John Locke and George Berkeley: Empiricism and Idealism

These flashcards cover key concepts from the lecture on Locke's and Berkeley's philosophies regarding knowledge, perception, and the nature of reality.

A posteriori

Knowledge that is known on the basis of experience.

Inductive reasoning

A type of reasoning where the conclusion goes beyond the premises, leading to less certain outcomes compared to deductive reasoning.

Tabula Rasa

The idea that the mind is a blank slate at birth, with experience being the source of knowledge.

Primary qualities

In Locke's theory, these are qualities such as size, shape, and weight that are inherent to objects.

Secondary qualities

Qualities such as color, odor, and taste, which are dependent on the observer's perception.

Copy theory

Locke's view that our ideas are copies of physical objects in the real world.

Solipsism

The philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist.

Critical realism

The doctrine that objects have qualities distinct from our sensations of them, which represent things as they really are.

Esse est percipi

Berkeley's principle meaning 'to be is to be perceived,' indicating that existence depends on being perceived.

Sensations

The experience produced by physical objects acting on our senses.