+

John Locke, The Blank Slate An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Epistle to the Reader; Book I, Chs 1-2 Book II; Ch 1 #1-9, Chs 2-3, 6, 8, Ch 9 #8, Ch12 Leibniz’s New Essays, Preface

+John Locke (1632 – 1704)

n  Political thinker

n  supported right of governed to rebel

n  Scientist

n  champion of science, no major discoveries

n  Philosopher

n  canonical formulation of empiricism

+Locke’s Essay, The Epistle to the Reader An under-laborer for the sciences

+The religious disagreement

n religious conflicts in Europe

n Locke: knowledge of religion very shaky

n need for “an inquiry into our own capacity for understanding”

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

+Locke, “under-laborer for science”

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

+

The Royal Society

Robert Boyle

n  championed the experimental method

n  included Locke, Boyle, Hooke, and Newton

n  still exists!

+Locke’s Essay, Book I, Chapters I and II No innate principles in the mind

+

Locke: Know your limits! the eye metaphor

the sailor and his line

the blank slate

+Argument for nativism

1.  Some propositions receive unanimous consent. ✕ Locke: not among children, illiterate adults, “savages”

2.  If a proposition receives unanimous consent, then we have innate knowledge of it.

✕ Locke: obvious ≠ innate

3.  Therefore, we have innate knowledge of some propositions.

Locke’s reconstruction

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Leibniz’s New Essays The mind’s innate “veins and sinews”

+ Comparing three philosophers What are their projects?

What are their methods?

How do they view the importance of their own work?

+Ideas and their Origin Essay, Book II

+Empiricism

n “No idea in the mind that is not first in the senses”

n Simple ideas come from the senses

n complex ideas built from simple ideas

+ Experience: the source of all simple ideas Sensation of external bodies Reflection on internal ideas

+ Kinds of ideas Simple ideas ≈ atoms

Complex ideas ≈ composite objects

+

Complex ideas formed by... Compounding

Abstracting

Comparing

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Molyneux’s Question What was it?

What was Locke’s answer?

Why does it matter?

+ A blooming, buzzing confusion? Pacifier experiment

Mimicking experiment