Saad NikkiMohit

• Locke believed that we gain knowledge by experience, this is called empiricism

• Locke agreed with Aristotle that we are not born with innate ideas, and that we learn through experience

• Locke’s theory was that the only way we learn is by tasting, smelling, touching, and hearing the external world

• Locke believed that there were two types of ideas, Simple and Complex

•Simple ideas are easy sensations like feeling a hot stove

• Complex ideas are a grouping of simple ideas like when you look at a banana, you see it is yellow (color) it is mushy (texture) it is sweet (taste) these ideas form the idea of a banana

• Ideas that are nonmaterial were also explained by simple ideas

• If you imagine a griffin, you have put together the parts of different animals the body of a lion, the head, wings, and talons of an eagle

• Locke stated that all things have primary and secondary qualities

• Primary: height and weight (undeniable truths)

• Secondary: rely on subjective or personal judgments (color, taste and sound)

SenseExperience

Sensation

Impression in the Mind

Reflection

Idea

You touch ice

Cold

Ice is cold

Ice = cold

If you touch ice, it will be

cold

• Locke disagreed with Rene Descartes, he believed that humans are born without any knowledge of the world

• Descartes borrowed ideas from Plato, he believed that we are all born with innate ideas

• Locke agreed with Aristotle’s theory that humans are born with a clean slate, and that we learn while we grow, experiencing the world as we go

• Aristotle believed that we gain knowledge by experiencing the world with our senses

SENSE: Sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch

SENSATION: The operation or function of the senses; perception or awareness of stimuli through the senses

REFLECTION: Thinking about what you experienced, processing the information

IMPRESSION: The first and immediate effect of an experience or perception upon the mind

QUALITIES: Essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute