  Another way to absolve Locke of inconsistency is to emphasize his agnosticism or skepticism, while downplaying or reinterpreting passages that appear to commit him to the corpuscular hypothesis. Interpretations in this vein tend to emphasize Locke’s pessimism about our ability to know real essences, to discern necessary connections, and consequently, to have scientia in natural philosophy. Commentators pursuing this line include Jolley and Downing (and more recently Connolly (2015), who argues for an even greater epistemic humility, one extending to real essences, along with superaddition, mentioned briefly below). 