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, motion, man, elephant, army and others. Children are born into the world which is surrounded with bodies. Light, colors, sounds and other external things perpetually and diversely affect men and furnish their minds with ideas by degrees.  As children grow up, they start getting ideas of the operations of their own minds. However, men are differently furnished with these. It depends on the objects they are in touch with and the way they reflect on the operations of their mind. Some make a considerable reflection on what passes within them, while others are growing up in a constant attention to outward sensation rather than to reflection until they come to be of riper years.

Simple ideas

Furnished to the mind by sensation and reflection, simple ideas are the materials of all our knowledge. There are simple ideas that come into our minds by one sense only. Light or colors come in only by the eyes. Noises, sounds, and tones convey themselves into the mind by the ears. Tastes and smells come by the nose and palate. By touch, we may receive the ideas of heat, cold and solidity. There are also ideas that we get by more than one sense. For instance, the ideas of space or extension, figure, rest, motion are receivable by both seeing and feeling.  Some ideas come by observing its own actions of the mind. Understanding and will are simple ideas that come into the mind by reflection only. Understanding is a power of thinking, while will is a power of volition. Other simple ideas convey themselves into the mind by both sensation and reflection. These are ideas of pleasure, pain, existence, unity, power and succession. For instance, idea of power can be suggested by our senses when we see the effects that natural bodies are able to produce in one another. If we observe in ourselves that we can move several parts of our bodies which were at rest, we will find the same idea of power offered to us by what passes in our minds.

Complex Ideas

Complex ideas are made by the mind out of simple ones. While simple ideas account for materials and foundations of knowledge, operations of the mind are the instruments that frame complex ideas from simple ones. Among them are retention, discerning, comparing, compounding, naming and abstraction. Retention keeps the idea which was received from sensation and reflection. Another power of retention is to revive again in our minds those ideas which have disappeared. This is how our memory works. As for discerning and comparing, these operations allow the mind to distinguish between several ideas. So, the mind has a distinct perception of different objects and their qualities. It can compare ideas one with another in respect of extent, degrees, time, place, or any other circumstances. Compounding, another operation of the mind, allows the mind to put together simple ideas and combine them into complex ones. Naming fixe ideas in the memory by the use of signs and words. Finally, abstraction allows the mind to make the particular idea general. By abstraction, ideas become general representatives of all of the same kind, that is abstract ideas.

All complex ideas can be sorted by modes, substances, or relations. If the complex idea is nothing but a combination of the same simple ideas such as dozen or score, then this is a simple mode. If the complex ideas is compounded of simple ideas of several kinds, then we call it a mixed mode. An example of the mixed mode is an idea of beauty, which consist of a certain composition of color and figure.

Substance is a simple idea which represent a distinct particular thing subsisting by itself. Substance is always chief among simple ideas that define a thing. For example, the idea of lead is a combination of an idea of substance and a simple idea of a certain dull whitish color, with certain degrees of hardness, fusibility and weight. The idea of a man is a combination of a substance and ideas of thought and reasoning. Substances can be singular such as substances of a man or of a sheep; or they can be collective such as substances of an army of men or of flock of sheep.

Relation is another sort of complex ideas that allows to compare one idea with another. Many relations are founded through sensory experience of the modes of time, place, number and extension. For instance, we can say that “This apple is bigger than the other one.” (by extension) or “This boy is older than the other one.” (by time). Relations can also be founded when we observe the changes produced in one thing by the operation of another. Example of it is a causal relation between fire and ashes. Fire turns the wood into ashes. Here, the fire is a cause, while ashes is an effect.

Bibliography:

  • Locke, John, Essay Concerning Human Understanding in Modern Philosophy, an anthology of primary sources, second edition, edited by Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2009