Lockean Empiricism Flashcards
What does “Nihil in intellectu quod prius non fuerit in sensu” mean?
Nothing in the intellect unless first in the senses
What is Locke’s tabula rasa?
His idea that minds were originally “white paper, void of all characteristics, without any ideas”
How does Locke reject innate ideas? (3 arguments…)
1) Having common ideas (as some people would say universal principles = innate) doesn’t equate to innate knowledge.
2) Universal agreement shows we don’t have innate knowledge e.g. something as obvious as the law of non-contradiction is NOT known by everybody so cannot be innate.
3) If innate knowledge is what the mind is capable of knowing, we could have things in our mind that we do not know
How does Locke suggest we understand concepts and forms?
They are abstractions from particulars.
The mind can store up, repeat and combine simple ideas once it has experienced them: sensation and reflection.
What are “simple ideas”?
The most basic elements of our knowledge; ideas that aren’t compounded of any other element?
Examples of primary qualities?
Something physical an object itself has e.g. mass, depth, figure, mobility
Examples of a secondary quality?
Not objectively in our minds e.g. colour, taste, sound, feel
Are primary or secondary more real according to Locke?
Primary as secondary qualities can be subjective
Problem with abstraction?
Only possible if we have some innate faculty to recognise similarities
Problem with Locke’s points about objective knowledge?
Nobody can have objective knowledge; there is no “looking from no where”
Problem with “tabula rasa”?
It’s been widely rejected that the mind starts as a blank slate
Neuro-physiology problem for Locke?
Suggests common “innate” structures which give rise to common human perceptions and behaviours e.g. language-learners
Problem with Locke’s understanding of “innate ideas”?
Locke’s rejection of simple concepts (e.g. law of non-contradiction) not being known by everyone as support for empiricism fails. Innate ideas does not always mean a universal idea that everybody is born with but rather an idea that can be understood without experience, simply with logic.
Descartes and Plato’s understanding of innate ideas as rejection of Locke’s empiricism?
Plato: perfect circle cannot be understood by experience alone
Descartes: any idea which one sees so clearly and distinctly that it cannot be doubted it must be true
