LockeonHumanUnderstanding

PresentationNotes,27.04.2011 CerenBurcakDAG,040100531 Therearetwoimportantmovementsinthehistoryofthephilosophywhicharerepresentedbysome leading figures. As we have seen Plato, Descartes, Spinoza in rationalists before, we have also experiencedtheideasofBaconsofarwhocanbereplacedinEmpiricismmovementofphilosophy. However,whenwetalkaboutthesimple,indivisibleideasthatisgeneratedbypureexperience,the firstidentitycomestomindiscertainlyJohnLocke. Thisessaycontains, abriefinformationaboutLockeslife; asufficientinformationaboutthegeneralstructure,contemporaryreceptionandtheplace oftheEssayinthehistoryofphilosophy; an extended analysis of the second book, chapters one through seven of the Essay with quotationsandexplanations.

SincewehaveseenLockeslifeinhistoricalcontentandhisgeneralphilosophyonbothknowledge and political theory in Prof. Stockers previous class, we are going to discuss only the origin of the knowledge and the kinds of ideas broadly which are the topics of these chapters and touch the generalphilosophyofLocke. BriefInformationonhisLife LockelivedinatimewhenEnglishhistorywasrecordedwithquitedramaticepisodes.Hepersonally played important roles in British history by means of philosophical and political theories. After getting a successful education in famous schools of England (B.A. degree at Oxford in 1656), he followedatraditionalcourseofstudyinArtsandheldastudentshipatChristChurch.Howeverhegot expelledatthedirectinstigationofCharlesIIduetohisconnectionswithpoliticalgroupingsopposed to royal policies. After that, besides he was interested in philosophical and theological writings, he also focused on medicine and general science. He even received a medical degree of M.B. from Oxford University in 1675, when he was thirtythree. Nevertheless, he always got inspired by the physicsofthenature.Eventhoughmedicineisabranchofscienceaswell,heneverthoughthimself asascientistbutafigurewhocleanedthescientificpathfrommetaphysicalobjectsofphilosophyas a philosopher. He became Lord Ashleys medical adviser and one of the closest friends who was a politicallysignificantfigureintheBritishhistory.AshleywasfromWhigpoliticianswhoopposedthe monarchyofKingbutsupportedthepoweroftheparliament.Afteranactiveandsuccessfulpolitical career,hehadsomanyofficialduties.Atthosetimes,Lockewasarespectedcharacterinthepublic due to his position in the politics and the intellectual fame which came with the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. These times were also the last years of him; after some years of failing health,hediedwhenhewasseventytwo. TIPonhischaracter, [ReferencefromE.J.Lowe,RoutledgePhilosophyGuidebooktoLockeonHumanUnderstanding]

In character he was somewhat introverted and full of anxieties, but he by no means avoidedcompany.Heenjoyedgoodconversationbutwasabstemious/contentedinhis habits of eating and drinking. He was a prolific correspondent and had a great many friendsandacquaintances,onthecontinentofEuropeaswellasinBritainandIreland.If there was a particular fault in his character, it was a slight tetchiness in response to criticismofhiswritings,evenwhenthatcriticismwasintendedtobeconstructive.

GeneralStructureoftheEssay Lockesintellectuallifegivesrisetotwoimportantquestions, 1. Howshouldhumanlive? 2. Howcanahumanbeingknowanything? TheEssayConcerningHumanUnderstandingconcernswiththesecondquestion.Itwaspublishedin 1689butgotrevisionsuntil1700whenthefourth/finaleditionwaspublished.Itisdividedintofour books, 1. Of Innate Notions is about the innate ideas. It is sort of an attack on the supporters of innateideas(e.g.Plato,Descartes)whoheldthatmuchofourknowledgeisindependentof experience. 2. OfIdeasputsforwardtheresponseofLocketothequestionofWheredotheseideascome from?. According to Locke, sensation and reflection can provide all the materials of our understanding; even it can give logical explanations for substance, identity and causality whichwereacceptedasinnatebytheopponentsofLocke. 3. OfWordsexplainstheimportanceoflanguageinexpressingtheideasandtheconcept of mutual understanding. Also Locke discusses on the origins of our ideas in widely varying individualexperience. 4. OfKnowledgeandOpiniongivestheprocessesofreason,learningandtestimony/evidence workontheideastogeneratecertainknowledgeandprobablebelief.Thisbookisalsothe book he draws a proper boundary between the field of reason and experience on the one handandthatofrevelation/inspirationandfaithontheother. His book is involved in the fields of epistemology in other words the theory of knowledge, metaphysics,thephilosophyofthemindandthephilosophyofthelanguage. HISQUESTION:Whatarewecapableofknowingandunderstandingabouttheuniverseweliveinby theexaminationoftheworkingmethodofhumanmind? HIS ANSWER: All the materials of our understanding come from our ideas generated by both reflectionandsensationwhichareworkeduponbyourpowersofreasontoproduceknowledge.We havealsoothersourcesofbeliefwhicharetestimonyandrevelation.Thesecansupplyusprobability butnotcertainty. ContemporaryReceptionoftheEssay TheEssaydrewattentionwhenitsabridgedversionwasfirstappeared.Lockepublishedhisworkin one of the leading intellectual journals of the day, Bibliothque universelle. This was important

because many philosophers including Leibniz learned about his work by this way. In those early years,therewasadrasticdifferencebetweenthereactionstowardsEssay;someofthemarehighly praisingitwhereasothersweredeeplyhostile.However,afterawhileLockesepistemologicaland metaphysical thoughts started to be widely accepted. Even though his work was not that skeptical accordingtoempiricistsafterhim(e.g.Hume),TheEssaywasseenasdamagingtothereligiondueto itspositionagainstinnateideas.Hewasnotanantidogmatic,buthewasthefirstoftheoneswho weredepictingtheseempiricistideasonhumanunderstandinginasystematicway.Thatswhyhis workwasappeareddangerouslyskeptical. There are two important philosophers who criticized Locke in his life time, George Berkeley and Wilhelm Leibniz. The Principles of Human Knowledge of Berkeley and the New Essays on Human UnderstandingofLeibnizweretwohugebookswrittenagainstLocke. The Essay has never lost its eminence amongst philosophical writings. Although it was initially bannedatOxfordUniversityasdangerousmaterialforstudentstoread,itsoonbecameastandard textwhichthestudentsshouldread.Itwasstartedtobeseennotradicalandrevolutionaryworkbut conservative. It even became a good target to criticize for eighteenthcentury revolutionaries like DavidHume. ThePlaceoftheEssayintheHistoryofthePhilosophy WhyareLockeandtheEssaysovaluable? In general we call Locke as one of the first empiricists (amongst Bacon, Hobbes and Gassendi); howevertheEssayisnotonlyaworkofmajorphilosophicalimportancebutalsoitisthestartpoint ofanewphilosophicaltradition.Weknowthatscienceandphilosophyaretwodifferentprinciples today; however it was not at those days. The terms science and philosophy were used as interchangeably. The separation of science from philosophy, this shift in usage, comes with the philosophicalinfluenceofphilosopherslikeLocke.ThisiswhyLockeandtheEssayaresosignificant inthehistoryofphilosophy.
WhatisdistinctiveofthisnewtraditionbothreflectedinandinspiredbytheEssayispreciselytheshiftthatit recognizesintherelationshipbetweenphilosophyandthesciences.Bytheendoftheseventeenthcentury,the naturalscienceshadbeguntoasserttheirownautonomyandtodeveloptheirowndistinctiveproceduresand institutions,andphilosophyintheshapeofmetaphysicsandepistemologycouldnolongerpresumetodictate howinquiryintothenatureandworkingsofthephysicalworldshouldproceed,muchlesstosupplyanswersto specificquestionsinthatfield.ItistoLockesgreatcreditthathewasamongstthefirsttoreconceptualisethe role of philosophy as having chiefly a critical function, adjudicating knowledgeclaims rather than providing theirprimarysource,(Lowe,1995).

APartofLockesPhilosophy:OriginoftheIdeas/KnowledgeandtheKindsofIdeas AnalysisoftheSecondBook,ChaptersonethroughsevenoftheEssay ChapterI,OfIdeasingeneral,andtheirOriginal WehavesomeideasinourmindssuchasWhiteness,Hardness,Sweetness,Thinking,Motion,Man, Elephant,Army,Drunkennessandothers.Then,heputsthefirstquestionaboutmanandhisideasin theinquiry;howhecomesbythem? WeknowthatLockediscussesontheinnateideasinhisfirstbook,soheremindsittothereader. I know it is a received Doctrine, That Men have native Ideas, and original Characters stamped upon their Minds, in their very first Being. This Opinion I have at large examined

already; and, I suppose, what I have said in the foregoing Book, will be much more easily admitted, when I have shown, from where the Understanding may get all the Ideas it has, and by what ways and degrees they may come into the Mind; for which I shall appeal to everyonesownObservationandExperience. WeunderstandthatLockewillexplaintheoriginsoftheideas(fromwhere)andthehowtheyoccur inourminds.Heputshisresponsetothisquestionassayingobservationandexperience.Hewilltry toproveitbydifferentexamplesandargumentsthroughoutthechapter. According to Locke, there is no idea in the mind of a newborn child; because s/he hasnt sensed, perceived and reflected yet. He supposes the Mind to be a White Paper, void of all Characters, withoutanyideas.Namely,ifwehaveanyknowledgeinourmindandifwecanreason,thatsurely comesfromexternalworldorthereflectionofthisexternalworldintoourminds.Lockesays, InExperience,allourKnowledgeisfounded;andfromthatitultimatelyderivesitself tostatetheroleofexperienceintheexplanationoftheoriginofideas.Besides,observationisalso significant in the Lockes theory of knowledge. We can observe external world, in other words experiencetheouterworldandwecanobserveourinnerworld(mind),aswell. OurObservationappliedeitheraboutexternal,sensibleObjects;orabouttheinternalOperationsof ourMinds,perceivedandreflectedonbyourselves,isthat,whichsuppliesourUnderstandingwithall thematerialsofthinking. Locke thinks, these two actions so called Observation and Experience are two Fountains of Knowledge.Byusingthesemethods(experiencingandobserving),wecangenerateallourideasin life. There are three important actions in Lockes philosophy: SENSATION, PERCEPTION and REFLECTION. Sensationisthemostbasicactionofhuman.Inordertobeincommunicationwiththeworldandso tospeakinordertosurvive,ahumanshouldsense.Inorderwords,apersonshouldsee,hear,smell, touch and taste in general. Sensation gives us the opportunity to realize the objects in our environmentandbeininteractionwiththem.Lockesays,perceptionisproduced bysensingthese objects. First, Our Senses, conversant about particular sensible Objects, do convey into the Mind, several distinct Perceptions of things, according to those various ways in which those Objects do affect them. Forexample;wecometotheideaofyellowandwhitebyseeing,totheideaofheat,cold,softand hardby touching, totheideaofbitter andsweetbytastingetc.Inotherwords,aftersensationof objects,wehavetheperceptionsoftheseobjectsinourmindsintheformofanidealikeyellow. As we have the perception of outer world, we can have the perception of inner world through observation and experience, according to Locke. Locke calls the actions of our inner world as INTERNALOPERATIONSofOURMINDS.Therefore,whenweobserveinsideofus,itmeansinternal

senseorinotherwords,reflection.Whenweexperiencetheinsideofus,wegetthePerceptionsof theOperationsofourMinds. Perception,Thinking,Doubting,Believing,Reasoning,Knowing,Willingandallthedifferentactings ofourMinds,whichwebeingconsciousof,andobservinginourselves,dofromthesereceiveintoour Understandings,asdistinctIdeas,aswedofromBodiesaffectingourSenses. AccordingtoLocke,ideasandknowledgecannotbeinnate,theyshouldcomefromsomeexperience andobservation;buthumannaturallycanhavesomenativepowers/faculties/capabilitiessuchasthe actsofMind(sensation,perception,reflection,doubting,willingetc.).Thesecapabilitiesareencoded inourgenes.Whatwearedoingistostimulatethesepowersbyexperienceandobservationatthe firstsensationintheouterworld.Thedifferencebetweenanideaandapowerisquitesignificant. In5thsectionLockesays,ExternalObjectsfurnishtheMindwiththeIdeasofsensiblequalities,which areallthosedifferentperceptionstheyproduceinus:AndtheMindfurnishestheUnderstandingwith IdeasofitsownOperations. Fromthissentence,wecanunderstandthatweinfactdonotperceivetheobjectbutthesensible qualities of objects and this perception of qualities of object animates an idea in our minds about thatobject. QuestionforListener:Byusingqualities,whatdoesLockemean? Theobjectshavesomequalitieswhichhelpustoconceptualizethem.Thesequalitiesaredividedinto two branches as primary and secondary. The primary qualities are defined as the qualities in the object,inawaysensedequallybyeveryone.Thesecondaryqualitiesaredefinedasthequalitiesas weperceivedthem,inotherwordstheycanchangefordifferentperceptions(ofhumans). Mass,shape,sizeandthemotionareknownasprimaryqualities. JUSTIFICATION.Wecanmeasurethemassandsizeoftheobjectinunits.Theyaremassandvolume whicharethebasicpropertiesofmattertoexistknowninphysicssofar.Afterthemeasurement,the massandthevolumeofanobjectaretheempiricalresultsandtheydonotchangefromhumanto human. Besides, motion is also related to the inertia of an object. It is again measurable and in a certainframeofreference,itissameforeveryone.Shape,inotherwordsthegeometryoftheobject, is the extension of the object in the space which is related to the position of the object and measurable. Therefore, the primary qualities that Locke defines are really special to the object to existandtheycanbeexperimentallydefined. Color,taste,smellandallthosesensationsareknownassecondaryqualities. JUSTIFICATION.Colorofanobjectisnotsomethingintheobject;itisaboutthelightreflectedfromit onto our retinas. Color is simply an appearance of different wavelengths. Since no photons can reflectandreachtooureyesinadarkroom,wedonotsenseanycolor.So,ifweputaredglasses on,weseeeverythingundertheredfilter,inotherwordseveryobjectbecomered.Thesensationof coloraswellasothersensesischangeableforhumans.Eventhoughtheprocessofseeingissamefor everyone(duetoevolutionaryprocess),eventhenumberofconecellsintheeyechangethetoneof thecolorforthathuman. Optional.Lockestheoryshouldbeexperimentedwiththechildren. Hehimselfgivessomanyexamplesonchildrentoprovehisargumentsoninnateideas.

 Theobjectsoftheouterworldisclearlysensible,howeverideasofreflectionneedmoreattention, becauseitiseasiertoobservetheouterworldthanourinnerworlds.Lockegivesanexampleofthis argumentonchildrenagain, Children, when they come first into it, are surrounded with a world of new things, which, by a constantsolicitationoftheirsenses,drawthemindconstantlytothem,forwardtotakenoticeofnew, andapttobedelightedwiththevarietyofchangingObjects.Thusthefirstyearsareusuallyapplied anddivertedinlookingabroadsogrowingupinaconstantattentiontooutwardSensations,seldom makeanyconsiderableReflectiononwhatpasseswithinthem WeknowthatLockeisareligiouspersonandhasbeliefinsoulaswellasafterlife.Soitisimportant toevaluatehisphilosophyinthisframe.Lockesaysthesoulbeginstohaveideas,whenitbeginsto perceive; To ask, at what time a Man has first any Ideas, is to ask, when he begins to perceive; having ideas, and Perception being the same thing. According to Locke, actual thinking is inseparablefromthesoulastheactualextensionisfromthebody.So,soulisthecarrieroftheideas of the mind and they exist both at the same time. From now on, he will analyze the origin of the ideasontheexampleofsoul,sincehechargedtheperceptionofideastothesoulduetohisbeliefs. Personally,Ithinktheperceptionofideasaswellasallinternaloperationsofourmindarerelatedto ourbraininotherwordsourmaterial(e.g.combinationsofneurons,specializedbrainlobes). Lockeputsforwardthatthesoulisnotalwaysthinking.Thinkingissimplyoneoftheoperationsof soul;itdoesntneedtocarryoutitallthetime.Hecomparesthebodyandthesoulatthispoint,the perception of Ideas being to the Soul, what motion is to the Body, not its Essence, but one of its Operations. We know that knowledge and our ideas can be possible by only experience and observation (outer and inner). Therefore, what we know comes from the experience and as Locke says, We know certainly by Experience, that we sometimes think and thence draw this infallible Consequence,Thatthereissomethinginus,thathasaPowertothink;ButwhetherthatSubstance perpetuallythinks,orno,wecanbenofartherassured,thanExperienceinformsus. Ifwecannotobserve,thenwecannotconcludeanything. Letussupposethesoulisthinkingallthetime,inotherwordswearethinkingallthetime.Butwe arenotawareofourthinkinginoursleep,forexample.Namely,wecannotobserveandperceivethis operation.Then,ifeventhoughthesoulisthinkingsomewhereseparatefromus,wecannotknowit. Weshouldproveitasobservingthisaction,howeverthereisnoproofforit.Hence,Lockeconcludes ifthissituationispossible,thenthesleepingmanandwakingmanaretwodifferentpeople;since waking Socrates, has no Knowledge of, or Concernment for that Happiness, or Misery of his Soul, whichitenjoysalonebyitselfwhilehesleeps,withoutperceivinganythingofit Consciousnessisimportantintheperceptionofideas(frombothinnerandouter).Ifwedonotknow thatweareobservingorexperiencing,thatdoesnotmeananobservation;becausewesimplydoes nothavetheknowledgeofthatobservation,namelywehaventexperiencedthatknowledge,infact. ThatswhyLockestronglyemphasizesasForifwetakewhollyawayallConsciousnessofourActions andSensations,especiallyofPleasureandPain,andtheconcernmentthataccompaniesit,itwillbe hardtoknowinwhichthepersonalIdentityplaces.

 Locke also gives the example of sleeping people who cannot dream during their sleeps. They can neverbeconvinced,thattheirthoughtsaresometimesforfourhoursbusywithouttheirknowingof it;andiftheyaretakenintheveryact,wakedinthemiddleofthatsleepingcontemplation,cangive nomannerofaccountofit.Simply,theydonotthinkatthosetimes. [ReferencetoScientificAmerican,theBrainsDarkEnergy,MarcusE.Raichle] Locke also takes the situation of a sleeping but not remembering soul into consideration. The soul mightthinkbutretainnothing;atthatpointwecannotknowwhatthesoulthinksandaccordingto Lockeit isveryuselessthinking ifitspossible.WhatIpersonallyfindhereasimportantishetalks aboutthepossibilityofamaterialmemoryembeddedinbrain. Perhapsitwillbesaid,thatinawakingMan,thematerialsoftheBodyareusedinthinking;andthat memoryofThoughtsisretainedbytheimpressionsthataremadeontheBrain,andthetracesthere leftaftersuchthinking;butthatinthethinkingoftheSoul,whichisnotperceivedinasleepingMan, theretheSoulthinksapart,andmakingnouseoftheOrgansoftheBody,leavesnoimpressionsonit andconsequentlynomemoryofsuchThoughts.Thiscounterideaisquitemeaningful,infacteven thoughitcanbesolvedbymeansofLockesexplanationoftwodifferentmen.Anyway,Lockeputs forwardhisexplanationagainandaddsthesoulshouldalsoamemorycapabilitydifferentthanthe body,then. Hestatesas,IfithasnomemoryofitsownThoughts,what purposedoesit think? Todaywecallthesepeopleasnothealthypeople,havingamnesia.Therefore,thissituationisoutof thinking. Lockealsogivesanexplanationfordreamsashestates,TheDreamsofsleepingMenareallmade up of the waking Mans Ideas, though for the most part, oddly put together. [there is scientific reference about it] In the refutation of the argument that the soul always thinks, Locke also asks How they come to know, that they themselves think, when they themselves do not perceive it? Thereisnoproofforit.Hefurthermoreanalyzesthepossibilityofthesoulisthinkingandthemanis not perceiving it. So, according to Locke that means there are two persons in one man. The philosophers who advocate that the soul always thinks do not say that the man always thinks. So Lockeasks,Canthesoulthink,andnottheMan?OraManthinks,andnotbeconsciousofit?Itis improbablethatthemanisnotconsciousofitsownthinkingashesays,Iftheysaythemanthinks alwaysbutisnotalwaysconsciousofit,theymayaswellsay,hisbodyisextended,withouthaving parts.BecauseaccordingtoLocke,thinkingisoneoftheOperationsofMansMind. LockesDefinitionofConsciousness.ConsciousnessistheperceptionofwhatpassesinaMansown mind.CananotherManperceive,thatIamconsciousofanything,whenIperceiveitnotmyself?No MansKnowledgehere,cangobeyondhisExperience. Therefore,Lockeconcludesthispartasmentioningifamanknowsthatthesoulofanothermanis thinkingbuthisbodydoesnotperceiveit,thatsituationisbeyondthephilosophy. I see no Reason therefore to believe, that the Soul thinks before the Senses have furnished it with Ideastothinkon;andasthoseareincreased,andretained;soitcomes,byExercise,toimproveits Facultyofthinkingintheseveralpartsofit,aswellasafterwards,bycompoundingthoseIdeas,and

reflectingonitsownOperations,itincreasesitsStockaswellasFacility,inremembering,imagining, reasoningandothermodesofthinking.(2.1.20) After all these analyses on soul and thinking, Locke reaches on a very important conclusion: Sensation is the basic action of a human and ideas begin with the sensation. Human cannot think before hes born. All internal operations of mind (including thinking) are stimulated by the first sensationeventhoughtheyareinnate,inotherwordsencodedinourgenes. Lockesays,Infants,newlycomeintotheworld,spendthegreatestpartoftheirtimeinSleep,andare seldom awake, but when either hunger calls for the teat, or some pain, (the most important of all sensations)orsomeotherviolentImpressiononthebody,forcesthemindtoperceive,andattendto it.FetusintheMothersWomb,differsnotmuchfromtheStateofaVegetable,passesthegreatest partofitstimewithoutPerceptionorThought,butsleepinaplacePersonallyIthinkthisisnotthat true.Eventhoughitsnotwidelyagreedbyscientists,someresearchesinsistonthepossibilitythat thebabiesinwomblearntherhythmofthesounds.Sotheirsensationsareopenandthesensation shouldproduceperceptioninthemind.[ReferencetoWhileYouareExpectingYourOwnPrenatal ClassroombyVandeCarrandLehrer] However,Lockeisrightwhilehesexpressingthesituationofagrowingchild.Ifweobserveachild afterbirth,aftersometime,itbeginstoknowObjects,whichbeingmostfamiliarwithit,havemade lasting impressions. Thus it comes, by degrees, to know the persons it daily converses with, and distinguish them from strangers advances in other faculties of enlarging, compounding and abstractingitsideasandofreasoningaboutthem Attheresultofthefirstchapter,Lockeidentifiestheoriginalofknowledgebyusingthesearguments. Tosum,humansensesandperceivestheexternalobjectsinhismind,thenbyreflectionhecanuse theseexternalobjectstocontemplate andproduce newideas/imageswhicharecalledknowledge. Theunderstandingispassiveinthisprocess,socalledin thereceptionofsimpleIdeas.Fromhere, Lockepassestothetopicofthekindsofideas. ChapterII,OfsimpleIdeas The qualities of the object get into the Mind as simple and unmixed. The senses are distinct even thoughanobjectcanbesensedbymorethanoneway.YetthesimpleIdeasthusunitedinthesame Subject, are as perfectly distinct, as those that come in by different senses. According to Locke, simpleideascannotbedividedintodifferentIdeasandthischaracteristicofhisphilosophyiscalled asatomismofLocke. When the Understanding is once stored with these simple Ideas, it has the Power to repeat, compare, and unite them even to an almost infinite variety, and so can make at pleasure new complexIdeas. ThestatementofLocke,ItisnotinthePowerofthemostexaltedWit,orenlargedUnderstanding, byanyquicknessorvarietyofThought,toinventonenewsimpleIdeainthemind,norcananyforce oftheUnderstandingdestroythosethatarethere.Ipersonallythinkthisstatementhasmuchmore importance than any other statement. It defines a conservation of simple ideas in mind just like a conversationofenergyinphysics.Thisdefinitionmaygiverisetoascientificbasetotheideas.

The last and the third part of this chapter suggests that even though we have five senses that we know,wecanimagineanyotherqualitiesinBody,howsoeverconstituted,wherebytheycanbetaken noticeof,besidesSounds,Tastes,Smells,visibleandtangiblequalities.Thissuggestioncanmakeus thinksixth,seventhetc.senseswhichcanbepossible.Afterit,Lockeconcludeshiswordswiththe possibilitythattherecanbeotherintelligentcreaturesintheuniversewhichhaveotherqualities.I personally find it quite meaningful that human has been still thinking about the possibility of any othercreaturedifferentthanhimself. ChapterIII,OfIdeasofoneSense Itisstatedatthestartofthischapter, First,therearesomewhichcomeintoourmindsbyoneSenseonly.Secondly,thereareothers,that convey themselves into the mind by more Senses than one. Thirdly, others that are had from Reflectiononly.Fourthly,therearesomethatmakethemselvesway,andaresuggestedtothemind byallthewaysofSensationandReflection. So,Lockebeginstotalkaboutsocalleddivisionofsimpleideas.Althoughhearguesthatthereare some ideas which are perceived by only one sense with the example of color, I think his example doesnotfullyfunction,here. Thus Light and Colours, as white, red, yellow, blue; with their several Degrees or Shades, and Mixtures, as Green, scarlet, purple, seagreen, and the rest come in only by the Eyes. There is a phenomenon of mind which is called synesthesia which is in definition, a neurologicallybased conditioninwhichstimulationofonesensoryorcognitivepathwayleadstoautomatic,involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. So, synesthesic people can hear the colors, smellthe colorsormaybetastesthenumbersetc. Thoughitssometimes treatedasanillness,its notexactlyapathologicsituation,butonlyaneurologiccondition. [Eref,Blindpaintervideointhepresentation] Locke says that all these simple ideas are the ingredients of our complex Ideas. He especially emphasizesasimpleideathathenamedassolidity. ChapterIV,OfSolidity TheideaofSoliditywereceivebyourTouch;anditarisesfromtheresistancewhichwefindinBody, to the entrance of any other Body into Place it possesses till it has left it. Locke suggests another term for this definition as impenetrability which characterizes his definition more fully than the solidityascriticssay.Inotherwords,materialsexertforcesuponeachotherwhentheyareintouch. ThisresistivitycanalsobecalledasactionreactionlawofobjectsasNewtonstatedinthisthirdlaw of motion. Locke says, Whether we move or rest in what Posture soever we are, we always feel somethingunderus,thatsupportsusandhindersourfarthersinkingdownwardsLockeevenstates thatthispropertyofmattercanbeobservedonanythinginnaturethatexists,anditisinseparably inherent in Body. So, in other words, this property is a physical property/observation of nature. According to Locke, solidity fills the space and its different from the space itself. We also should distinguishthesolidityfromhardness.BytheIdeaofSolidity,theextensionofbodyisdistinguished fromtheextensionofspace.Theextensionofbodybeingnothing,butthecohesionorcontinuityof solid,separable,moveableParts;andtheextensionofspace,thecontinuityofunsolid,inseparable,

andimmovableparts.UponthesolidityofBodiesalsodependstheirmutualImpulse,Resistanceand Protrusion,Lockesays. InChapterV,heonlygivesinformationontheideasthataregeneratedbymorethantwosensesand inChapterVI,hetalksaboutthesimpleIdeasofReflectiononly. ChapterVI,OfsimpleIdeasofReflection Mind can observe its own actions about its simple ideas and can contemplate its own objects of senses or the ideas generated by reflection. According to Locke, there are two principal Actions of Mind which are, Perception/Thinking and Volition/Willing. The Power of Thinking is called the Understanding,andthePowerofVolitioniscalledtheWillandthesetwoPowersorAbilitiesinthe MindaredenominatedFaculties. ChapterVII,OfsimpleIdeasofbothSensationandReflection These kind of simple ideas are pleasure, pain, power, existence and unity according to Lockes statement. Pleasure and pain are the core of all the thoughts of our Mind such as Satisfaction, Delight,HappinessandUneasiness,Trouble,Miseryontheotherside.Wecanchooseaccordingto ourdelights.Thehappinesswehaveforaworkmakesuspreferanaction.Havinggivenapowerto ourMinds,inseveralInstances,tochoose,amongstitsIdeas,whichitwillthinkon,andtopursuethe enquiry of this or that Subject with consideration and attention, to excite us to these Actions of thinkingandmotion,thatwerecapableof,hasbeenpleasedtojointoseveralThoughts,andseveral Sensations,aperceptionofDelight.Painhelpsustoavoidandseekthepleasure.Inaway,itisthe lackofdelightanditsfunctionisthatitgiveswaytothepleasure.LockegivestheexampleofHeat andLight,here.Iftherearesomuchofthem,wefeelpainwhereasthesufficientamountofthem makesuslive. BookReferences E.J.Lowe,RoutledgePhilosophyGuidebooktoLockeonHumanUnderstanding JohnDunn,LockeAVeryShortIntroduction