John Locke: Human Understanding Essay -- philosophy, knowledge

When considering knowledge, Locke is interested in the ability for us to know something, the capacity of gathering and victimization information and understanding the limits of what we know. He believes this excessively leads him to realise what we perhaps, cannot know. 1 He wants to find out about the origin of our ideas. His main stand-point is that we dont find inhering ideas and he aims to get rid of the sceptical doubt about what we know. The innate ideas which Locke sets out to argue against are those which the soul receives in its very first being, and brings into the institution with it. 2 Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters. 3 This quote depicts the idea of the Tabula Rasa, that at birth are minds are all in all empty like that of a blank slate and it is our experiences which draw on the blank slate, in order to form thoughts and ideas.He has two types of argument against innate ideas direct and indirect. The indirect argument c an be seen as the more positive of the two, and the idea of it is that we are able to explain all knowledge we have without innate ideas but from other sources. The direct argument is the more negative view, and focuses on the problem of universal assent which Locke believes to be an insufficient idea and also necessary and absent. He expands from this by utter that modified universal assent is too inclusive and depends on the order of discovery. So really he is saying that the argument for innate principles doesnt work, especially with regard to universal assent. He believes that if universal assent existed, it could be explained in other ways and therefore is not innate. However, Locke doesnt believe that universal assented principles can exist at all and thi... ...t innate epistemic principles revised December 19963.Reading Ariew & Watkins 270-290 (Lockes An leaven Concerning human beings Understanding Book I Chapters I and II, Book II Chapters I - VIII)4.https//www.spar knotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/section3.rhtml5.https//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/section4.rhtml6.https//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/section4.rhtml7.https//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/section3.rhtml8.https//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/section6.rhtml9.Reading Ariew & Watkins 270-290 (Lockes An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book I Chapters I and II, Book II Chapters I - VIII)10.http//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/quotes.html11.https//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/section1.rhtml12.http//www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/terms.html