Introduction to Philosophy

Lecture XII
Empiricism — Part II
Dr. Daniel Kaufman

College of Continuing Education & The Extended University

Missouri State University
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
Empiricism:
All substantive knowledge comes from experience, from our
mental interaction with the world through our senses, as well as
with the contents of our own minds, by way of contemplation.
Empiricists oppose the notion that there is innate knowledge of
any kind and reject the idea that we know anything substantive
by way of non-empirical, a priori methods, such as intuition.
Locke describes the mind as “white paper,” upon which
information is printed, by its interaction with the world,
through the senses. (pp. 121–122)
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
Motivations:
• A desire to address the subject of human knowledge in a
scientific way, which was a product of the scientific revolution
and of the more general attitude of “enlightenment” that
prevailed in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• A firm belief in the intellectual autonomy: the idea that we
come to understand the world around us on our own, not by
way of some external authority or other.
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
Some essential Lockean terms:
• Idea: A mental content or thought. Locke conceives of thoughts as
mental pictures, while we tend to conceive them linguistically.
• Ideas of sensation: thoughts acquired directly from touch, smell,
taste, sight, etc.
• Ideas of reflection: thoughts that arise from thinking about other
thoughts. (pp. 122–124)
• Crucial concept: The direct objects of our awareness are our ideas of things, not
things as they are in themselves.
• Put another way: The external world projects an image of itself onto our minds by
way of our senses, and it is the image that we are directly aware of, not the world
itself. (p. 169, ¶8)
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
Relative order in which we acquire ideas
Locke does not believe that there is thought of any kind, prior to
experience. He does not see how there can be thoughts, where
there are no materials of thought.
Therefore, our ideas/thoughts must consist of ideas of
sensation.
Only once there are ideas of sensation can there be ideas of
reflection; only then can we turn our mind’s eye inward and
obtain knowledge of our own thoughts. (pp. 139–140)
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
Relative order in which we acquire ideas
Locke believes it is literally impossible to have an idea of
anything not originally based in experience; either in
sensation or reflection.
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
More essential Lockean terms:
Our ideas have two types of characteristics:
• Characteristics which are shared by the object that causes the
idea.
• Characteristics which are unique to the idea and are not
shared by the object that causes it.
Lecture XII Empiricism — Part II
More essential Lockean terms:
Quality: the power of an external object to produce ideas in our minds.
In some cases, the quality in question reflects an actual characteristic of
the external object. Specifically, these qualities include: (a) solidity,
extension (volume), figure (shape), and motion. Locke calls these
primary qualities.
In some cases, however, the quality in question does not reflect an actual
characteristic of the external object. These qualities include color, taste,
smell, touch, and sound, and exist only in the mind of the perceiver.
Locke calls these secondary qualities. (See pp. 169–170; 172–3; 178–
179)