John Locke Skepticism

With this lesson, we begin a new unit on epistemology, which is the philosophical study of knowledge claims. In this first lesson on epistemology, we begin by examining the question “What do we mean when we say we know something?” What exactly is knowledge? We will begin with a presentation that introduces the traditional definition of knowledge. Wood then discusses some of the basic issues raised in the study of epistemology and then presents an approach to epistemology that focuses on obtaining the intellectual virtues, a point we will elaborate on in the next lesson.

Plato’s Theaetetus aims to answer the question, “what is knowledge?”. Throughout the book, we get some potential answers, but none of these answers passed Socrates’ investigation. Could this be a message from Plato stating that knowledge cannot be defined? Or did Plato leave all the information necessary to answer the question, but left the work of figuring what knowledge is to the reader? I think that the latter is true. In this paper I argue that an account must be an explanation which shows a deep level of understanding of understanding of the object or subject relative to the true opinion stated.

The second epistemological question is; does reason provide us with knowledge of the world independently of experience? John Locke says the answer to this question is no. He uses arguments discussed in the third anchor point of empiricism to support this idea. Locke does not believe that reason alone can provide knowledge because we do not possess innate knowledge that we are not aware of. To best describe this Locke proposes this model: "Suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes it to be furnished? When man has painted on it with endless variety, how does it have all the materials of reason and knowledge to this question I answer, in one word, from experience. In that all our knowledge is founded, and from that, it ultimately drives itself" (p94). Therefore, without these experiences Locke believes that we would not possess the concept of reason and because of that reason alone cannot provide us knowledge of the world.

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.

This author ascribes to the empiricism paradigm. This paradigm is similar to empirical knowing in that it is based on the premise that what is known can be verified through the senses, or

The enlightenment era arose in the modern cultural ideology of the 18th century, as ideas among philosophers had a widespread effect among the society. The age of enlightenment, in western society, projected the rejection of traditional Christianity, western philosophy, intellectual advances, scientific, and cultural life, government legitimacy and authority. Upon the enlightenment period multiple philosophers emerged, the individuals arose to leading figures using reason to understand all aspects of human life. The motivations for the enlightenment came primarily from the Englishmen, John Locke. John Locke was a philosophical influence in both political theory and theoretical philosophy, which was embraced among the era of 1789-1914 and

The founding fathers drew from many philosophers as they were trying to write the United States Constitution. Some philosophiser includes John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and James Harrington. John Locke believed a society where all people were to have independence and equality . Thomas Hobbes believed a society where government should be provided, without a government there wouldn’t be order. Lastly, James Harrington believed of a limited and balanced power government system. Without these theories/concepts the U.S. Constitution wouldn’t be the same as it is today in the modern world.

Could this be convincing enough to lead us to believe that we really could have knowledge of anything at all?

Mr. Replogle, you have a strong point of view. John Locke did dispute that we are all born into this world in ignorance but to remain in ignorance is a choice. He acknowledged that human beings are moral and rational decision-making creature. At each stage of one life, they are responsible for that choice and the decision they make throughout life. The problem at hand is by trial and errors knowledge is developed and erases

agree with me on this. He would expect the Mayor to be fair, and honest to his city. His concept of a State of Nature was that "of perfect freedom in which people naturally cooperated for the common good", not for personal benefit in this case with the Mayor (Lesson Week 3). Locke believes that people are “equal and independent”, that they just want to be governed and protected, “what they yield to their governor in exchange for the ability to go about their lives and businesses” (Week 3 Lesson). The Mayor didn’t apply Social Contract into his action, he didn’t think about the safety and benefit of his city.

Empiricism is defined as all knowledge with sense of experience. This idea was formed by John Locke in the 17th-18th Century. British Empiricists that theorizing in James Mill's (1829) The Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind. This which includes David Hume's (1739), Treatise of Human Nature. This mainly focus on the cognitive perspective. For example, in order you will learn if you go to school therefore you can gain knowledge in life which is a sense of experience.

Many empiricists claim that there is a sort of knowledge that is directed towards our consciousness and this knowledge is assumed to be the ‘given.’ The given which is held in all of us has access that is highly privileged and presupposes no learning and no prior form of associations. It provides the foundation and first layer for empirical knowledge. The knowledge that is gained through experience and pure reason. Empirical knowledge comes from observation. I will argue in favor of Sellars’ rejection of the Given; that the Myth of the Given is truly untenable.

Descartes from his very first Meditation, that of concerning things that can be called in to doubt, gives reasons on why we should doubt all things, material or non-material, to be not true. He further goes on to state that, we must continue to doubt these things as being not true as long as we have no other reason to believe in

Empiricists use three anchor points in which they derive their opinions from. The first of these points is; the only source of genuine knowledge is sense experience. An easier way to understand this is to compare the mind to a clean sponge. As the sponge touches things, it takes with it, a piece of everything it touches. Without this, the sponge would remain clean and be void of anything

It was the Founding Fathers’ view of power that led them to declare their independence from Britain. When the French and Indian War ended, Britain gained a large amount of territory which costed a large sum of money to defend from trespassers. Consequently, Parliament started to tax the colonists without their consent. This unbalance of power caused tensions between Britain and the original 13 colonies. Therefore, the Founding Fathers decided that power should be distributed equally amongst the people and that government should be limited. These views were only strengthened when John Locke wrote “The Second Treatise of Civil Government”, which discussed natural rights, consent of the governed, and limited government. Many of the ideas of John Locke were widely accepted and used by the Founding Fathers, specifically Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of independence, Jefferson altered Locke’s phrase “life, liberty, and property” into “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. These three ideas of Locke exist to this day in American political culture. Liberty is at the core of American values, some individuals quote Patrick Henry who said, “Give me liberty, or give me death” in the Revolutionary War. This famous statement of the Revolutionary War reflects that if there is no freedom (liberty) to choose or express oneself, then there is no purpose to living a life where one is not in control of their destiny. The second ideal, consent of the governed, describes how