Doubting Descartes’ Doubt
Meditations of Descartes presents a series of arguments about a thinking thing and a God’s existence. In this essay, I will doubt his reasoning by pointing out at some fallacies. In search of a foundation of knowledge, Descartes starts from the scratch by undermining everything that he knows. He asks himself what could ground his […]
Bacon’s Idols of the Mind
Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was a successful English lawyer, politician, scientist, orator and philosopher. His works were enormously influential during a scientific revolution, in which Bacon proposed a great reformation of all process of knowledge. He popularized a scientific knowledge, often called the Baconian method, based only upon inductive and careful observation of events in […]
Socrates on Philosophy
One of you might perhaps interrupt me and say: “But Socrates, what is your occupation? From where have these slanders come? For surely if you did not busy yourself with something out of the common, all these rumors and talk would not have arisen unless you did something other than most people. Tell us what […]
Locke on Time
In the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke explains how we come out with ideas of duration, eternity and time. We receive ideas of duration and measures of it from reflection and sensation, two foundations of knowledge. First, we observe how our ideas are formed in our minds: some begin to appear, others vanish. So, […]
Locke on Active and Passive Power
According to Locke, power is two-fold. Active power is able to make any change, while passive power is able to be changed. For example, fire has a power to meld gold, while gold has a power to be melted. Similarly, the sun has a power to blanch wax, while wax is able to be blanched […]
Locke on Liberty
For Locke, the idea of liberty arises from the power of the mind over the actions of the man. Freedom consists in our being able to act or not act, according as we shall choose or will. Locke gives an example of a man who is carried and locked into a room while asleep. When […]
Locke on Personal Identity
In the chapter XXVII of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke reflects on what identity consists in. He starts with identity of substances which can be divided into three sorts: God, finite intelligences and bodies. God’s identity cannot be questionable as he is eternal, unalterable and everywhere. Identity of finite intelligences is defined by relation […]
Locke on Simple and Complex Ideas
For Locke, men do not have native ideas. Our minds are furnished with ideas either through perception of external sensible objects or through the internal operations of our minds, perceived and reflected on by ourselves. So, sensation and reflection are two fountains of knowledge from which come all the ideas such as whiteness, sweetness, thinking, […]
Locke on Solidity
According to John Locke, solidity is an idea that we receive by our touch. It is the most constant idea obtained from sensation. For instance, a moving or resting man always feels something under him that supports him. The floor resists to the entrance of man’s body into the place the floor possesses. When staying […]
Locke on Innate Knowledge
In an Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke rejects innate principles in the mind. He argues that men may acquire all the knowledge they have barely by the use of their natural faculties and without the help of any innate ideas. Locke sets down the following arguments that undermine the notion of innate knowledge. Universal […]