also learned from his experimentalist associates to be skeptical of Descartes ' rationalism.   called corpuls[[CiteRef::Uzgalis (2016)|p. 5]] Locke became a physician, and ascribed was personal physician to his Corpuscular Theory, which stated that Lord Ashley during the natural world 1670's and 1680's. He was composed an early member of small, invisible pieces the Royal Society and knew most of matter called corpuscles. To Lockethe major English natural philosophers, this was simpler and more appealing than Scholasticism. including [[CiteRef::Uzgalis Isaac Newton]] (20161643-1727)|pand some continental ones as well. 6]] While writing his ''An Essay Concerning Human Understanding'', Locke traveled published in 1689, he read Newton's ''Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica'' and found little need to Francerevise his essay, where met Descartes, and was impressed by since Newton's epistemological views were rather similar to his anti-Scholasticism philosophyown, Cartesian rationalismboth having absorbed the views current in the Royal Society. [[CiteRef::Uzgalis Rogers (20161982)|p. 5]] The empiricism Locke presents in ''Essay'', is considered to be a response to both Scholasticism and Cartesian rationalism, especially as a rejection of the latter.