Locke Qualities

Indirect realists often ask us to consider hallucination and perceptual illusions. In hallucinations, you see something, but nothing which exists. In illusions, you see something, but not as it really is e.g. a straight stick in water appears bent. In each case, what you see, they claim, is a mental thing, an appearance, a ‘sense-datum’. We can then say that what we perceive ‘immediately’ is the appearance, which has secondary qualities; and that it is by enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk © Michael Lacewing perceiving the appearance that we perceive the physical object, which has only primary qualities. So we see the appearance of the vase, which is a mental thing which really is red; and this way, we indirectly see the vase, which is a physical

Berkeley's attempt to popularize his pro-mind conception of the external world, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, serves to undermine Locke's distinctions between primary and secondary qualities of the external world. In his publication, Berkeley uses dialogue between Hylas and Philnous, which consists of a series of arguments, to determine the most sound theory. Ground rules of the debate consists of: whoever of the two's position avoids skepticism about knowledge of physical objects wins and that if one position can be shown to entail that we cannot know anything about physical objects, consequently that position should be dismissed as absurd (Kelly, 2013). Throughout the arguments, Berkeley weakens Locke's theory of Limited Representationalism by counteracting Locke's with the possibility that instead of “matter” that comprises physical objects in the external world, these objects are simply ideas. Drawing back on Berkeley's catchy motto, “to be is to be perceived”, he proposes three arguments that support his idealist view that the motto encapsulates. The three pieces of support also importantly shed skepticism upon Lockes primary and secondary distinctions involving “matter”. The three statements of support include: The argument that physical

John Locke starts off his treatise with the thesis that ideas spring from two fountainheads--sensation and reflection. The former, man acquires from external sensible objects that affect man's five senses--those same senses endowed upon all men by the Creator. Material things outside man's being are the objects of sensation. Through experiencing sensation, man's thinking process gives rise to ideas thereby gaining for the thinking being a certain amount of

John Locke thought that the ideas or perceptions which we have of objects in the world partially represent the objects as they are in themselves, and so whether they are being perceived. This view of Locke’s is called representative realism. The term realism refers to the view that objects are real or exist apart from perception. And representative means that some of our perceptions accurately represent an object as the thing which it is in itself apart from perception. Locke thought that only some of our ideas or perceptions are accurate representations of the object itself, and that

Berkeley and Hume are both philosophers that thought rationally and relied of reason instead of sensory experience to explain the world around us. Berkeley gives both an epistemological argument and a metaphysical argument to why the idea of mind independent matter is not an object of knowledge. I think Hume is also on the same page as Berkeley and gives an epistemological claim to why matters of fact is not a strong tool, Hume in a way is a lot like Berkeley just less fantastical.

Primary qualities, however, are objective and include aspects such as an object’s height and weight (Paquette 212). Through this, Locke claimed that the existence of objects can be made certain due to the primary qualities it possesses (Paquette 212). Similar to Descartes, Locke believed in a sense of existence. However, in his view, the facts from the primary qualities proved the object exists because the object exists within itself (Paquette 212).

     Hume began his first examination if the mind by classifying its contents as Perceptions. “Here therefore [he divided] all the perceptions of the mind into two classes or species.” (27) First, Impressions represented an image of something that portrayed an immediate relationship. Secondly, there were thoughts and ideas, which

Like Descartes, Locke also believed in an external world. As an empiricist, Locke relied heavily on the senses to provide true knowledge (Moore 2002). He shared Aristotle’s belief that the mind is a blank slate, also known as tabula rasa, at birth (Paquette 211). Our sense experiences thereafter provide us with knowledge to fill in those slates (Paquette 211). In Locke’s “Representative Theory of Perception,” also known as Epistemological Dualism, he stated that material objects exist and are separate entities from human beings (Paquette 227). However, he also believed that objects exist in the mind as psychological entities (Paquette 227). Locke concluded that people can taste, smell, touch, and see the external world which, in turn, becomes impressions in our minds (Paquette 227). Descartes and Locke are thus seen to be similar in the sense that they both believed in an external world.

Empiricists, such as John Lock, George Berkeley, and David Hume, would all refute skepticism in a sense and believe that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience rather than innate ideas. Berkeley offers a most intriguing view of empiricism in his work A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Mostly aimed to refute fellow empiricist Locke’s’ ideas about the human nature of perception, Berkeley offers a cleaner answer to skepticism. Although both philosophers would agree on several ideas, Berkeley’s idealism creates a successful response to the skeptics. The basis of idealism shares the similarities found between Locke and Berkeley; everything exists as an idea and all ideas are made up of smaller ideas.

John Locke, Berkeley and Hume are all empiricist philosophers. They all have many different believes, but agree on the three anchor points; The only source of genuine knowledge is sense experience, reason is an unreliable and inadequate route to knowledge unless it is grounded in the solid bedrock of sense experience and there is no evidence of innate ideas within the mind that are known from experience. Each of these philosophers developed some of the most fascinating conceptions of the relationships between our thoughts and the world around us. I will argue that Locke, Berkeley and Hume are three empiricists that have different beliefs.

John Locke's theory of knowledge stated that all knowledge is derived from the senses, that are converted into impressions, that are then made into ideas, either simple or complex. Simple ideas are ones that involve only one sense, whereas complex ideas consist of multiple simple ideas being combined to create a vivid one. Ideas have two qualities, primary qualities, and secondary qualities. Primary qualities are things that are perceived the same for everyone, and secondary qualities are the individual perceptions of

According to Berkeley, the world does not exist on its own, perceptions solely do. However, the world does not exist independently of the mind. Berkeley 's argument relies on the existence of a God, who keeps things in place when a person is absent or not around. Hume believes that things including people are nothing but what he perceives as “bundles of perceptions”. He claims that people infer the objective world based on perceived unity and continuity in our observations. Meanwhile, Locke compares the mind to a blank piece of paper. He states, “white paper, void of all characters, without any

Hume is a philosopher who believes in the Copy Principle. That all ideas derive from vivid

Hume is known for his ideas about “perception of the mind” and he divides it into two categories. Hume viewed perception as a mental phenomena. He later divides perceptions into “impressions” and “ideas”. Hume states the impressions are related to more so feelings or the senses and the ideas are more so connected to thinking and thoughts. “There is distinction between two different perceptions made by David Hume. The first is the root of all ideas called and impression.”( David Hume; Impressions and Ideas BY: C. Lindsay) Hume says that you can always tell the difference when it comes to sensations and thoughts, as mentioned before he says that perceptions are more lively and fairly more