John Locke's Philosophy of Mind

John Locke's Philosophy

• Denied the existence of innate ideas, assuming instead that the mind has nativistically determined powers.
• Distinguished between primary qualities (cause sensations that correspond to actual attributes of physical bodies) and secondary qualities (cause sensations with no counterparts in the physical world).

Types of Ideas

• Ideas caused by sensory stimulation
• Ideas caused by reflection
• Simple ideas (mental remnants of sensations that cannot be divided or analyzed further)
• Complex ideas (configurations of simple ideas, can be analyzed into component parts)

Mind-Body Distinction

• Accepted a mind-body dualism, rejecting Hobbes's physical monism (materialism)
• Did not explain how physical stimulation causes mental ideas, simply stated that it does

Empiricism

• Shaped most of subsequent British empiricism
• Believed that all ideas come from either sensation or reflection
• Emphasized the importance of experience and observation in shaping our understanding of the world

Emotions

• Believed that feelings of pleasure or pain accompany ideas
• Thought that other passions (emotions) are derived from the two basic feelings of pleasure and pain
• Maintained that humans are motivated by the search for pleasure and the avoidance of pain

Primary and Secondary Qualities

• Primary qualities: have the power to create in us ideas that correspond to actual attributes of physical objects (e.g., solidity, extension, shape, motion or rest, and quantity)
• Secondary qualities: have the power to produce ideas, but the ideas they produce do not correspond to anything in the physical world (e.g., color, sound, temperature, and taste)

Paradox of the Basins

• Observed that warm water can feel either hot or cold depending on whether a hand is first placed in hot water or cold water
• Used this example to illustrate the difference between primary and secondary qualities

Association of Ideas

• Used association to explain the faulty beliefs that can result from accidents of time or circumstance
• Believed that ideas that succeed each other because of natural or rational reasons represent true knowledge, but ideas that become associated fortuitously can result in unreasonable beliefs

Education

• Insisted that nurture (experience) is more important than nature (innate ability) for character development
• Encouraged parents to increase stress tolerance in their children through "hardening" (e.g., sleeping on hard beds, exposure to moderate amounts of coldness and wetness)
• Advocated for mild physical punishment of students, but not severe physical punishment
• Believed that teachers should make the learning experience as pleasant as possible to encourage lifelong learning

Government

• Attacked the notion of innate moral principles and encouraged people to seek the truth for themselves
• Proposed a government by and for the people, challenging the divine right of kings
• Influential in the drafting of the U.S. Declaration of Independence