ThePhilosophyCenter: Epistemology: Empiricism #2

 Hello!

In our second Empiricism episode we will discuss the philosophy of another British Empiricist philosopher, namely John Locke. 

Before we see John Locke's empiricism, he is also a large contributor to modern society, especially modern governments. He first thought of modern liberal government - the government that is based on the rights of individual liberty and concepts such as secularism, freedom of press, and religious freedom.

Now let's discuss his epistemology. But before....

-----

CHARACTER PROFILE: JOHN LOCKE

Born: 1632, Wrington, United Kingdom.

Died: 1704, Essex, United Kingdom..

Works: "A Letter Concerning Toleration", "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding", etc.

Ideas: Limited Government, Natural Rights, Empiricism

Text Intro: John Locke was an English philosopher born in 1632. He found an interest in philosophy. He became a physician (modern day equivalent of a doctor). Afterwards, he went to the Netherlands and returned. In his 50s and 60s, he wrote most of his famous works. He died in 1704.

------

John Locke denied innate knowledge. "Innate" is a word for "ready when born". He  did not believe in the concept of prior knowledge and believed the mind at first was a tabula rasa - a blank sheet. He said only through past experience can we certainly have an answer.

Let's dive into the innate portion. The rationalist school of thought believed in innate knowledge. For example, the knowledge of an almighty god. The rationalist philosopher Rene Descartes argued that we cannt  have experienced or sensed an almighty god, so we must have got it through innate knowledge.

Locke, however, does not agree because he says that not everyone has such a concept and that we can indirectly think of an almighty god through perception. We can experience or sense power, and we can thus  reflect and think of something with all power (Although we still have to imagine and reflect to think of  the concept of an almighty god, it is still derived from experience, which is still empirical).

So, then, if the rationalist concept of innate ideas are incorrect, how do we gain knowledge and form ideas? Locke answered this question to complete his argument. He believes there are two methods of forming an idea in our minds, namely sensation and reflection. Sensation is the process of perceiving ideas  fof qualities of external objects. Reflection is an internal process inside our mind such as decisionmaking. Reflection provides us with more abstract ideas such as reason, knowledge, doubt, and belief. This concept - the concept of two sources of ideas - is the cornerstone of Locke's empiricism.

Yet, there is still another question that must be answered to complete Locke's theory - If we only form ideas through external sensation and internal reflection (which reflects things we have perceived), then how can we gain unreal or abstract ideas? Locke says that there are two kinds of ideas: simple and complex ones. Simple ones include "cold". It is quite absolute and single natured,  and unmixed. Simple ideas are ideas that are absolute and has "one uniform appearance".

On the other hand, complex ideas are ideas that are formed up of multiple simple ideas. We fuse simple ideas in different ways to form complex ideas. That is how we can make up with things such as unicorns, etc. Abstract ideas are also formed through similar things and also depend on experience. For example, a triangle. If we see a blue triangle, red triangle, and yellow triangle, and set aside the color and angle, we can form the abstract idea of a triangle through experience and reflection.

John Locke's philosophy is much longer, but we will end here. Next week, the topic will be Empiricism #3.