Philosophy Locke Notes

simple ideas

The most basic elements of thought that come directly from experience. The mind cannot create or destroy them—it can only receive and repeat them.
Example: You can’t imagine a new color you’ve never seen, just as a blind person cannot form an idea of color at all.

sources of simple ideas

• Sensation: External senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell.
  Example: Light and darkness, color, sound, heat, cold, taste, and motion are all received through sensation.

• Reflection: Internal awareness of the mind’s own operations.
  Example: Thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning—all are ideas produced by reflecting on what the mind itself does.

• Combination of Both: Some ideas (like pleasure, pain) involve both sensing and reflecting on sensations.

properties of simple ideas

Each simple idea is distinct (can be separated in thought), undoubtable (can’t be denied), and positive.
Example: Even though a shadow is the absence of light, the idea of a shadow is still a positive idea—it represents something we experience

ideas vs. qualities 

• Ideas exist in the mind—they are what we perceive.

• Qualities exist in objects—they cause the ideas in us.
  Example: When you feel heat from a fire, the idea of warmth exists in your mind, but the quality of heat belongs to the fire.

primary qualities vs. secondary qualities

Primary qualities are inseparable from the physical body despite changes we make to it. They resemble the ideas they produce.
Examples: Solidity (resistance to touch), extension (taking up space), figure (shape), number, and motion.
Taking a slice away from a pie doesn’t take away from its solidity, and despite its different figure it still has a figure

Secondary qualities are powers to produce ideas in us; they do not resemble the qualities themselves and exist only when perceived.
Examples: The warmth of a fire or the color of an apple.
When no one is near the fire, there is no feeling of warmth. The fire has the power to cause that sensation, but the warmth itself exists only in perception.

tertiary (mediately) qualities

The power of one object to change the qualities of another object.
Example: Fire turning white paper black as it burns. The burning (change in color and texture) is mediately perceivable because we see one body altering another’s qualities

faculties of the mind 

• Discernment: Distinguishing one idea from another (e.g., noticing the difference between red and orange).

• Comparison: Finding similarities and differences (e.g., comparing tall and short objects).

• Compounding: Combining simple ideas into complex ones (e.g., “apple” = red + round + sweet).

• Naming: Attaching words to ideas to communicate them.

• Abstraction: Ignoring differences between particular ideas to form general ones (e.g., from many different books we abstract the idea of “book”).

complex ideas

Created by combining simple ideas through the mind’s faculties.
Types:

• Modes: Can either be simple or mixed

• Substance: The individual objects

• Relation: Comparison of ideas through relations

identity

The relation of something at one time to something at another, asserting they are the same.

• Nothing distinct can share the same beginning.

• Anything that begins to exist can only do so once.

identity of body

A body remains the same only if it’s composed of the exact same matter.
Example: A lump of clay is the same lump only if all the same particles remain; if part is removed, it’s no longer identical.

identity of plant

A plant remains the same if it continues the same life function of growth and nutrition, even though its matter constantly changes.
Example: The oak tree in your yard today is the same oak you planted as a sapling, because its organizational life continues through time, despite new particles replacing old ones.

identity of machine

A machine is the same if it performs the same function when energy is applied.
Example: A stapler remains the same machine as long as it performs the function of stapling, regardless of replacement parts.

identity of animal

An animal remains the same if it continues the same life function. Its “energy” and organization come from within.
Example: A dog remains the same animal as long as its living system continues, even though some physical matter changes.

identity of man vs. person

• Man: human—same body

• Person: Exitance of intelligent being—having same memories
  Example: You are the same person only if you remember being the one who performed a past action. Forgetting breaks that continuity

simple vs. complex ideas 

Simple ideas are received directly through sensation/reflection. Complex ideas are built from simple ones using mental faculties.
Example: “Gold” combines the simple ideas of yellow, shiny, heavy, and malleable into one complex idea.