John Locke And Rene Descartes Essay

ohn Locke and Rene Descartes are seen as some of the greatest philosophers of the 17th century. One of Descartes most important achievement was perhaps that he built the foundation of what knowledge should be. His famous saying is “I think therefore I am” He believed that knowledge began with doubt. However John Locke has a different interpretation of knowledge which was that we learn everything through our senses. However there are two types of senses. They both are in search to find the answer to the same question. They just have two completely different interpretations and insights on it. But nonetheless both made huge contributions to the field to philosophy.

John Locke was perhaps one of the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke discusses the move from a state of nature and perfect freedom to a then governed society in which authority is given to a legislative and executive power. His major ideas included liberalism and capitalism, state of nature, state of war and the desire to protect one’s property.

With the exception of Native Americans, there is no race of people that originated in America. Yet today, we all come together under the colors of red, white and blue, sing the National Anthem and call ourselves "Americans". Despite our differences in religion, norms, values, national origins, our pasts, and our creeds, we all combine under one common denominator. Alain Locke addresses this issue of cultural pluralism in his article, "Who and What is `Negro'?" In this article, Locke states that, "There is, in brief, no `The Negro'. " By this, he means that blacks are not a uniform and unchanging body of people. He emphasizes that we, as Americans, need to mentally mature to a point where we do not view

Locke and Rousseau present themselves as two very distinct thinkers. They both use similar terms, but conceptualize them differently to fulfill very different purposes. As such, one ought not be surprised that the two theorists do not understand liberty in the same way. Locke discusses liberty on an individual scale, with personal freedom being guaranteed by laws and institutions created in civil society. By comparison, Rousseau’s conception portrays liberty as an affair of the entire political community, and is best captured by the notion of self-rule. The distinctions, but also the similarities between Locke and Rousseau’s conceptions can be clarified by examining the role of liberty in each theorist’s proposed state of nature and

Rene Descartes, a well-known philosopher in his meditation of first philosophy, proposes an idea that humans are more than just a shape with mass. He does so by arguing that firm foundation of Science requires a truth that is absolutely certain, for this purpose Descartes created a concept of I – ego that only exists through a process of logic. Therefore, rejects all the beliefs for which there is even a possibility of doubt and whatever truth is left will be absolute certain. An example, Descartes uses to support his first meditation was the existence of God. He argues as a believer of God but consider the counters argument against the existence of God. In his second meditation, Descartes is much more certain of minds existence than a body.

     In Meditation III, Descartes presents his argument for the existence of God. He makes this argument here because it is one of his stronger arguments. In this essay, I will summarize and critically assess this argument.

I would like to begin by giving a little background on the philosopher John Locke. Locke was born on August 28, 1632 near the city of Pensford in England and was educated at Westminster School in London in 1647 . After extensive reading and learning Locke began writing a number of different philosophical treatises and essays from about 1680 through 1699 and then spent the rest of his life in quite reflection . The work of Locke’s that we will be looking at for the purpose this paper is his book, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, and more specifically chapter twenty one that discusses his notion of power. I would like to accomplish two things in this paper. First thing is to use this chapter and commentaries to explore when Locke states that power is when the mind, “informed by the senses,” is aware of and reflects on changes that are internal to the self and external to the object relating to the senses . Locke then continues that there are two ways to look at power, first is the power to make changes and second is the power to be a receiver of changes . This is Locke’s notion of power in a simplistic form that I agree with and I will attempt to simplify his complex arguments to make them a little more clear and direct. Second thing I would like to do is to bring to light some of Locke’s errors in the consideration of pleasure and pain according to motivation and morality of the will. Locke’s goal for happiness in life is to avoid pain and prolong pleasure

In 1697 famed German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz attempted to correspond with the English philosopher John Locke about Locke’s book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Fancher & Rutherford, 2012, p. 51). Locke, who found the contents of Leibniz’s letter misaligned with the man’s esteemed reputation, coolly rebuffed the attempt. Leibniz was not discouraged by Locke’s rejection, however, and went on to expand his ideas in New Essays on Human Understanding (Fancher & Rutherford, 2012, p. 52). Locke died just before the manuscript was completed and Leibniz neglected to publish it out of respect to the deceased philosopher who would thus be incapable of responding. Though these two philosophers were never given the opportunity to correspond on their ideas concerning their theoretical differences, they had much in common.

Since Descartes was able to think, he knew that he existed ultimately. With this in mind, Descartes reckoned that a person 's "self" illustrates their identity. Descartes states: “that he possesses a body intimately conjoined... and that he has a clear and distinct idea of himself, inasmuch...it is certain that this I [that is to say, my soul by which I am what I am], is entirely and absolutely distinct from my body, and can exist without it" (Descartes, Meditations On First Philosophy, pg.29). In fact, Descartes proposes that the body connects dually with the mind, which he believes the body is "divisible", and the mind as "indivisible", but he also informs the readers that he knows certainly who he is. Not only did Descartes deem this information as true, but he was adamant about the possibility of living without a soul. In particular, Descartes depicts a vivid picture of how the

The study of knowledge, or epistemology, contains theoretical methods in which information is learned. Of these methods, there are two that are most widely accepted. Rationalism and empiricism are also the most widely debated methods of knowledge. Rationalism claims that a priori processes and intuition gain knowledge. Rationalism claims that knowledge is innate; but that it varies among humans. At the other end of the spectrum, empiricism claims that knowledge is gained largely by experience, observation, and sensory perception.

Who am I? What am I? Why am I? These are all questions that humans have been asking themselves for thousands of years. Some of us ponder on the question throughout our lives, attempting to find the meaning of life and a reason for us to continue on. Others, however, ask the question in a fleeting moment and barely concern themselves with these age old questions. Many philosophers have analyzed the different aspects of “the self”, one’s identity, and ones consciousness to better understand and answer these questions. This in turn has created several different theories as to what our consciousness is, what “the self” is, and what do we mean by identity. Two such philosophers that have been extremely influential to this issue are Rene Descartes

Are humans born with any kind of innate knowledge or is everything we know learned from experience? Descartes and Locke have opposing viewpoints on this subject. In Descartes meditations, he shows his belief for innate thinking through his development of thoughts throughout his work. Locke’s essays actually go to combat against those views by using plenty of examples and arguments. Who is right, though? In this essay, both views will be evaluated and Locke’s viewpoint will be combatted. Locke missed possible innate knowledge when explaining why it is not valid.

What is an idea? According to Oxford Dictionary, the exact definition of “Idea” is a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action. But where exactly did the origins of ideas come from? A father of the modern western philosophy, Rene Descartes, and an English philosopher, John Locke both give their detailed accounts on where exactly the origins of accounts come from.

The life-blood of philosophy is argument and counter-argument. Plato and Aristotle thought of this as what they called dialectic discussion.

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes's ideas on how the government works have change people's views for many years. Without the Government there would be fights, crime increase, and complete coas. In everyday life you don’t realize the true purpose of the government until you sit and think about what the government does or how it works. Many people had different views about the government. Some think we could make it without a government, but on the other hand some people think that we need a government to survive. Have you ever sat down and thought of what started the government, and the purpose of it?