John Locke And Rene Descartes

This paper will demonstrate how Locke’s Memory criterion and Parfit’s account of psychological continuity and connectedness is more similar than you think. Is Parfit’s account of psychological continuity and connectedness just an abstract perspective of Lock’s memory criterion and personal identity theory?

John Locke and George Berkeley are two respected individuals in the world of philosophy. These two brilliant minds impacted the philosophy and brought new ideas that are worth noting. John Locke is famously known for his belief in tabula rasa or blank slate. He believed that knowledge was not innate in humans at born, but it is learned experiences that give us knowledge. Example, a psychiatrist understands how to help a client with this problem that may be new to the psychiatrist because he/she would use what they’ve learned before to help that client. This example shows that we learn things through experiences and gain knowledge through our past experiences. Another example plays on Locke’s theory that are just objects that we add elements to it. It’s separated in two terms; primary and secondary. Primary refers more to just the shape, the weight, or location and secondary refers to the color, taste, smell, and other qualities that give us a sensation. Locke was also known for his belief in a concept he called, substance. This concept refers to matter and mind. Example, a physical object such as a car would be considered a matter, you can also think of it as something that takes up space and that is tenable. Now, thinking about how that car is operated and if it something useful in the future then that is what he called the mind. Also, the cognitive process was not tenable and was not mind then it would be considered mind. Berkeley in the other hand completely disapproved

371). This responds to the objections raised by Thomas Reid in the 18th century (Shoemaker, 2008, p. 340), however, the Memory Theory did require a modification to include the possibility of temporarily forgetting the experiences of an earlier person-stage, “as long as one has the potentiality of remembering it” (Shoemaker, 2008, p. 340). In the conversations held by Gretchen Weirob, Sam Miller and Dave Cohen in Perry’s ‘Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality’ (Perry, 1977), this concept is addressed in depth. Miller relays a chapter written by Locke – “the relation between two person-stages or stretches of consciousness that makes them stages of a single person is just that the later one contains memories of an earlier one...I can remember only my past thoughts and feelings, and you only yours...take this relation as the source of identity” (Perry, 1977, p. 343). These concepts are logical possibilities in my opinion, and are far less unstable than those presented within the Body/Soul Theory, as these concepts do not require the senses of others, but the individual’s first person perception of their personal identity.

The story “lord of the flies’’ by William Golding, the novel correlates to the philosophical views of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. John Locke was an English philosopher that surmised man's natural moral compass would point towards good, Locke's philosophical writings stated “ that individuals in a state of nature would have stronger moral limits on their actions. Essentially, Locke thought that our human nature was characterized by reason and tolerance. People, Locke believed, were basically good’’ ( Locke and Hobbes Overview 2). John Locke thought if people were given no rules they would make a paradise, flourishing in law, order, and structure, Thomas Hobbes believed people were naturally cruel and chaotic, with a need of a strong ruler to make decisions. Hobbes stated, “Who felt that mankind was inherently evil and required a strong central authority to ward off this inclination toward an immoral behavior, Locke believed that human nature allowed men to be selfish’’( Locke and Hobbes Overview 2 ). Thomas Hobbes believed a strong iron-fisted ruler was needed for the safety and well being of a society. The ideals of man in a natural state, follow Thomas Hobbes philosophical view represented through Jack's brutish and monarch like attitude which lead to them living in a dystopian society.

The purpose of this essay is to define what Personal Identity is by analyzing John Locke’s argument for Personal Identity. John Locke’s argument for Personal Identity will be examined, in order to establish a better understanding of whether or not the argument for personal identity could be embraced. In order to do so, the essay will i) State and explain Locke’s argument that we are not substances or mere souls and ii) State and explain Locke’s concept of personal identity and its relations to what he calls self, consciousness and punishment. This essay will also focus on Thomas Reid’s perspective on personal identity and iii) State and explain Reid’s criticisms of Locke’s theory of personal identity, and lastly iv) I will evaluate whether or not Reid’s objections are good. Locke’s argument may seem to be plausible at first, however, the essay will conclude by rejecting John Locke’s argument for personal identity due to Locke’s inadequate reasonings and Thomas Reid’s criticisms.

In this essay, I will be explaining John Locke’s case of the prince and the cobbler and Bernard Williams’s second description of the A-body person and the B-body person. Bernard Williams has the correct analysis of the situation where the body is part of self-identity since it is inevitable for us to fear future pain.

As society continues to progress and shape, comes along ideas to help create a foundation to stabilize citizens. Perspectives on human nature itself and the purpose of a government must be explicated to generalize what is needed and why. To create a positive and successful political institution these values must be viewed to attain the prime government. The state of nature is the freedom of individuals in a civilization where there is no formed society, government, laws, safety, etc. both Thomas Hobbes and John Locke take this into perspective while introducing a political view. As illustrated by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels, they proposed political views on how human nature can prosper.

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were two English political philosophers, who have had a lasting impact on modern political science. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both spent much of their lives attempting to identify the best form of government. Locke and Hobbes were among the most prominent of theorists when it came to social contract and human rights. A Social Contract is an agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, are the two basic figures of differentiating viewpoints when it comes to the social contract. While both agree that societies and governments should coexist with one another, their opinions on how the two operate in relation to one another differ on many important points.

Niccolò Machiavelli, Karl Marx, and John Locke are three rationalists who, in spite of the fact that have changing feelings on how rulers should act, all think about the prosperity of the individuals from society. These three distinctive compelling figures of each of their own separate eras would in the long run make pieces out of scholarly showstoppers that give peruses a look into what the world resembled when overseeing powers ruled over social orders. The principal rationalist, Niccolò Machiavelli, composed the work entitled The Prince, which subtle elements the means Machiavelli trusted it took to get and hold political power. The second work, The Communist Manifesto, a synergistic piece composed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,

The political world is one that impacts nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives. Whether it be through its enforcement of laws, protection of the public, or use of taxpayer-raised monies to carry out its myriad tasks. The government always makes a mark on its people. The actions of the government, while frequently ridiculed or vilified, are the results of the people themselves, operating within our system of government. So while many people may disapprove of the job Congress is doing or the direction the president is leading us in, the status quo remains the same. This is because our current state of affairs has been determined as a norm and agreed to by a majority. The following pages show how modern social contract theory especially

By comparing the two readings assigned one can discuss the differences in political theories expressed by both John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. In, Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes, and in, The Second Treatise of Government, by John Locke different theories of political legitimacy and definitions of the state of nature are described. The following paragraphs analyze multiple different points that are imperative to understanding these political theories.

Did the arguments of classical liberals, such as John Locke and John Stuart Mill, serve to legitimate European imperialism and the dispossession of indigenous peoples?

Phones are our generation’s tool to research and socialize. Phones can be our mini portable computer. At Anaheim High School, an issue occurs about cyberbullying. As a result, phones are restricted to be used during school hours. They took the freedom to play games, listen to music, social media while they’re not doing anything. This prevents students from amusing themselves using their phones. Phones are important for students for it is an excellent way to entertain ourselves when we’re bored. Locke and Rousseau would have agreed with them. Locke would have protected their freedom and Rousseau would’ve treated all the students as individuals and not a group.

Philosophers over time have tried to explain their understanding on the view of personal identity some of the like Rene Descartes adding the views of the existence of the material souls or egos. His views on the existence of egos suggest that people have bodies which can die but still they continue to exist. In as such other philosophers proposed diverging views from him suggesting that such a simple

Rene Descartes and John Locke each produced pieces of philosophical responses to the questions posed in epistemology which resulted with very different answers. Descartes relied on God and the mind as the only reliable and trustworthy sources to prove the existence of things other than ourselves. Locke, in contrast, made arguments for the existence of things in the external world via our innate ability to recognize and process sensations that are derived from subjects that exist in the material world. Locke overcomes Descartes’ hyperbolic skepticism by giving evidence of the validity of the senses through unique perception and countering the dream argument with a more practical approach to the knowledge of our existence.