Phil 30I W25 Lecture 7.1

INTRODUCTION TO EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY

• Course: UC Riverside, Winter 2025

• Instructor: Matic Kastelec

LOCKE ON IDEAS AND QUALITIES

Key Themes

1. Basic elements of Locke’s account of the origin of ideas in experience.

2. Distinction between primary and secondary qualities.

3. Examination of potential problems with Locke’s theory.

EXPERIENCE

• Foundation of Knowledge: All ideas are derived from experience.

• Types of Experience:

  • Sensation:

    • Provides information about external objects affecting senses.

    • Example ideas include: yellow, white, heat, cold, soft, hard, bitter, sweet (sensible qualities).

  • Reflection:

    • Concerns internal mental operations.

    • Example ideas include: perception, thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning, knowing, willing (activities of the mind).

SIMPLE AND COMPLEX IDEAS

• Simple Ideas:

  • Received through sensation and reflection.

  • Serve as the foundational materials for all knowledge.

  • Not analyzable into smaller components.

• Complex Ideas:

  • Constructed from simple ideas by the mind.

  • Formed through acts of:

    • Combination

    • Relation

    • Abstraction

  • Three types:

    • Modes (e.g., beauty, gratitude)

    • Substances (e.g., a man, an army)

    • Relations (e.g., cause and effect).

IDEAS AND QUALITIES

• Definition:

  • An idea is what the mind perceives in itself; it is the immediate object of perception, thought, or understanding.

  • A quality is the power of a subject to produce ideas in our minds.

• Example: A snowball has the qualities of being white, cold, round, which cause corresponding ideas in our understanding.

QUALITIES

• Understanding qualities in perceptions:

  • How do attributes like shape, color, and taste differ among objects?

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY QUALITIES

• Primary Qualities (PQ):

  • Intrinsically belong to objects.

  • Ideas of PQ resemble the qualities themselves.

  • Examples include shape, size, movement, texture, solidity.

• Secondary Qualities (SQ):

  • Powers of objects that cause sensory ideas.

  • Our ideas of SQ arise from interactions between our perception and PQ's microstructure.

  • Ideas of SQ do not resemble their causing powers.

  • Examples include color, smell, taste.

AN APPLE’S SECONDARY QUALITIES

• Attributes like redness or sweetness of an apple identify genuine qualities found in the apple itself.

• Redness represents the apple's power to elicit the sensation of red in observers; simple ideas represent reality faithfully.

RESEMBLANCE

• The ideas associated with primary qualities have real resemblances to the objects themselves, while secondary qualities do not.

• Key Insight: No direct resemblance exists between the produced ideas of secondary qualities and the qualities in the material body.

SOME PROBLEMS WITH LOCKE'S THEORY

1. Imagination of primary qualities without secondary qualities—can we conceive a square as just a shape without color?

2. Understanding resemblance between ideas and qualities—how does our mental representation match the actual qualities?

3. The "Veil of Perception" problem—if we only perceive ideas, how can we ascertain the existence of a real external material object that causes these ideas?

SUMMARY

• Locke's central argument: All ideas stem from experience.

• Knowledge foundation: Simple ideas derive from sensation and reflection, leading to the construction of complex ideas.

• Primary qualities intrinsically belong to objects and resemble our ideas; Secondary qualities exist as powers to evoke ideas that do not resemble them.