Sebastian Moll McCarthy Dec 13, 2012:

THANK YOU very much guys.
Great work, Charles and Phil, Admirable. Most interesting and helpful.
I just learnt, to research in depth.
Thanks to Edward also.

All the best,
SebMoll

Charles Davis Dec 12, 2012:

Fair enough I do agree that Edward deserves the credit, and your finding is there if BristolTEc wants to use it.

I'd like to think you're right about people understanding "professors", but I'd bet a lot of readers will think it means "teachers".

philgoddard Dec 12, 2012:

I also think a reader would understand the meaning of "professors" fairly quickly.

philgoddard Dec 12, 2012:

Yes, that's a good point. I just thought it would be a bit mean to post a separate question when Edward has done most of the work. I looked for the quotation myself, couldn't find it, but was suspicious about the language of Edward's version. Mine is the correct answer, but he deserves the points.

Charles Davis Dec 12, 2012:

@Phil I would give your discussion entry an "agree" if I could. This ought to be posted as an answer; in my opinion, Locke's actual words should be used (although it's true that most modern readers will misunderstand "professors", whose first meaning then was "one who declares himself of any opinion or party", as Dr Johnson put it: in other words, a supporter or follower, someone who professes a doctrine).

To put it another way, "There is no error that hasn't had its supporters", though a perfectly serviceable modern rendering, has no more authority than any other paraphrase one might come up with.

philgoddard Dec 12, 2012:

David Ronder pointed out that the quote "sounds very modern". It is - Edward has taken it from a 21st-century "translation" designed to make it easier for us to understand. For the record, Locke actually said: "There is no error to be named, which has not had its professors".
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke1/Bo...