Locke

Question 1

Locke’s view on the source of our knowledge

Answer 1

• sole source of knowledge is experience and we combine this with reflection

Question 2

Locke’s attack on universal assent

Answer 2

1. Against universal assent itself
   - there are no principles which everyone assents to
   - innate knowledge cannot exist of truths that we are conscious of as eg: children don’t know these truths
   - if innate knowledge does not need to be conscious then how can we distinguish between innate and non-innate ideas
2. Against the inference of universal assent
   - even if we have ‘universal rules’ that does not mean that they are innate

Question 3

Locke’s attack on universal assent is…

Answer 3

A ‘straw man’ argument as innate knowledge does not depend on/argue fo universal assent

Question 4

Samuel Rickless’ view

Answer 4

sensitive knowledge is not as “certain as our intuitive knowledge”, “it is a kind of assurance”

Question 5

Noam Chomsky’s view

Answer 5

basic grammatical features are the same across languages => there is some language capacity that is innate

Question 6

How does Plato’s rationalist view counter Locke’s

Answer 6

• Plato question how we know what it means to have a perfect triangle
• No combination of experience can explain such a thing and it is a concept not a physical thing => we must have innate knowledge

Question 7

Mark Kulstad’s view

Answer 7

“the role of attention to what is present within us… plays for both of these philosophers in arriving at clear knowledge of these ideas”