John Locke

Arguments against innate ideas

• (1). If there is an idea universally accepted
by all human beings, this does not prove
that the idea is innate. It may be that
common experience accounts for
similiarity of ideas.
• (2) It is not true that all human beings
share even the simplest supposed innate
ideas. Young children and “idiots” do not,
for instance.
 The mind is a blank slate
• Locke thinks we have no innate ideas, but
that the content of our minds is totally
dependent on our experience.
• Even when we are creative and making
things up, we just re-distribute our simple
ideas around to make new combinations.
 Primary and secondary qualities.
• Primary qualities are in the object and our
idea. Solidity, extension, motion are
primary qualities
• Secondary qualities are powers in the
objects of sense to produce ideas. Color,
smells and tastes as we perceive them do
not exist in objects, they are subjective
qualities we perceive caused by primary
qualities of the objects
 Perception is a causal process
• We are immediately aware of ideas when
we perceive something.
• But these ideas are caused by real objects
appart from us
• Only the primary qualities in our ideas
resemble the material object. There is
nothing in the object that resembles the
secondary qualities.
 Primary qualities
• Primary qualities are qualities that are
inseperable from material things. Smash
up a grain of wheat and you still have
solidity, extension etc. Same thing with an
almond. But you change the smell taste
etc.
• Perceptual relativity applies to secondary
qualities, but not to primary qualities.