Locke’s Qualities vs. Berkeley’s Idealism

From Aristotle to John Locke to Thomas Jefferson, the ideas of great philosophers influenced the foundations of the United States. When Jefferson began writing the Declaration of Independence, he wanted to make this new country based on the basic fundamentals. He wanted to base the country on what was considered the natural laws. Jefferson had many philosophical minds to ponder when writing the document, such as Aristotle and most importantly John Locke.

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.

John Locke was an enlightenment thinker of the 18th century. He was born is a small village in Southwest England in 1632. He was the most significant enlightenment thinker because he inspired other philosopher such as Voltaire, Paine and Rousseau. Another reasons is he inspired the checks and balances and separation of power in the United States and many other countries today. Finally he inspired the basis of the Declaration of independance. John Locke was the most significant philosopher of the enlightenment Era because he believed that believed that humans were born with certain natural rights, rights of life, liberty and property. Locke believed that all people had those rights, and that they are universal.

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

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.

Locke was a well-educated man, having attended several prestigious schools, that was not scared to think differently than what he was taught. His perception of mankind seemed to be that men are all good and kind. This goes against what Thomas Hobbes believed and probably many others, which thought that all men were out for themselves.

Karl Marx and John Locke both formulated philosophical theories that worked to convince people of their rights to freedom and power; however, they had conflicting viewpoints on the idea of private property. Locke felt that property belonged to whoever put their labor into it, and one could accumulate as much property as he or she wants (692). Marx, however, considered the private property of the select few who possessed it to be the product of the exploitation of the working class (1118). Personally, I believe that Locke’s conception of private property is more convincing than Marx’s point of view.

And so, all the things we perceive are ideas and objects are a collection of ideas. He also believes that there must be something distinct that knows and perceives these ideas, he refers to it as “mind”, “spirit” or “soul”. And so Berkeley contends that there are no such things that are material, he thinks that objects such as mountains, rivers, tables only “exist” because we perceive them or because they are perceived by other spirits, he goes on to argue that all the objects listed above are perceived through senses and that we only perceive our own ideas and sensations, hence these objects couldn’t exist unperceived. He objects to the fact that there are things, objects that exist without being perceived, because he believes that to “exist” is to be perceived, so objects couldn’t possibly be out of the mind that perceives them. In order to support his theory, one of his arguments is that you can’t separate in your own thoughts the existence of a perceptible thing from its being perceived, he goes on to argue that it is impossible for us to conceive of a copy or resemblance unless it is between two ideas, because the only thing an idea can resemble is another idea. Berkeley counter argues Locke’s epistemology, by saying that primary qualities cannot be conceived as separate from secondary qualities, which relate to the senses, therefore they both exist in

Secondly, George Berkeley, a representational idealist, believes that knowledge comes from experience, but he perceives his thoughts in a different way then Locke. He doesn't believe that things from your senses can be reality. Berkeley believes that if our minds did not produce an idea, then God delivered and perceived his experiences to us, but he also says that empiricism and Christianity cannot be used together. We have a small role to play out and God makes sure that everything gets done. Berkeley was very mind dependent; he had faith that there is no world without a mind. With this in mind, he felt that all objects we encounter in experience are nothing more than mind-dependent collections of ideas. This is known as Esse est percipi, or "To be is to be perceived." He also believed that reality is nonphysical and everything that exists is either minds or the ideas they perceive.

John Locke presents ideas within “Toleration and Government” which form a liberal ideology. The aim of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses within John Locke’s ideology. Paragraph I will discuss the main concepts in the text. Paragraph II will identify the ideology’s explanation of political phenomena, it’s criteria and standards of explanation, and it’s cultural and social orientation. Paragraph III exemplifies elements which I found strong within Locke's work.

“Cogito ergo sum;” I think therefore I am. This philosophical statement stimulated a renaissance in the field of philosophy, creating modern Western philosophy as is known today. This important notion was dictated by Rene Descartes in his 1641 metaphysics work, Mediations on First Philosophy, and influenced all modern philosophical works written after Descartes revolutionary achievement. This work was written at a time when modern physics was being developed as a mathematization of nature. The principles of metaphysics contain in Meditations were developed in order to serve as the basis for this new system of physics. In it, Descartes refutes many Aristotelian beliefs that were popular and accepted by the clergy for nearly the entirety of

John Locke is again back with the another great Book. The concept of the books is just amazing.It discover the story of the man who has to choose between his wife and his Love. The books seems amazing. It discusses all the aspects of pros and cons that will happen in a persons life if he has to choose between his Wife and his love. One side is his wife whom he cant leave and another side is his love, without which he cant live. The story that admires the real life aspects of ones life in that situation. The books is perfect for those who need their love but cant leave their wife or who need wife but cant leave their love. We all know that John Locke is just excellent with his all books, but this time he gives a special touch to his book. The

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).

James Madison and John Locke each created similar but somewhat different ideas about human nature. Whereas John Locke put more hope in human nature, Madison looked down on it with more critical analysis. Locke’s argument may provide few important points in general, but it is Madison who ultimately explained why people work in the specific way we see today and produce the government we enjoy. In fact, some of Locke’s arguments can be tied to Madison’s philosophy and be seen as useful explanations for Madison’s viewpoint toward self-centered human nature.

The qualities are divided into two categories: the primary and the secondary qualities. The original or primary qualities are inseparable from a