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Chapter 19 John Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism
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Chapter 19 John Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

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Chapter 19 John Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism. British Empiricism: Locke, Berkeley, Hume. British Empiricism – a belief system that all knowledge is based on ideas developed from sense data or sensory experience John Locke (1632 – 1704) ( Essay Concerning Human Understanding , 1690). - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Page 1: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Chapter 19John Locke: The Rise of Modern

Empiricism

Page 2: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

British Empiricism: Locke, Berkeley, Hume

British Empiricism – a belief system that all knowledge is based on ideas developed from sense data or sensory experience

John Locke (1632 – 1704) (Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690)

Page 4: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Task: Discovering What We Can Know (Essay Concerning Human Understanding)

Locke’s philosophy is “modern” in the sense that almost all post-Baconian-Cartesian philosophy is modern: it takes as its first and foremost task epistemology—the task of finding the proper foundation of knowledge by studying the methods (and content) of knowledge acquisition.

Empiricist epistemology is skeptical of the rationalist assumption that the real is rational and the rational is real. Their reformed onto-epistemological assumption is that the real is empirical, and the empirical is real: All knowledge of reality arises out of experience of reality, not out of rational reflection about reality

Page 5: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Method for Analyzing Ideas

The meaning of “idea”: What is an idea? A brief history of “ideas”

Plato: • Platonic metaphysics: Reality is dualistic: ideas vs. things;

mind vs. idea• Platonic epistemology:

Knowledge is always of ideas.An idea exist objectively (objective reality) and separate

from the mind in an intelligible realm of ideasAn idea is an immaterial, intelligible (accessible by the

mind), and non-sensible (not able to be perceived empirically) entity or substance that transcends physical, temporal, spatial, empirical reality

Ideas make possible the appearance of empirical reality in its meaning to us. Ideas exist as that which makes the empirical world intelligible, understandable, meaningful

Page 6: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Method for Analyzing Ideas

AristotleReality is monistic: hylo-morphic: combination of matter and

formAn idea is the form/meaning of material reality that,

although it is not separate from reality, it is separable from reality through the intellectual process of abstraction performed by the mind

Ideas do not have a separate and independent existence apart from matter and the mind.

Descartes: Ideas exist in our minds as that through and according to

which we understand reality. Ideas are the object of knowledge, and the most basic ideas are innate ideas: A=A, perfection, self, God. But ideas are also that through which reality appears in its meaningfulness, intelligibility.

Page 7: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Method for Analyzing Ideas

Locke: As with Aristotle, ideas are concrete qualities that inhere in reality and are found immediately in human sensation when empirical reality imprints itself on our senses/mind

Locke’s method: genealogy (“historical plain method”: a history of the origin of ideas in experience): the method of tracing our ideas about the world to their origin in the world about which we have knowledge.

Genealogy is not logical-conceptual analysis

Page 8: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Critique of Innate Ideas Locke first seeks to “clear the ground” of what he

believes is the most obfuscatory epistemological debris of past philosophies—the doctrine of innate ideas. The theory of innate ideas holds that certain ideas and

principles are “hard wired” congenitally into the mind itself instead of being acquired through experience: we are born pre-programmed with certain ideas without which the world could not be intelligible• Examples: the principles of logic, the logic of parts/whole,

the idea of perfection, God, oneness, equality, goodness

Page 9: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Arguments for innate ideas

Since certain ideas and/or principles are universal, they must be innate (not exactly the strongest argument for innate ideas!)

Locke’s argument against innate ideas

The cause of the universality of ideas is not their innateness; rather, it is that human experience is largely and consistently uniform

However, certain ideas are not universal, for they are demonstrably relative to biological and cultural determinations

Page 10: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of KnowledgeRepresentational Realism

Simple Ideas How, then, do we acquire ideas, if we are not born with them?

We acquire them through experience: Empiricism, Aristotelianism

At birth, the mind is naked; the mind is a blank slate (tabula rosa)

The world writes itself on us; it marks us; it impresses itself upon us.

• Analogy: the mind is like a camera: the mind is film; the senses are the lenses that passively receive sense impressions (sensations); the external world actively imprints itself upon the film of your mind▲→☺

Page 11: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Representational Realism

Epistemological position that all knowledge is based on ideas developed from sense data from sensory experience of the world

1st 2nd 3rd 4th The world Sensation Ideas

knowledge

Page 12: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

The simplest impressions are “simple ideas”: atoms of thought that can’t be analyzed into anything more simple:

• Two varieties of simple ideas:

Simple primary qualities (extension, location, motion/rest, size, etc) & secondary qualities (color, smell, touch, taste, sounds: yellow, white, hot, cold, soft, hard, bitter, sweet, loud, quiet, etc)

• These are the most basic elements out of which a conglomeration of simple ideas can be taken to form an complex object, such as a house

Reflective ideas: ideas that are acquired through sense experience of our own mental operations, such as thinking, wanting, needing, remembering, knowing, willing, feeling, etc

Page 13: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Complex ideas

Complex ideas are a constellation of ideas that are assembled out of simple ideas to form complex objects that mirror the world.

Example: the idea of a flower is a complex idea that is assembled out of the experience of simple impressions (ideas) of differing unassembled colors, textures, size, shape, and so on. Only after much exposure to many flowers do children actual see the complex idea of a flower as what all of these simple impressions/ideas form: bright yellow + the petals + the green stems + odor = daffodil (a complex idea).

Page 14: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

The formation of complex ideas is accomplished by three activities of the mind Compounding: (building particular identities) this Apple = red +

round + sweet etc

Relating: (establishing difference through comparison) this Apple ≠ this Orange; but both are fruit, which ≠ vegetables

Abstracting: (establishing abstract & general ideas—universals vs. particulars—by ignoring individual distinctions and drawing out commonalities): not this apple, but apples in general; not this orange, but oranges in general; not this fruit, but fruit in general; a bunch of flowers in a plot = flower garden

• The idea of infinity (a reflective idea): we generalize our own cognitive ability and experience of repeating something “without end”

Page 15: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Primary and Secondary Qualities

Primary qualities: the basic objective qualities of an external object that belong properly to the object and that impress themselves upon us and can be objectively known: extension, shape, solidity, motion, rest, number etc

Our ideas about primary qualities can accurately “mirror” the world and be adequate/faithful representations of how things really are in the external world

Certain Knowledge of primary qualities is accessible through mathematical/scientific thinking

Page 16: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Secondary qualities: subjective qualities of an external object that impress themselves upon us but that do not properly belong to the object: colors, sound, tastes, odors, warmth, etc

Our ideas about secondary qualities cannot accurately mirror reality, or be faithful to what a thing actually is

Why? Because knowledge of secondary qualities is epistemologically relative to the knowing subject

Page 17: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Representative Realism

The mind is acquainted only with its own ideas, but these ideas are caused by and represent (reflect) objects external to the mind

Ideas re-present the world for/to us

• First, the world exists; it expresses itself, presents itself. Second, the world’s presentation impresses itself on my senses/mind as a simple idea: this idea is a re-presentation. Third, I understand the world according to ideas/representations, i.e., according to my experiences of it

Page 18: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Representational Realism

Epistemological position that all knowledge is based on ideas developed from sense data from sensory experience of the world

1st 2nd 3rd 4th The world Sensation Ideas

knowledge

Page 19: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

The epistemological import of this is that the mind accesses and understands reality through ideas that it has received from the world and has about the world as a result of the sensations/ideas the world impresses on the mind.

• Reality = ideas about reality, which = empirical data provided by reality. Therefore, reality=empirical data: the real is empirical, and rationality is secondary to and derivative of the empiricality of reality/sensation

As a result, the object of knowledge is not knowable in itself apart from representational ideas that we have about it. It is only ever known through our experience of it.

But, then, what is the “it” of which we have knowledge? Substance (see below)

Page 20: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Locke’s Empirical Theory of Knowledge

Degrees of Knowledge Intuitive knowledge (sense certainty of ideas): The connection

between ideas is understood immediately and is certain: white ≠ black; we exist; redness + roundness + sweetness + crunchiness = and apple

Demonstrative knowledge (deductive knowledge): mediated and derived knowledge (knowledge of complex ideas and the relations between ideas, which is provided through logical reasoning)

Sensitive knowledge (inductive knowledge): all judgments concerning the existence and nature of external objects above and beyond our immediate and derived knowledge concerning them—knowledge about what objects are actually like apart from our ideas of them. Although such knowledge is never certain, it is highly probable

Page 21: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Metaphysics: The Reality Behind the Appearances

Reality appears to us in empirical sensations, or simple ideas. But, what is reality itself above and beyond these impressions/ideas? What is the “it” of which we have ideas? Locke’s answer: Substance: that which underlies empirical reality: Aristotelianism

Locke’s reasoning: there must be something that appears to us and causes the ideas (qualities) of objects to impress themselves upon us

We have direct and immediate knowledge of ideas, but not direct and immediate knowledge of substance

Page 22: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Metaphysics: The Reality Behind the Appearances

Problem: since we do not experience substance empirically as an impression/idea, how do we know it is there? Answer: we don’t, immediately. But, upon demonstrative reflection it seems to be absurd to say that there is nothing “out there” that appears—that appearance is happening without anything that is causing the appearance. So, the claim that substance exists seems like a necessary postulate, although it is demonstratively a metaphysical one. However, the question of what it is is something about which we can have no knowledge (we know that it is, but not what it is)

However, there are basically two localities of substance: the external world (material objects) and the internal world (ourselves=spiritual subjects). Although we never encounter these substances directly, it seems absurd to say that the ideas that I have about myself do not refer to a substance which causes these ideas to happen/appear.

Page 23: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Evaluation and Significance

Criticism of Representative Realism

According to Locke, all knowledge is re-presentational, meaning that we can only have knowledge of how reality presents itself through the re-presentations it leaves on our senses, since knowledge is limited to the ideas that we have about reality. However, this does not apply to the substance that causes those ideas to register in/on our senses: we can reason that “it” must exist, but we can’t know it

This is the “inner-outer” epistemological problem: If all we know are the ideas in our minds, then our knowledge is never knowledge of reality, since we cannot get behind the veil of our ideas. How can we know that our ideas about reality are true if our knowledge is limited to those ideas and do not deliver reality itself? Enter Hume!

Page 24: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

What is the Source of Moral Knowledge?

Locke’s ethics is founded on his epistemology There are no innate ethical ideas; therefore, all

ethical ideas originate in experience.

Good, bad, evil are not directly experienced, although pain and pleasure are experienced as simple, immediate, and intuitive

Pain/pleasure are generalized and labeled as “good” and “bad/evil”, which are reflective abstract judgments subsequent to the immediacy of pain/pleasure.

Page 25: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

An Empirical Philosophy of Religion

The Empirical Origins of the Idea of God Locke’s theology is founded on his epistemology

The idea of God is not innate. Therefore, the idea of God must originate in experience.

However, there is no empirical experience of God, so the idea “God” must be constructed from simple, complex, and relational ideas to build a demonstrative idea that is abstract. How is this done?

Our finite experience of existence, knowledge, power, duration, goodness and so on are abstractly infinitized to construct a being (existence) that is omniscient, omnipotent, eternal, and benevolent

God is an extrapolation of finite empirical experience Demonstrating God’s Existence

All the same old arguments rehashed: Cosmological, teleological, eidological etc

Locke’s Influence on Deism

Page 26: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

A Political Theory for the Enlightenment

The State of Nature Locke’s political philosophy is grounded in his ontology &

epistemology: the world is a collection of atomic individuals (simple entities & ideas) that form larger whole individuals (complex entities & ideas)

Human beings are atomic, egotistic individuals (an individual whole made of parts); society is a complex collection of atomic, egotistic individuals (a social whole made of individuals/parts)

Unlike Hobbes, who viewed the state of nature as a state of war, Locke’s description of the state of nature is one relative peaceful co-operation.

Page 27: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

A Political Theory for the Enlightenment

Natural Law and Human Rights Natural law theory maintains that certain moral laws exist by nature, as do

the physical laws of nature, and that these laws can be known via reason (demonstratively & sensitively/inductively, not intuitively-immediately).

Because these laws are written in the book of nature, they are not given by governments, nor can they be taken away by governments.

By nature, human beings have certain rights that are inalienable: the right to life, liberty, and property

Nature belongs equally to all humans as our common property

If and when any individual labors on nature, that part becomes his property (Locke’s labor theory of property)• Example: An apple on a tree is the common property of all, and as such is free

for the taking; it is potentially anyone’s property. But if I expend my labor to get it, then it becomes mine: I own it

Page 28: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

A Political Theory for the Enlightenment

The Social Contract Society is preferable to the state of nature because of its efficacy for meeting

human needs, wants and interests

Human society, however, requires governments to adjudicate fairly conflicting claims to life, liberty, and property—precisely because people tend to adjudicate conflicts unfairly on account of our egotistical wants, needs, and interests

Codified law sets the basis and standard for adjudicating conflicting claims

Judges (legal-governmental functionaries) adjudicate conflicting claims fairly

The law is enforced by neutral governmental functionaries: police

Government is formed through an economy of exchange of power: we give up individual power to a collective power in order to give it power to enforce individual freedoms and powers that we do have.

Page 29: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

A Political Theory for the Enlightenment

The Limitations of Government Contra Hobbes, who believed that government could and should

be a Leviathan, Locke believed that government exists for the common good—by the people and for the people. As a result, government is a servant of the people

Comment: this is a very modern thesis: through the use of reason, we can be masters and possessors of our own nature, which is both individual and collective, and we can create institutions that serve our needs: our creations serve/ought to serve us (the creators)

• The way we know and establish these laws and institutions is through political experience and political science of our political experience: laws and institutions are not god-given and divinely sanctioned; they are products of reason and they are rationally sanctioned

Page 30: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

A Political Theory for the Enlightenment

The Limitations of Government continued: Rule of law according to consent of the governed

Majority rule based on the common sense (rationality, which is by nature equally distributed) of the consenting to rationally mediate that which they have created—their own system of government

Government consist of branches—legislative and executive (both conducting domestic affairs), and the federative (conducting foreign affairs)

The right to rebellion: since government exists for the sake of the people, if the government becomes tyrannical (and violates the social contract), the governed have a natural right to revolt.

Locke’s 18th Century Assumptions

Page 31: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Evaluation and Significance

Criticism: In Defense of Innate Ideas

Contra Locke, it is obvious that we have tacit-implicit knowledge: we use the principles of logic at an early age even though we do not explicitly know what they are. This makes it possible that some of our knowledge is innate.

Although we may not be born with any ideas, we are certainly born with innate capacities and structures, as Leibniz maintained and as Kant will argue

Page 32: Chapter 19 John  Locke: The Rise of Modern Empiricism

Evaluation and Significance

Criticism of Representative Realism

According to Locke, all knowledge is re-presentational, meaning that we can only have knowledge of how reality presents itself through the re-presentations it leaves on our senses, since knowledge is limited to the ideas that we have about reality. However, this does not apply to the substance that causes those ideas to register in/on our senses: we can reason that “it” must exist, but we can’t know it

This is the “inner-outer” epistemological problem: If all we know are the ideas in our minds, then our knowledge is never knowledge of reality, since we cannot get behind the veil of our ideas. How can we know that our ideas about reality are true if our knowledge is limited to those ideas and do not deliver reality itself? Enter Hume!