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Note | Locke’s Empiricist Epistemology

Criticism of Notion of Innate Ideas

John Locke’s question about epistemology or metaphysics was what is our origin of knowledge of nature and moral. Also what things we can be certain they are knowledge.

Locke denied the rationalist notion of innate ideas. The reason of the notion of innate ideas is all men already have ideas by nature. But Locke thought children don’t know complex ideas like law of contradiction or law of excluded middle. Even ideas of justice or the God should be known or made by knowledge or thinking. All of ideas must be made by men through a path. Locke named the path experience .

Locke’s Epistemology

Sensations such as white, sweet and rough we feel by the five senses, Locke called impression . The stuff, temporary impression is fixed, Locke called idea .

Human mind at birth is a tabula rasa (blank slate). Sense and reflection as workings of mind describe ideas on tabula rasa. Sense produces ideas about external things such as white, black, hot or cool. Reflection produces ideas about function of mind such as thinking, perception or will.

Ideas given by sense and reflection, are named simple ideas . The mind makes a complex idea by some simple ideas.

Locke confirmed intuitive knowledge and demonstrative knowledge based on mutual comparison among ideas are certain, and established the basis of empirical science.

Substance and Primary Quality / Secondary Quality

Locke limited certain knowledge is made by ideas on the range of perception.

Although Locke insisted substances and the God are exist in the outside of mind. Primary quantities are objective qualities such as solid body, extension or motion. Secondary qualities are qualities of which primary qualities affect a mind and associated by/in mind.

Locke’s notion of substances and qualities may be a remain of Descartes’ dualism or his desire for the truth (correspondence between subject and object).

References

Jean-François Revel, Histoire de la philosophie occidentale (Nil Éditions, 1994)

Luc Ferry & Claude Capelier, La plus belle histoire de la philosophie (Éditions Points, 2014)

Roger-Pol Droit, Une brève histoire de la philosophie (Flammarion, 2008)

Bertrand Russell, The History of Western Philosophy (Simon & Schuster, 1972)

Nigel Warburton, A Little History of Philosophy (Yale University Press, 2011)

Roger Scruton, A Short History of Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2002)

Gen Kida, History of Anti-Philosophy (Kodansha Academic Library, 2000)

Seiji Takeda & Ken Nishi, The First Histoty of Philosophy: To Think Profoundly (Yuhikaku, 1998)

Shigeto Nuki, Illustrated & Standard History of Philosophy (Shinshokan, 2008)

Shigeto Nuki, Philosophy Map (Chikuma New Books, 2004)

Sumihiko Kumano, The History of Western Philosophy: From The Modern Ages to The Present Day (Iwanami New Books, 2006)

Thierry Paquot & François Pépin, Dictionnaire Larousse de la Philosophie (Éditions Larousse, 2011)

Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition Revised), (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Robert Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition), (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

Thomas Mautner, The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy (Second Edition), (Penguin Books, 2005)

Note | Leibniz’s Monadology

To Solve Descartes’ Problem

To solve the contradiction of Descartes’ dualism, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz illustrated innumerable, undivided and minimum substances monad (from French monade).

It’s opposite direction of investigation to the monism of Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza’s substance as the God is independent, eternal and finite, so it is self-caused and is the one covers everything. But to explain diversity of the world, it’s more natural that there are innumerable monad than there’s the one substance.

Monadology

Monad owns unlimited connections and is unified by power. Monad exists by to reflect unlimited interconnections among monad and the entire universe. Monad is living mirror of the universe, is not an only a point of space. In stead of independent substance by Descartes or Spinoza, monad has independent motion. Monad is substance can move by itself. Atom of Democritus or Lucretius is minimal physical particle can be divided. Differ from atom, monad is immaterial, unphysical and undivided essence to construct things.

Monad is a sensual thing, so it causes voluntary motion or change. Monad is subject of motion, and its condition is developed and changed by an internal principle of itself.

Changing of monad is not related to and is not affected by other monads. So, Leibniz stated “Monads are windowless”. Monad is not being or existence, it’s the motion is consist of mind and things.

By their function of “expression”, monads realize the diversity of the world. Monads can’t be changed by each other. Monad reflects and expresses the whole universe, there’s no diversity and differences of meaning or content. But monads are varied by differences of a perspective reflects in the whole and in a degree of awakening.